DD-868 - Tin Can Sailors

Hull Number: DD-868

Launch Date: 07/07/1945

Commissioned Date: 11/16/1945

Decommissioned Date: 09/30/1976

Call Sign: NBGN

Voice Call Sign: GREASE (49-50), PALMOLIVE

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: WILLARD HERBERT BROWNSON

WILLARD HERBERT BROWNSON

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, September 2019

Willard Herbert Brownson — born in Lyons, New York, on 8 July 1845 to Morton and Harriet (Taft) Brownson. After attending a private elementary school and Lyons Union School, he entered the Naval Academy on 29 November 1861 and graduated on 25 October 1865. Brownson then served in the North Atlantic Squadron until the summer of 1868 when he received orders to join the Pacific Fleet. During his tour of duty on board the corvette Mohican, he and a detachment of men destroyed the Mexican pirate gunboat Forward at the Battle of Boca Teacapan on 17 June 1870.

Brownson reported for duty at the Naval Academy’s Department of Mathematics on 20 September 1872. Nearly three years later, on 1 July 1875, the young Lieutenant received orders to shift to the Asiatic Fleet. Brownson returned to the Naval Academy as Assistant Commandant of Cadets in October of 1878. In August of 1881, he joined the Coast and Geodetic Survey as a lieutenant commander where he commanded the survey steamers Gedney and Blake until 1884. After brief duty as executive officer of Powhatan from 10 December 1884 until 23 June 1885, Brownson served as Inspector of Hydrography for the Coast Survey until 1 July 1889. He achieved the rank of commander on 19 May 1891. From 1889 to 1898, Brownson commanded several ships, including Petrel (Gunboat No. 2), the dispatch vessel Dolphin, Detroit (Cruiser No. 10), at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the Brazilian Naval Revolt of 1893-94, the sail training ship Monongahela, and the auxiliary cruiser Yankee, during the Spanish-American War. After a return to the Naval Academy as Commandant of Cadets from 21 November 1894 until 12 November 1895, he served for two years on the Board of Inspection and Survey. On 3 March 1899, Brownson achieved the rank of captain and took command of Alabama (Battleship No.8). From November 1902 to June 1905, he was Superintendent of the Naval Academy.

Brownson rose to the rank of rear admiral on 6 May 1905 and two months later, on 8 July, he hoisted his flag on board West Virginia (Armored Cruiser No. 5) as commander, Fourth Division, North Atlantic Fleet. The following year, he served as Commander, Special Service Squadron, in Central American Waters before assuming command of the Asiatic Fleet. In May of 1907, he became Chief of the Bureau of Navigation and took charge of the Navy’s personnel matters.

After transferring to the retired list in July of 1907, Brownson continued to serve in his post at the Bureau of Navigation until December. That same month, President Theodore Roosevelt decided to give command of hospital ships to Navy doctors, against Brownson’s advice, who subsequently resigned from the Navy in protest. A storm of dissent arose within the Navy and from the public, but Brownson’s active naval career was over.

Rear Admiral Brownson died in Washington, D.C., on 16 March 1935.

Disposition:

Sold for scrap 1977-1978.

TCS Ship History

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS BROWNSON DD-868

The Tin Can Sailor, April 2001

The BROWNSON (DD-868) was commissioned at New York on 17 November 1945 and in November 1946 took part in the polar expedition led by Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Her first deployment with the Sixth Fleet was in 1948.

On 8 November 1950, the BROWNSON and CHARLES H. ROAN (DD-853) were engaged in night operations some 265 miles off Bermuda. At 0103 the task group commander ordered the two destroyers to change station, a maneuver that required them to cross paths. Steaming at twenty knots and running dark, the ships were on a collision course before anyone could take action to avoid disaster. At 0110, with sirens blaring a warning, they collided. The BROWNSON’s bow tore a large hole in the ROAN in the area of the after engine room and machine shop. Within fifteen seconds the ships had broken clear of each other revealing that the collision had sheared away a large section of the BROWNSON’s bow and several forward ordnance storage compartments were flooding. Aboard the ROAN, a sailor in the machine shop went into the sea through the hole torn in the hull, but within minutes the BROWNSON’s boat had recovered him. He was a lucky one. As a result of the collision, five of the ROAN’s crew died—three instantly, two later— and several were injured, two requiring hospitalization.

Among those on hand to assist the stricken ships were the DENNIS J. BUCKLEY (DDR-808), MYLES C. FOX (DDR-829), and SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DD-823). At 1445, with flooding under control and the forward bulkhead shored up, the BROWNSON got underway for Bermuda with the quickly assembled task group. The ROBERTS, which was later relieved by the LUISENO (ATF-156), followed with the ROAN in tow. Her injured crewmen were sped to Bermuda aboard the PALAU (CVE-122) and BENNER (DDR-807). The BROWNSON and the task group reached Bermuda on 11 November. The ROAN reached port on the 12th.

Following repairs, she returned to a normal routine. NATO exercises in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, cruises to South America and the Caribbean, duty in the Far East, and a tour in the Persian Gulf carried her through 1956. Two years later, the BROWNSON joined Destroyer Development Group Two whose task was to develop, test, and evaluate new equipment.

She took part of the Cuban quarantine in October 1962 and in June 1963 underwent fleet rehabilitation and modernization (FRAM) conversion. Following her 1964 Mediterranean deployment, the BROWNSON was outfitted with two DASH helicopters. In 1965, she operated along the East Coast, participated in NATO exercises in the North Atlantic, and visited thirteen ports in Northern Europe. During 1966 she served as a destroyer school ship with the GAINARD (DD-706) and HARLAN R. DICKSON (DD-708) conducting training exercises in Narragansett Bay and the Caribbean.

In October 1966, the BROWNSON got underway for the Western Pacific and on 21 November, with the CHARLES P. CECIL (DD-835), joined the FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (CVA-42) on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. Completing plane guard duties on 29 November, she proceeded to the I Corps area of South Vietnam to conduct gunfire support operations, shelling enemy positions. She returned to plane guard duty until 26 December when she conducted antisubmarine warfare exercises with the STODDARD (DD-566) and CARBONERO (SS-337). While in Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan, the BROWNSON’s crew helped fight a fire in the hold of the Panamanian merchant ship SS ORIANA. She was back in Vietnamese waters in January 1967, firing on Vietcong buildings, troops, and bases in the III Corps area.

Back home in April 1967, she conducted midshipmen and destroyer school training cruises in the Caribbean with the HARLAN R. DICKSON and HUGH PURVIS (DD-709). She was involved in tests of experimental sonar equipment during much of 1968 and then got underway for a Sixth Fleet deployment in 1969, steaming east in company with the WILLIAM R. RUSH (DD-714) and O’HARE (DD-889). That summer she operated in Northern Europe and the Arctic Circle with the WASP (CVS-18), VOGE (DE-1047), KOELSCH (DE-1049), O’HARE, BORDELON (DD-881), and WILLIAM V. PRATT (DLG-13). In the Caribbean in September 1969, as plane guard for the FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, she rescued two men overboard from the carrier. A day later, the destroyer helped search for two A4 pilots involved in a mid-air collision near St. Croix. Fishermen recovered one pilot, but all that could be found of the other was his flight helmet.

Over the next two years, she engaged in operations out of Newport and exercises in the Caribbean and off the Virginia Capes with the BASILONE (DD-824), CHARLES P. CECIL (DD-835), GARCIA (DE-1040), KOELSCH, BARRY (DD-933) and BELKNAP (DLG-26). A transfer to Mayport, Florida, Mediterranean deployments, exercises in the North Atlantic, surveillance of Soviet antisubmarine warfare exercises, a Caribbean cruise, and a final tour of duty to Africa, Pakistan, and the Persian Gulf ended her career. She was decommissioned and stricken from the navy’s list on 30 September 1976 and sold for scrap in June 1977.

Ship History

USS BROWNSON DD-868 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, June 2015

The second Brownson (DD-868) was launched 7 July 1945 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Staten Island, N.Y.; sponsored by Miss Caroline Brownson Hart, granddaughter of Admiral Bronson; and commissioned 17 November 1945, Commander W. R. Cox in command.

Brownson conducted shakedown in the Atlantic and Caribbean and was then placed in a reduced operational status at Bath, Maine, for six months. Resuming active operations in October 1946, she participated in Operation High Jump between November 1946 and April 1947.

Brownson spent the summer and fall of 1947 operating out of Newport. In February 1948 she took part in the 2nd Fleet exercises in the Caribbean and then joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. She returned to Newport in June 1948 and spent June 1948 to May 1949 conducting reserve cruises.

In May 1949 she entered Boston Naval Shipyard for an extensive modernization which lasted until March 1950. She conducted refresher training in the Caribbean and in the summer of 1950 made a Midshipmen cruise in the Caribbean. She then participated in fleet exericses, operating out of Newport.

During night operations off Bermuda on 8 November 1950 Brownson collided with Charles H. Roan (DD-853). She returned to Boston for repairs and further modernization. Leaving the yeard in February 1951 she joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. The period between October 1951 and August 1952 was spent in the vicinity of Newport. In August 1952 she went to the North Atlantic with the 2nd Fleet for NATO’s Operation Mainbrace. In October 1952 she rejoined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Returning to Newport in February 1953, she operated along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean until August 1954, with the exception of one Midshipmen cruise and participation in Operation Springboard.

She departed Newport 2 August for an extended tour in the Far East with the 7th Fleet. In the Far East Brownson cruised in Japanese, Philippine, and Korean waters until January 1955. Departing the Far East she returned to the east coast, via the Suez Canal, arriving at Newport 14 March 1955.

Since March 1955 Brownson has operated along the eastern seaboard, in the Caribbean, and in the Mediterranean.

Updates for 1956 to 1976 pending.

Brownson was decommissioned in 1976 and struck from the Navy list on 30 September 1976. Custody of the ship was transferred to North American Smelting Co., Wilmington, Del., and the ship was towed to the salvage yard, Bordenton, N.J. on 28 June 1977.