View source for USS Du Pont (DD-941)

{{other ships|USS Du Pont}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:USS Du Pont (DD-941) off Lebanon.jpg|300px|''Du Pont'' off the coast of Lebanon, 1982.]]
|Ship caption=''Du Pont'' off the coast of Lebanon, 1982.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1982}}
|Ship name=''Du Pont''
|Ship namesake=[[Samuel Francis Du Pont]] 
|Ship ordered=30 July 1954
|Ship builder=[[Bath Iron Works]]
|Ship laid down=11 May 1955
|Ship launched=8 September 1956
|Ship acquired=21 June 1957
|Ship commissioned=1 July 1957
|Ship decommissioned=4 March 1983
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=1 June 1990
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sold for scrap on 10 February 1999
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{Sclass|Forrest Sherman|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement=*2,800&nbsp;tons standard.
*4,050&nbsp;tons full load.
|Ship length={{convert|407|ft|m|abbr=on}} waterline, {{convert|418|ft|m|abbr=on}} overall.
|Ship beam={{convert|45|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft={{convert|22|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=4 × {{convert|1200|psi|MPa|abbr=on}} [[Babcock & Wilcox]] boilers, [[General Electric]] steam turbines; {{convert|70,000|shp|kW|abbr=on}} (52&nbsp;MW); 2 × shafts.
|Ship speed={{convert|32.5|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range={{convert|4500|nmi|km}} at {{convert|20|kn|km/h}}
|Ship complement=15 officers, 218 enlisted.
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*3 × [[5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun|5&nbsp;in (127&nbsp;mm)/54 calibre dual purpose Mk 42 guns]]
* 4 × [[3"/50 caliber gun|3&nbsp;in (76&nbsp;mm)/50 calibre Mark 33 anti-aircraft guns]]
* 2 × mark 10/11 [[Hedgehog (weapon)|Hedgehogs]]
* 6 × {{convert|12.75|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} [[Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes|Mark 32 torpedo tubes]].
|Ship armour=
|Ship armor=
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship aircraft facilities=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''USS ''Du Pont'' (DD-941)''', named for [[Rear Admiral]] [[Samuel Francis Du Pont]] USN (1803&ndash;1865),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/people/samuel-francis-du-pont.htm|title=Samuel Francis Du Pont (U.S. National Park Service)|website=nps.gov|language=en|access-date=2020-04-11}}</ref> was a {{sclass|Forrest Sherman|destroyer}} built by the [[Bath Iron Works]] Corporation at [[Bath, Maine|Bath]] in [[Maine]] and launched by Mrs. H. B. Du Pont, great-great-grandniece of Rear Admiral Du Pont; and commissioned 1 July 1957, [[Commander (United States)|Commander]] [[W. J. Maddocks]] in command.

==History==
From 6 to 31 July 1958 ''Du Pont'' served on a midshipman cruise and antisubmarine exercises in the Atlantic, duty broken by a visit to [[New York City|New York]]. ''Du Pont'' sailed 2 September for a tour of duty with the [[United States Sixth Fleet|6th Fleet]] in the [[Mediterranean Sea]], during which she participated in highly realistic air defense and antisubmarine warfare problems. She returned to Norfolk 12 March 1959, to prepare for [[Operation Inland Seas|Operation "Inland Seas]],"<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.usstorsk.net/photoalbum/59inlandsea01/tpic591.htm
 |title       = 1959: Operation Inland Seas
 |publisher   = Torsk Volunteer Association, Inc.
 |access-date  = 2008-04-27
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080526001043/http://www.usstorsk.net/photoalbum/59inlandsea01/tpic591.htm
 |archive-date = 2008-05-26
}}</ref> the historic first passage of a naval task force into the [[Great Lakes]] through the [[Saint Lawrence Seaway]]. She escorted the [[royal yacht]] {{ship|HMY|Britannia}} with Queen [[Elizabeth II]] of the United Kingdom embarked during the dedicatory ceremonies on 26 June.

''Du Pont'' crossed the Atlantic in August and September 1959, visiting [[Southampton]], England, after serving as plane guard for the transatlantic flight of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. On 28 January 1960 ''Du Pont'' sailed from Norfolk for a second tour of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, returning on 31 August for an overhaul in the [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard|Naval Shipyard]] where she remained through the end of 1960.

Fleet exercises in the [[Caribbean Sea]], operations along the Atlantic Coast, and enforcing the quarantine during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] carried ''Du Pont'' to April 1963 when she served as the command ship during the search for the [[submarine]] {{USS|Thresher|SSN-593|6}} that foundered off Boston on 10 April. She finished 1963 as the only destroyer in the [[United States Atlantic Fleet|Atlantic Fleet]] to win four successive "E"s in Engineering. Her fifth Mediterranean cruise began in November and continued into 1964.

After another Mediterranean deployment, she was the first ship to reach the [[Gemini 5]] space capsule after it landed, and her crew stood by to ensure that both astronauts and capsule were recovered safely. She was also the first vessel ever to recover the booster section of a space shot launch rocket, which she carried back to Norfolk lashed to her fantail. While in [[Santo Domingo]] during the Dominican Republic crisis, ''Du Pont'' earned a golden "E" to commemorate her sixth consecutive Engineering 'E'. Operations with the Sixth Fleet and [[NATO]] forces took up the first half of 1966, followed by a Caribbean cruise and the award of her seventh Engineering 'E', an unprecedented feat.

''Du Pont''{{'}}s first Vietnam deployment began in August 1967 on the gun line in support of [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]] fighting at the [[Demilitarized Zone]]. Under constant threat from enemy shore batteries, her gunners shelled enemy positions day and night. On 28 August, the enemy fired on the destroyer {{USS|Robison|DDG-12|2}}, which was between ''Du Pont'' and the beach. As ''Robison'' maneuvered to seaward, ''Du Pont'' returned fire, immediately replacing it as a target for some twenty {{convert|130|mm|in|abbr=on|0}} rounds. One shell found its target, hitting the Mount 52 gun. The burst sent shrapnel into the mount and down through the superstructure to the after deckhouse, killing FN Frank L. Ballant and wounding eight others. Despite the casualties to men and ship, ''Du Pont'' continued on station for another two weeks before heading for [[Naval Station Subic Bay|Subic Bay]] and repairs. Under fire once more when she returned to the gun line on 10&nbsp;October, she successfully avoided being hit. On 10&nbsp;November, the eight men wounded on 28&nbsp;August received [[Purple Heart]] medals, and two days later, the ship left for her last trip to the gun line. At the end of seventy-five days in combat, ''Du Pont''{{'}}s 5-inch guns had fired 20,000 rounds. Returning to Norfolk in January 1968, she went into dry dock for repairs followed by operations with the [[Project Apollo|Apollo]] recovery force, exercises in the Caribbean, and midshipman training. By summer's end, her engineering department had racked up its ninth departmental excellence award.

Back in the [[Far East]] on 10&nbsp;October 1968, she began twenty-six days on the gun line supporting [[United States Navy SEALs|SEAL]] reconnaissance teams and [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam|ARVN]] units in the [[Mekong Delta]]. Later in the [[Gulf of Siam]], she fired on a [[Vietcong]]-held island, supported a swift boat sweep up the [[Ông Đốc River]] estuary, and provided gun fire support in the [[I Corps (United States)|I Corps]] area and around [[Da Nang]]. In mid-December, her guns covered an amphibious landing to the south.

Returning to combat in January, her gunners supported the [[1st Marine Division (United States)|1st Marine Division]] at Da Nang, covered a four-day amphibious landing to the south, and then again shelled enemy positions around Da Nang and in the Mekong River Delta. When she left Vietnam that spring, ''Du Pont''{{'}}s guns had fired 30,000 rounds, damaging or destroying more than 730 military structures, and 131 small craft, not to mention causing multiple fires and explosions. Following her return to Norfolk, she entered the [[Boston Naval Shipyard]] and decommissioned on 23 May 1969 for antisubmarine warfare modernization.{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}}

Recommissioned on 9 May 1970, she returned to Norfolk and in April 1971, began antisubmarine warfare and routine operations along the Atlantic Coast, in the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. In 1972, she won the [[Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award]] for the Atlantic Fleet. In 1979, ''Du Pont'' was relocated to the Bethlehem Steel Works Ship Yard in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]], where the destroyer underwent a major refit. In 1980, the ship got underway and was attached to [[Destroyer Squadron 2|Comdesron 2]], under the command of Cmdr. [[Harlan K. Ullman]].

Following the refit, the ship sailed for its home port of [[Norfolk, Virginia]], before going to [[Guantanamo Bay, Cuba]]. Under Cmdr. Ullman's command, the crew participated in two weeks of refresher training, simulating wartime conditions. The crew of ''Du Pont'' received three of the Battle "E's".

[[File:Mail Call Aboard Du Pont.jpg|thumb|left|''Du Pont'' off the coast of Iran in Persian Gulf during Mail Call flight]]
In 1981, ''Du Pont'' went to the Middle East, sailing through the [[Suez Canal]] into the Red Sea then to the [[Persian Gulf]]. The ship was assigned to the {{USS|Nimitz||2}} battle group, remaining on patrol in the Persian Gulf following the release of American hostages held in [[Iran]]. The ship was continually on alert, as Iranian [[P-3 Orion]]s, originally supplied by the United States, would survey the gulf to track U.S. ship movements.

In 1982, ''Du Pont'' was assigned to assist [[Israel]], after the [[1982 Lebanon War|confrontation]] took place between [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli forces]] and the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]]. The ship remained off the coast of [[Beirut]] for nearly 100 days, lending naval gunfire support. ''Du Pont'' was stationed off the coast of [[Lebanon]] longer than any other U.S. Navy ship.{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}}

==Fate==
''Du Pont'' was decommissioned on 4 March 1983 and sold for scrap on 11 December 1992 to the [[Fore River Shipyard and Iron Works]].

==References==
*{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/du-pont-iii.html}}
*{{Naval Vessel Register|{{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=DD941}}}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}

{{Forrest Sherman class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Du Pont (DD-941)}}
[[Category:Forrest Sherman-class destroyers]]
[[Category:Cold War destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Vietnam War destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Bath, Maine]]
[[Category:1956 ships]]