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USS BASILONE DD-824

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Hull Number: DD-824

Launch Date: 12/21/1945

Commissioned Date: 07/26/1949

Decommissioned Date: 11/01/1977

Call Sign: NAYQ

Voice Call Sign: Kenwood

Other Designations: DDE-824


Class: GEARING

GEARING Class

Data for USS Gearing (DD-710) as of 1945

Length Overall: 390’ 6"

Beam: 40’ 10"

Draft: 14’ 4"

Standard Displacement: 2,425 tons

Full Load Displacement: 3,479 tons

Fuel capacity: 4,647 barrels

Armament:

Six 5″/38 caliber guns
Two 40mm twin anti-aircraft mounts
Two 40mm quadruple anti-aircraft mounts
Two 21″ quintuple torpedo tubes

Complement:

20 Officers
325 Enlisted

Propulsion:

4 Boilers
2 General Electric Turbines: 60,000 horsepower

Highest speed on trials: 34.6 knots

Namesake: JOHN BASILONE

JOHN BASILONE

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (Published 1959)

Born in Buffalo, N. Y., 4 November 1916, John Basilone enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1940. He served at various posts in the United States before being transferred to the field. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism on Guadalcanal, 24-25 October 1942. Gunnery Sergeant Basilone was killed in action on Iwo Jima, 19 February 1945 and was awarded a posthumous Navy Cross.


Disposition:

Stricken 11/1/1977. Sunk as target off NE Florida 4/9/1982.


Ship History

USS BASILONE DD-824 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (Published 1959)

Basilone (DD-824) was launched 21 December 1945 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Tex.; sponsored by Sergeant Lena Mae Basilone, USMCWR, widow of Sergeant Basilone. The vessel was deactivated for a period of time and was then moved from Orange, Tex., to the Quincy Yard of Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass., for conversion to an escort destroyer (reclassified DDE-824, 28 January 1948). Conversion completed, Basilone (DDE-824) was commissioned 26 July 1949, Commander M. E. Dennett in command.

Assigned to Destroyer Force, Atlantic, Basilone has operated out of Norfolk on local operations and competitive exercises, with the Operational Development Force, Surface Anti-Submarine Development Detachment, and as a school ship for the Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Fla.; and in the Caribbean on anti-submarine and hunter-killer exercises. At frequent intervals between March 1952 and September 1954 she conducted four tours of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Between 6 June and 4 August 1955 she served as a unit of midshipman cruise Able which visited Spain, England, and Cuba. In 1956, between October and December, Basilone made a cruise of Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, after which she returned to Norfolk.