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USS Newman K. Perry (DD 883)

- formerly DDR 883 -
- decommissioned -


USS NEWMAN K. PERRY was one of the GEARING - class destroyers and the first ship in the Navy to bear the name. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on February 27, 1981, the NEWMAN K. PERRY was transferred to South Korea the same day and recommissioned as KYONG KI. Finally decommissioned in 1998, the destroyer was later scrapped.

General Characteristics:Awarded: 1943
Keel laid: October 10, 1944
Launched: March 17, 1945
Commissioned: July 26, 1945
Decommissioned: February 27, 1981
Builder: Consolidated Steel Co., Orange, TX
FRAM I Conversion Shipyard: Boston Naval Shipyard, Boston, Mass.
FRAM I Conversion Period: 1964 - February 1965
Propulsion system: four boilers, General Electric geared turbines; 60,000 SHP
Propellers: two
Length: 391 feet (119.2 meters)
Beam: 41 feet (12.5 meters)
Draft: 18.7 feet (5.7 meters)
Displacement: approx. 3,400 tons full load
Speed: 34 knots
Aircraft after FRAM I: two DASH drones
Armament after FRAM I: one ASROC missile launcher, two 5-inch/38 caliber twin mounts, Mk-32 ASW torpedo tubes (two triple mounts)
Crew after FRAM I: 14 officers, 260 enlisted


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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS NEWMAN K. PERRY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.


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USS NEWMAN K. PERRY Cruise Books:


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USS NEWMAN K. PERRY History:

NEWMAN K. PERRY was built at Orange, Texas. Converted for radar picket missions while fitting out, she was placed in commission in late July 1945, a few weeks before Japan's acceptance of Allied terms brought World War II's fighting to an end. After brief service with the Atlantic Fleet, in the final months of 1945 NEWMAN K. PERRY steamed through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific to begin her first tour of duty in Far Eastern waters. In mid-1946 she operated in support of Operation "Crossroads", the atomic bomb tests in the Marshall Islands, and in 1947-1948 made a second deployment to the western Pacific.

In formal recognition of her radar picket capabilities, in March 1949 NEWMAN K. PERRY was redesignated DDR 883 and, soon afterwards, transferred to the Atlantic Fleet. Later in the year she began the first of a long series of deployments to the Mediterranean and Black Seas. These cruises, which took much of her time during the next twenty-four years, were punctuated by operations in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean. The destroyer also paid occasional visits to northern Europe and west Africa.

In 1953 NEWMAN K. PERRY received more advanced radar equipment, an updated combat information center and new anti-aircraft guns. In March 1961 she participated in the recovery effort for the Project "Mercury" space flight, and, in the fall of 1962 she took part in Cuban missile crisis operations. The destroyer was extensively modernized for anti-submarine duties under the FRAM I program during 1964-1965, shortly after a second redesignation again made her DD 883.

During late 1966 and early 1967 NEWMAN K. PERRY went to the Far East for a Vietnam War tour. After several months of service with the Seventh Fleet, including naval gunfire support and escort work, she completed a voyage around the World to return to the U.S. East Coast. In 1973 the ship was transferred to the Naval Reserve Force. She made a last Mediterranean cruise in that year, but thereafter her operations were in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. USS NEWMAN K. PERRY was decommissioned in late February 1981 and transferred to the Republic of Korea. Renamed KYONG KI, she served with that nation's navy until 1998, when the fifty-three year old destroyer was placed out of service and scrapped.


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About the Ship's Name:

Newman Kershaw Perry, born in South Carolina 28 November 1880, was appointed Naval Cadet 9 September 1897 and commissioned Ensign 7 June 1903. Stationed in BENNINGTON, he was killed by an explosion of boilers in that ship at San Diego, 21 July 1905.


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Accidents aboard USS NEWMAN K. PERRY:

DateWhereEvents
March 3, 1964Tampa Bay, Fla.
USS NEWMAN K. PERRY collides with a barge, sinking the barge and causing flooding in the destroyer's bow area.
August 27, 1965off Sardinia, ItalyUSS SHANGRI-LA (CV 38) and USS NEWMAN K. PERRY collide off Sardinia, killing one sailor and injuring another on the destroyer. The PERRY's bow is crushed and twisted to starboard. Both ships are repaired at Naples and return to duty with the Sixth Fleet.

Below is a report about the collision from SHANGRI-LA's 1965 cruise book.

      


January 20, 1975off New JerseyUSS NEWMAN K. PERRY experiences minor flooding in the engine room after hitting an unknown object off New Jersey.


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During and After FRAM I Conversion:




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