USS Blandy

USS Blandy (DD-943) in 1970
History
United States
Namesake	William H. P. Blandy
Ordered	23 October 1954
Builder	Bethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard
Laid down	29 December 1955
Launched	19 December 1956
Acquired	20 November 1957
Commissioned	26 November 1957
Decommissioned	5 November 1982
Stricken	27 July 1990
Motto	Pax per potestatem
Fate	Sold for scrap, 11 December 1992
General characteristics
Class and type	Forrest Sherman-class destroyer
Displacement	2,800 tons standard. 4,050 tons full load.
Length	407 ft (124 m) waterline, 418 ft (127 m) overall.
Beam	45 ft (14 m)
Draft	22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion	4 × 1,200 psi (8.3 MPa) Foster-Wheeler boilers, Westinghouse steam turbines; 70,000 shp (52 MW); 2 × shafts.
Speed	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range	4,500 nmi. at 20 knots   (8,300 km at 37 km/h)
Complement	15 officers, 218 enlisted.
Armament	3 × 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre dual purpose Mk 42 guns; 4 × 3 in (76 mm) 50 calibre Mark 33 anti-aircraft guns; 2 × mark 10/11 Hedgehogs; 6 × 12.75 in (324 mm) Mark 32 torpedo tubes.

USS Blandy (DD-943) was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer, named for Admiral William H. P. Blandy USN (1890–1954),

Blandy was built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, and was launched 19 December 1956, sponsored by Mrs. John M. (Hope "Toni" Blandy) Lee, daughter of Admiral Blandy; and commissioned 26 November 1957.

In 1958, Blandy bore the American Unknown Soldier of World War II's European Theater from Naples to a rendezvous off the Virginia Capes with Boston (CAG-1), which bore the Unknowns of the Pacific Theater and the Korean War, and Canberra (CAG-2). After the selection of the Unknown of World War II was made on board Canberra, the selected casket and the Korean Unknown were transferred to Blandy for transportation to Washington, D.C. Arriving at the U.S. Naval Gun Factory on 28 May, both caskets lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda until 30 May, after which they were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1961, Blandy won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.

On October 30, 1962, Blandy tracked Soviet submarine B-130, dropping small charges and following the submarine in an attempt to bring it to the surface. After seventeen hours, the submarine's commander, Captain Nikolai Shumkov, ordered the submarine - at this point running with reduced diesel power and minimal oxygen - to surface.^[1]

In 1968, Blandy was awarded the Arleigh Burke fleet trophy award for all Atlantic Fleet.

On 7 December 1970 BLANDY was transiting the passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, at 2118Z when the nuclear submarine USS JACK SSN 605 took her picture:

The ship was decommissioned on 5 November 1982 and struck from the Navy List on 27 July 1990.

She was sold for scrap to the Fore River Shipyard and Iron Works on 11 December 1992. When the shipyard went bankrupt in 1993, she was resold to N. R. Acquisition Incorporated of New York City by the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court and scrapped by Wilmington Resources of Wilmington in North Carolina in 1996.

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  On 7 December 1970 BLANDY was transiting the passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, at 2118Z (picture by the nuclear submarine USS JACK SSN 605)
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  Blandy (foreground) at Baltimore prior to scrapping.

• List of United States Navy destroyers

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
•  This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Blandy (DD-943).

• navsource.org: USS Blandy
• hazegray.org: USS Blandy
• USS Blandy DD 943 Association website