Jump to content

USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Antipode (talk | contribs) at 01:47, 1 April 2006 (Added mil-ship-stub). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Ship table

The USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850) is a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy. The ship was named after Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., a naval aviator, son of the former Ambassador to Britain, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and older brother of future President John F. Kennedy. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. is presently on display as a museum ship in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Kennedy was built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Fore River Shipyard at Quincy, Massachusetts, launched on 26 July 1945, and commissioned on 15 December 1945. This vessel would serve, with interruptions for modernization, until 1973.

After decommissioning, Kennedy was stricken from the Naval Register and removed to Fall River, Massachusetts as a unit of the Battleship Cove Museum. She is there today and open to the public as the official memorial to Massachusetts citizens who gave their lives during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. She is also home to the Admiral Arleigh Burke National Destroyermen's Museum.

In the spring of 2000, Kennedy was brought to Rhode Island Sound for the movie Thirteen Days, portraying both herself and the USS John R. Pierce (DD-753).