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USS Turner Joy (DD 951)

- formerly JOY -
- decommissioned -


USS TURNER JOY was the last ship in the FORREST SHERMAN - class of destroyers and the first ship in the Navy to bear the name. Decommissioned on November 22, 1982, and stricken from the Navy list on February 13, 1990, the TURNER JOY was donated to the Bremerton Historic Ships Association on April 10, 1991. The ship now serves as a museum at Bremerton, Wash. Click here for a photo tour of the TURNER JOY at Bremerton, Wash.

General Characteristics:Awarded: January 27, 1956
Keel laid: September 30, 1957
Launched: May 5, 1958
Commissioned: August 3, 1959
Decommissioned: November 22, 1982
Builder: Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co., Seattle, Wash.
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: three Mk-42 5-inch/54 caliber guns, Mk-32 ASW torpedo tubes (two triple mounts)
Crew: 17 officers, 275 enlisted


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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS TURNER JOY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.


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USS TURNER JOY Cruise Books:



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About the Ship's Name:

Charles Turner Joy was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on 17 February 1895. Commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1916, he served in the battleship PENNSYLVANIA for more than four years, including the period of the United States' participation in the First World War. In 1923, after receiving a graduate education in engineering, he began two years as Aide and Flag Lieutenant to Commander, Yangtse Patrol. This was followed by a tour as Executive Officer of the Asiatic Fleet destroyer POPE, an assignment with the Bureau of Ordnance, sea duty in the battleship CALIFORNIA, and service at the Naval Mine Depot at Yorktown, Virginia. In the mid-1930s, Lieutenant Commander Joy was Commanding Officer of the destroyer LITCHFIELD and was on the staff of Commander Destroyers, Battle Force.

Between 1937 and 1940, Commander Joy was an instructor at the Naval Academy. He then became Executive Officer of the heavy cruiser INDIANAPOLIS. In 1941 he was Operations Officer for Commander Scouting Force, Pacific Fleet and, for several months after the United States entered World War II in December of that year, helped plan and execute combat operations against Japan. Captain Joy commanded the heavy cruiser LOUISVILLE from September 1942 until June 1943, during which time she was active in the Aleutians and South Pacific war theatres. After an important war plans tour in Washington, D.C., Rear Admiral Joy became commander of a cruiser division, leading it through nearly a year and a half of intense combat service against the Japanese.

Commanding an amphibious group when Japan capitulated in August 1945, Joy was soon assigned to duty in China. He was in charge of the Naval Proving Ground at Dahlgren, Virginia, in 1946-49 and was then sent back to the Western Pacific to become Commander Naval Forces, Far East. Vice Admiral Joy held that position until mid-1952, directing much of the Navy's effort during the first two years of the Korean War. From July 1951 he was also the senior United Nations Delegate to the Korean Armistice talks. His final assignment was as Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy. Retired in July 1954, Admiral Joy subsequently made his home in California, where he died on 13 June 1956.


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The photos below were taken by me on March 14, 2010, during a visit to the USS TURNER JOY museum at Bremerton, Wash.

Click here to view more photos.


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