USS Plunkett (DD-431)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | USS Plunkett |
| Namesake: | Charles Peshall Plunkett |
| Builder: | Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company |
| Laid down: | 1 March 1939 |
| Launched: | 7 March 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 17 July 1940 |
| Decommissioned: | 3 May 1946 |
| Fate: | To Taiwan, 16 February 1959 |
| Struck: | 1 November 1972 |
| Identification: | DD-431 |
 Taiwan
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| Name: | ROCS Nan Yang |
| Acquired: | 16 February 1959 |
| Struck: | 1975 |
| Identification: | DD-17 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1975 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Gleaves-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,630 tons |
| Length: | 348 ft 3 in (106.15 m) |
| Beam: | 36 ft 1 in (11.00 m) |
| Draft: | 11 ft 10 in (3.61 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 37.4 knots (69 km/h) |
| Range: | 6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement: | 16 officers, 260 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Plunkett (DD-431), a Gleaves-class destroyer, is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Charles Peshall Plunkett.
Plunkett was laid down on 1 March 1939 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, New Jersey and launched on 7 March 1940, sponsored by Mrs. Charles P. Plunkett, widow of Rear Admiral Plunkett. The ship was commissioned on 17 July 1940 Lieutenant Commander P. G. Hale in command.
Prior to 7 December 1941, Plunkett operated in the Western Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico–Caribbean area on Neutrality Patrol. Initially in the latter area, she joined other Neutrality Patrol vessels off Tampico to prevent the departure of several German steamers, then cruised off Martinique, French Antilles to prevent the dispatching of warships, equipment, and gold to the Vichy government. Patrol and convoy missions in the North Atlantic followed, and, on 7 December 1941, she was en route from Reykjavík to Argentia.
Plunkett continued such duty until joining Task Force 39 (TF 39) on 20 March 1942. Six days later she departed the east coast for Scapa Flow and arrived in Orkney on 4 April to commence operations with the British Home Fleet. Employed on North Sea patrols and escort work over the first leg of the Murmansk run, she was relieved, by Mayrant, in mid-May and assigned to escort the battleship New York back to the United States. Coastwise and Caribbean escort duty followed and in August she returned to the North Atlantic to accompany UK-bound convoys. On 2 November, she departed New York On her first escort run to North Africa. Delayed en route to allow time for the clearance of wreckage from her port of destination, her group delivered its charges with their reinforcement troops and equipment to Casablanca on the 18th. Then, after patrolling off the Moroccan coast she returned to New York and local operations off southern New England.
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Wikipedia