USS Edson (DD-946)

History


Name:	Edson
Namesake:	Merritt A. Edson
Awarded:	27 January 1956
Builder:	Bath Iron Works, Bath ME
Laid down:	3 December 1956
Launched:	4 January 1958
Sponsored by:	Mrs. M. A. Edson (widow)
Acquired:	31 October 1958
Commissioned:	7 November 1958
Decommissioned:	15 December 1988
Struck:	31 January 1989
Homeport:	Long Beach, CA
Identification:	NJRE (radio call sign)
Nickname(s):	Fast Eddie, The Grey Ghost of the Vietnamese Coast
Honors and awards:	Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Navy Unit Commendation, Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Medal, Combat Action Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation
Status:	Museum Ship at Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum, Bay City, Michigan since 2013
General characteristics
Class and type:	Forrest Sherman-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,800 tons standard. 4,050 tons full load.
Length:	407 ft (124 m) waterline, 418 ft (127 m) overall.
Beam:	45 ft (14 m)
Draught:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion:	4 × 1,200 psi (8.3 MPa) Babcock & Wilcox boilers, Worthington steam turbines; 70,000 shp (52 MW); 2 × shafts.
Speed:	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h)
Range:	4,500 nautical miles at 20 kt (8,300 km at 37 km/h)
Complement:	17 officers, 218 enlisted.
Armament:	3 × 5 in (127 mm)/54 calibre dual purpose Mk 42 guns; (3x1) 4 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 calibre Mark 33 anti-aircraft guns (2x2); 2 × mark 10/11 Hedgehogs; 6 × 12.75 in (324 mm) Mark 32 torpedo tubes.

Significant dates

USS Edson
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location	Bay City, Michigan
NRHP Reference #	90000333
Added to NRHP	21 June 1990
Designated NHL	21 June 1990

USS Edson (DD-946) was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer of the United States Navy, built by Bath Iron Works in Maine in 1958. Her home port was Long Beach, California and she initially served in the Western Pacific/Far East, operating particularly in the Taiwan Strait and off the coast of Vietnam. Her exceptionally meritorious service in 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin was recognized with the first of three Navy Unit Commendations. During the following years she was shelled by North Vietnamese land forces, and apparently received friendly fire from the US Air Force.

Following an onboard fire in 1974, Edson returned to the West Pacific and was later commended for her roles in the evacuation of Phnom Penh and Saigon.

She was decommissioned in 1988, but the following year became a museum ship at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York. Returning to Navy lay-up in 2004, it was agreed in 2012 that she should again become a museum ship, at Bay City, Michigan.

USS Edson was named for Major General Merritt “Red Mike” Edson USMC (1897–1955), who was awarded the Medal of Honor (while serving as Commanding Officer of the First Marine Raider Battalion on Guadalcanal) and the Navy Cross and Silver Star for other actions in World War II.

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