USS Power (DD-839)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Power.
USS Power in 1966
History
United States
Name: USS Power (DD-839)
Namesake: John V. Power
Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Laid down: 26 February 1945
Launched: 30 June 1945
Commissioned: 13 September 1945
Decommissioned: September 1977
Struck: 1 October 1977
Fate: Sold to Republic of China, 1 October 1977
History
Taiwan
Name: ROCS Shen Yang (DD-923)
Acquired: 1 October 1977
Reclassified: DDG-923
Decommissioned: 26 November 2005
Fate: Possible Museum ship
General characteristics
Class and type: Gearing-class destroyer
Displacement: 3,460 long tons (3,516 t) full
Length: 390 ft 6 in (119.02 m)
Beam: 40 ft 10 in (12.45 m)
Draft: 14 ft 4 in (4.37 m)
Propulsion: Geared turbines, 2 shafts, 60,000 shp (45 MW)
Speed: 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range: 4,500 nmi (8,300 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 336
Armament:

USS Power (DD-839) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy, the first Navy ship named for First Lieutenant John V. Power, USMC (1918–1944), who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in the Battle of Kwajalein. This ship was involved in the Project SHAD tests off Newfoundland.

Power was laid down on 26 February 1945 by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; launched on 30 June 1945; sponsored by Mrs. George F. Power, mother of Lt. Power; and commissioned on 13 September 1945 at Boston, Commander John M. Steinbeck in command.

Service history

1945–1959

After shakedown out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Power sailed on 9 January 1946 on the first of many Mediterranean deployments. Returning to the east coast six months later, she remained in the western Atlantic and Caribbean until late in 1948 when she again sailed for Mediterranean waters, to patrol the coast of Palestine under the direction of the United Nations Mediation Board.

During early 1950, Power operated with units of the British Royal Navy and visited ports in Northern Europe, whence she steamed to the Mediterranean for another tour with the 6th Fleet. In the summer of 1952 Power completed a South American cruise, then returned to the east coast to resume her schedule of reservist and Midshipman training cruises, fleet and type exercises, and Mediterranean deployments.

In 1958 Power faced the Lebanon crisis with the 6th Fleet; and, after her return to the east coast, participated in the first Project Mercury launches.

1960–1969

From November 1960 to January 1962 Power received a Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM I) overhaul, giving her the ASROC system and DASH capability. By September 1962 she was back in the Mediterranean.

During her 1963 overseas deployment Power served with the Middle East Force and at the end of the year, into 1964, operated off eastern Florida in connection with the Polaris program. Following another Mediterranean cruise and further east coast exercises in late 1965, she steamed in mid-Atlantic as a member of the recovery teams for Gemini 6 and 7.

During 1966 and 1967, she again served with the 6th Fleet and the Middle East Force, but in August 1968 she transited the Panama Canal for a tour in the western Pacific. With the 7th Fleet from 26 September 1968, she served in the "Yankee Station" Surveillance Area and provided gunfire support and search and rescue (SAR) off South Vietnam. She arrived Mayport, Florida on 9 July 1969.

1970–1977

Power was decommissioned in September 1977, and sold to the Republic of China (Taiwan) in October.

ROCS Sheng-Yang (DDG-923)

The ship served in the Republic of China Navy as ROCS Sheng-Yang (DDG-923).

Sheng-Yang was decommissioned on 26 November 2005 in Keelung Harbor, in a ceremony hosted by Admiral Bon-Chi Chen, the commander-in-chief of the ROCN. The ship, then Taiwan's last ex-Gearing-class destroyer, will possibly become a museum ship.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.


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