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USS Forrest Sherman (DD-931)
Encyclopedia
USS Forrest Sherman (DD-931) was the lead ship
of her class
of destroyer
of the United States Navy
. She was named for Admiral Forrest P. Sherman USN (1896–1951).
Forrest Sherman was laid down by the Bath Iron Works
Corporation at Bath
, Maine
on 27 October 1953, launched
on 5 February 1955 by Mrs. Forrest P. Sherman, widow of Admiral Sherman and commissioned
on 9 November 1955, Commander R. S. Crenshaw in command.
After a year of initial training and fitting out, Forrest Sherman arrived at her home port
, Newport, R.I.
, 15 January 1957. Two days later she sailed for Washington, D.C.
, where she was open for public visiting during the week of the second inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
. From Newport, Forrest Sherman sailed on training and fleet exercises along the east coast and in the Caribbean
, until the summer of 1957, when she took part in the midshipman cruise to South America
and the International Naval Review in Hampton Roads
on 12 June.
On 3 September 1957, Forrest Sherman sailed for NATO Operation Strikeback
, screening a carrier
striking group in exercises off Norway
. She called at Plymouth
, England
, and Copenhagen
, Denmark
, before returning to Narragansett Bay
on 22 October. In preparation for her first deployment to the Mediterranean, the destroyer took part in amphibious exercises off Puerto Rico
in July 1958, and arrived at Gibraltar
on 10 August. She patrolled the eastern Mediterranean through the rest of the month, then sailed to join the 7th Fleet in its operations off Taiwan
in support of the threatened islands
of Quemoy and Matsu
. Sailing eastward to complete a cruise around the world, Forrest Sherman returned to Newport on 11 November.
During the summer of 1959, Forrest Sherman joined in Operation Inland Seas
, the cruise of a task force
into the Great Lakes
in celebration of the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. She served as escort to the Royal Yacht
HMY Britannia
with President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II
embarked for the naval review on Lake St. Louis on 26 June, then sailed on to entertain over 110,000 visitors at Great Lakes ports. Returning to Newport, Forrest Sherman took part in coastal exercises with the Atlantic Fleet
, then underwent minor repairs and alterations in the Boston Naval Shipyard.
More training exercises began in 1960 for the destroyer, and on 21 March she sailed on a 7-month cruise to the Mediterranean and duty with the 6th Fleet. En route home in October, Forrest Sherman came to the aid of the Liberia
n freighter
Allen Christensen who had a severely injured man on board. Taking off the patient in a motor whaleboat at night, Forrest Sherman sped him to Bermuda
, site of the nearest hospital. The destroyer arrived at Newport on 15 October and some four weeks later entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for major overhaul, lasting into 1961.
on 27 July 1990 and sold for scrap to the Fore River Shipyard and Iron Works
at Quincy
, Massachusetts
on 11 December 1992. When the Fore River Shipyard went bankrupt she was resold to N. R. Acquisition Incorporated of New York City
by the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court.
Ship was 'recovered' by the Navy and berthed in the Inactive Ship Facility at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
. She was eventually put on a list for donation for museum status. In 2006, Congress passed Pub.L. 109-163, the National Denfense Authorization Act 2006, which authorized the transfer of Forrest Sherman to the USS Forrest Sherman DD-931 Foundation Inc, a group that plans on moving the ship to Indian River Inlet, Delaware
to restore it as a museum . No longer on hold for donation as of 2011, and volunteers from other museum ships were allowed to remove useful parts/equipment in June, 2011. Set for scrapping.
Lead ship
The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...
of her class
Forrest Sherman class destroyer
The 18 Forrest Sherman-class destroyers were the first US post-war destroyers . and later ships were equipped with B&W Bailey Meter Company's new automatic boiler combustion control system, and a modified hurricane bow/anchor configuration...
of destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. She was named for Admiral Forrest P. Sherman USN (1896–1951).
Forrest Sherman was laid down by the Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...
Corporation at Bath
Bath, Maine
Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River, Bath is a port of entry with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
on 27 October 1953, launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
on 5 February 1955 by Mrs. Forrest P. Sherman, widow of Admiral Sherman and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
on 9 November 1955, Commander R. S. Crenshaw in command.
After a year of initial training and fitting out, Forrest Sherman arrived at her home port
Home port
A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull...
, Newport, R.I.
Naval Station Newport
The Naval Station Newport is a United States Navy base located in the towns of Newport and Middletown, Rhode Island. Naval Station Newport is home to the Naval War College and the Naval Justice School...
, 15 January 1957. Two days later she sailed for Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where she was open for public visiting during the week of the second inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
. From Newport, Forrest Sherman sailed on training and fleet exercises along the east coast and in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, until the summer of 1957, when she took part in the midshipman cruise to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and the International Naval Review in Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
on 12 June.
On 3 September 1957, Forrest Sherman sailed for NATO Operation Strikeback
Operation Strikeback
Operation Strikeback was a major naval exercise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that took place over a ten-day period in September 1957....
, screening a carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
striking group in exercises off Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. She called at Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, before returning to Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147 mi2 , the Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago...
on 22 October. In preparation for her first deployment to the Mediterranean, the destroyer took part in amphibious exercises off Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
in July 1958, and arrived at Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
on 10 August. She patrolled the eastern Mediterranean through the rest of the month, then sailed to join the 7th Fleet in its operations off Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
in support of the threatened islands
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict that took place between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China governments in which the PRC shelled the islands of Matsu and Quemoy in the Taiwan Strait in an attempt to seize them from...
of Quemoy and Matsu
Matsu Islands
The Matsu Islands are a minor archipelago of 19 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait administered as Lienchiang County , Fujian Province of the Republic of China . Only a small area of what is historically Lienchiang County is under the control of the ROC...
. Sailing eastward to complete a cruise around the world, Forrest Sherman returned to Newport on 11 November.
During the summer of 1959, Forrest Sherman joined in Operation Inland Seas
Operation Inland Seas
Operation Inland Seas was a United States Navy operation to celebrate the completion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959.Task Force 47 , a 28-ship detachment of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Edmund B...
, the cruise of a task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
into the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
in celebration of the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. She served as escort to the Royal Yacht
Royal Yacht
A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...
HMY Britannia
HMY Britannia
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia is the former Royal Yacht of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. She was the 83rd such vessel since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. She is the second Royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the famous racing cutter built for The Prince of Wales...
with President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
embarked for the naval review on Lake St. Louis on 26 June, then sailed on to entertain over 110,000 visitors at Great Lakes ports. Returning to Newport, Forrest Sherman took part in coastal exercises with the Atlantic Fleet
U.S. Atlantic Fleet
The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...
, then underwent minor repairs and alterations in the Boston Naval Shipyard.
More training exercises began in 1960 for the destroyer, and on 21 March she sailed on a 7-month cruise to the Mediterranean and duty with the 6th Fleet. En route home in October, Forrest Sherman came to the aid of the Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
n freighter
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
Allen Christensen who had a severely injured man on board. Taking off the patient in a motor whaleboat at night, Forrest Sherman sped him to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, site of the nearest hospital. The destroyer arrived at Newport on 15 October and some four weeks later entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for major overhaul, lasting into 1961.
Fate
Forrest Sherman was decommissioned on 5 November 1982, stricken from the Naval Vessel RegisterNaval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 27 July 1990 and sold for scrap to the Fore River Shipyard and Iron Works
Fore River Shipyard
The Fore River Shipyard of Quincy, Massachusetts, more formally known as the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, was a shipyard in the United States from 1883 until 1986. Located on the Weymouth Fore River, the yard began operations in 1883 in Braintree, Massachusetts before being moved...
at Quincy
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
on 11 December 1992. When the Fore River Shipyard went bankrupt she was resold to N. R. Acquisition Incorporated of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
by the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court.
Ship was 'recovered' by the Navy and berthed in the Inactive Ship Facility at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
The Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...
. She was eventually put on a list for donation for museum status. In 2006, Congress passed Pub.L. 109-163, the National Denfense Authorization Act 2006, which authorized the transfer of Forrest Sherman to the USS Forrest Sherman DD-931 Foundation Inc, a group that plans on moving the ship to Indian River Inlet, Delaware
Indian River (Delaware)
The Indian River is a river and estuary, approximately 15 mi long, in Sussex County in southern Delaware in the United States....
to restore it as a museum . No longer on hold for donation as of 2011, and volunteers from other museum ships were allowed to remove useful parts/equipment in June, 2011. Set for scrapping.