U.S.S. Blandy (DD-943)
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Career (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
Struck: 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)
Range: 4,500 nmi. at 20 knots (8,300Êkm at 37Êkm/h)
Complement: 15 officers, 218 enlisted.
Armament: 3 - 5 inch (127 mm) 54 calibre dual purpose Mk 42 guns; 4 - 3 inch (76 mm) 50 calibre Mark 33 anti-aircraft guns; 2 mark 10/11 Hedgehogs; 6 - 12.75Êin (324 mm) Mark 32 torpedo tubes.

The U.S.S. Blandy (DD-943) was a Forrest Sherman class destroyer, named for Admiral William H. P. Blandy U.S.N. (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. Lee, daughter of Admiral Blandy; and commissioned 26 November 1957, Commander William F. Cafferata in command.

History

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 laid 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.

Fate

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.