USS McGowan

	USS McGowan (DD-678)
History
United States
Name	McGowan
Namesake	Samuel McGowan
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.
Laid down	30 June 1943
Launched	14 November 1943
Commissioned	20 December 1943
Decommissioned	30 November 1960
Stricken	1 October 1972
Fate	Transferred to Spain,; 1 December 1960;
Spain
Name	Jorge Juan
Acquired	1 December 1960
Commissioned	1 December 1960
Stricken	15 November 1988
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	Fletcher-class destroyer; Lepanto-class destroyer;
Displacement	2,050 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.7 m)
Beam	39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Draft	17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45 MW);; geared turbines;; 2 propellers;
Speed	38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph)
Range	6,500 nautical miles at 15 kt; (12,000 km at 30 km/h);
Complement	319
Armament	5 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 guns,; 10 × 40 mm AA guns,; 7 × 20 mm AA guns,; 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes,; 6 × depth charge projectors,; 2 × depth charge tracks;

USS McGowan (DD-678) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral Samuel McGowan (1870–1934).

McGowan was laid down 30 June 1943 by the

launched 14 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Rose McG. Cantey, sister of Rear Admiral McGowan, and commissioned

20 December 1943.

World War II

Post shakedown training completed in time to participate in the

Eniwetok. Next assigned to TG 53.1 she screened the transports carrying troops to Guam, remained through the initial landing operations, and then set course back to Saipan. There she rejoined TG 52.17 for screening and fire support missions during the Tinian phase

of the conquest of the Marianas.

At the end of July McGowan sailed to Guadalcanal to prepare for the amphibious assault on the Palaus. Her TG 32.2, sortied 8 September, arriving in the transport area east of the Palaus on the 15th. McGowan remained in that area until the 17th when, with her transport group she moved toward Angaur Island. There she took position in the antisubmarine screen, remaining through the 22d.

The destroyer then cruised south to

battleline

.

Within 48 hours McGowan was underway for

Japanese Special Attack Corps

until the 14th, when she returned to escort work.

At the end of the month she joined the

Kuriles

.

Following the strikes on the Kuriles, McGowan was detached from TF 38 and ordered back to the west coast for overhaul. While at

Pacific Reserve Fleet

.

1951 – 1960

Less than 6 years later the outbreak of hostilities in

Calcutta, Aden, Suez, and Gibraltar

, arriving Newport 11 April 1953.

Mediterranean, for the next 7 years. During her 1956–58 oversee deployments she was involved in peace keeping operations in the volatile eastern Mediterranean. In the spring of 1956 she cruised in the Red Sea area and then the Port Said area as British troops withdrew from the Suez Canal zone, returning to Newport before nationalization of the canal. Subsequent events led, in the fall, to the brief war between British, French, Israeli, and Egyptian forces. Tension remained high and in May 1957 McGowan was back in the Mediterranean. On the 22d, she, with three other ships of Destroyer Division 202 (DesDiv 202), became the first warships to transit the Suez Canal since its reopening to maximum draft ships (9 April 1957). She then cruised in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to insure safe passage of American merchant shipping to Israel and Jordan

.

By late spring of 1958, as McGowan again returned to the eastern Mediterranean, Jordan and

6th Fleet stood off the Lebanese coast while landing the Marines. On the 16th, McGowan arrived from another tense area, Cyprus. She remained at Beirut

through the 20th, then got underway to take a patrol station off the coast, remaining until 1 August. She resumed operations to the north, and in September departed for Newport. arriving on the 30th.