U.S.S. Laffey
DD-724
1966
(SeaVee SVX-25a)
- Class: Allen M. Sumner - 31 FRAM II conversions of 1951
- Displacement: 2,100 tons
- Dimensions: 369(wl) 376.5(oa) x 41 x 19 ft.
- Machinery: 2-shaft geared turbines, S.H.P. 60,000 = 36.5 knots
- Armament: 6-5"/38 (3x2)
- Complement: 350
- Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
- Keel Laid: 28 Jun 1943
- Launched: 21 Nov 1943
- Commissioned: 8 Feb 1944 / 26 Jan 1951
- Decommissioned: 30 Jun 1947 / 29 Mar 1975
- Notes: Covered the Normandy landings at Utah beach on D-Day, 6 Jun 1944. Sailed for the Pacific arriving Nov 1944. Covered landings at Ormoc, Leyte, Mindoro, and Lingayen. Took part in Okinawa operations. On 16 Apr 1945 she was on radar picket duty about 30 miles north of Okinawa accompanied by landing craft LCS-51 and LCS-116 when she was attacked by more than 20 aircraft in one hour. Struck by 5 kamikazes plus bomb hits and near misses, she was crippled but through superb damage control stayed afloat, while downing a number of her attackers. With 32 dead and 71 wounded, whe limped back to Okinawa and then to Puget Sound for repairs. Served in Korea and then in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. FRAM'd in 1960s, she served to 1975. Now a museum ship at Patriots Point, South Carolina.
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