Representative of 14 Fletcher class destroyers built at the Charlestown Navy Yard, USS Cassin Young exemplifies the intense military-industrial effort that greatly contributed to the Allied victory in World War II. Named for a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Cassin Young first saw action in the Pacific in April 1944. The ship rescued some 120 survivors of the stricken carrier USS Princeton in October 1944, and carries a commemorative plaque presented by those grateful sailors. But it was on the picket line off Okinawa that she truly distinguished herself, surviving two separate hits by Japanese kamikazes. Although the second attack, on July 30, 1945, killed 22 and wounded twice as many and totally disabled the ship, the heroic efforts of her crew saved the ship.
Decommissioned in 1946, Cassin Young returned to duty in 1951. For the rest of the 1950s, she served primarily in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She entered the reserve fleet for a second time in 1960. She was transferred to the National Park Service for use as a museum ship in June 1978.
USS Cassin Young is a National Historic Landmark.
Sea - Military - Other, Museums - Sea
Links: www.hnsa.org, en.wikipedia.org
By: kjfitz
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