USS Brownson (DD-868)

USS Brownson (DD-868) in the Atlantic, 1964
History
United States
Name:	Brownson
Namesake:	The Bouncing B
Builder:	Bethlehem Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, New York
Laid down:	13 February 1945
Launched:	7 July 1945
Sponsored by:	Miss Caroline Brownson Hart
Christened:	7 July 1945
Commissioned:	17 November 1945
Decommissioned:	30 September 1976
Struck:	30 September 1976
Homeport:	Newport, RI.
Identification:	Radio Call id: Palmolive
Motto:	VIRTUTE ET AUDACIA
Nickname(s):	The Bouncing Bee
Fate:	scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gearing

USS Brownson (DD-868), a Gearing-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Willard H. Brownson, USN (1845–1935).

Brownson was designed by Gibbs and Cox, Naval Architects, New York office. Its keel was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Staten Island in New York on 13 February 1945; launched on 7 July 1945, sponsored by Ensign Caroline Brownson Hart, USNR, granddaughter of Admiral Brownson; and commissioned on 17 November 1945, Commander William R. Cox in command.

Brownson conducted shakedown in the Atlantic and Caribbean and was then placed in a reduced operational status at Bath, Maine for six months. Resuming active operations in October 1946, she participated in Operation Highjump between November 1946 and April 1947. On 10 February 1947, a boat party attempted to make a landing in the Antarctic on Charcot Island but was unsuccessful because of heavy field ice within three miles of the coastline.

Brownson spent the summer and fall of 1947 operating out of Newport, R.I.. In February 1948 she took part in the 2nd Fleet exercises in the Caribbean and then Joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. She returned to Newport in June 1948 and spent June 1948 to May 1949 conducting reserve cruises.