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Commissioned as one of the FORREST SHERMAN - class destroyers, the BLANDY was the first ship in the Navy named after Admiral William H. P. Blandy. In the mid-1960s, eight of the FORREST SHERMAN - class destroyers were chosen to receive an anti-submarine warfare capability upgrade which included the replacement of one of the Mk-42 5-inch guns with a Mk-16 ASROC missile launcher as well as the installation of the SQS-35 VDS and SQS-23 systems. The ships that underwent the conversion then formed the BARRY - class.
Decommissioned on November 5, 1982, and stricken from the Navy list on July 27, 1990, the BLANDY was sold for scrapping on June 30, 1994. Scrapping was completed by the end of 1996.
General Characteristics: | Awarded: October 23, 1954 |
Keel laid: December 29, 1955 | |
Launched: December 19, 1956 | |
Commissioned: November 26, 1957 | |
Decommissioned: November 5, 1982 | |
Builder: Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass. | |
Propulsion system: four-1200 lb. boilers; two steam turbines; two shafts | |
Propellers: two | |
Length: 418.3 feet (127.5 meters) | |
Beam: 45,3 feet (13.8 meters) | |
Draft: 22 feet (6.7 meters) | |
Displacement: approx. 4,000 tons full load | |
Speed: 32+ knots | |
Aircraft: none | |
Armament: two Mk-42 5-inch/54 caliber guns, Mk-32 ASW torpedo tubes (two triple mounts), one Mk-16 ASROC missile launcher | |
Crew: 17 officers, 287 enlisted |
Crew List:
This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS BLANDY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.
Accidents aboard USS BLANDY:
Date | Where | Events |
---|---|---|
May 29, 1963 | Portland, Maine | A flash fire breaks out in the boiler room of USS BLANDY shortly after the ship arrives at Portland, Maine, to participate in Memorial Day exercises. |
January 27, 1966 | Mediterranean | One of USS BLANDY's boilers blows up, releasing live steam into a boiler room where two sailors are on watch. Both men are severely burned and a third man in a compartment above is also injured. All three men are medevaced by helo to the USS AMERICA (CV 66). Later, the two sailors from the boiler room die - one aboard the AMERICA and the other one in a hospital on land. |
About the Ship's Name:
Born in New York City 28 June 1890, William H. P. Blandy graduated from-the Academy in 1913. He participated in the occupation of Veracruz in 1914 and served on board a battleship with the British Grand Fleet during World War I. During World War II he was Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, Commander, Group 1, Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet; and Commander, Cruisers and Destroyers, Pacific Fleet. After the war he commanded JTF 1 during the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. He commanded the 2nd Task Fleet and later served as Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet; Admiral Blandy died 12 January 1954.
USS Blandy after the anti-submarine warfare conversion |