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USS Gainard (DD-706)

USS Gainard (DD-706) on 19 September 1951
History
United States
Name: Gainard
Namesake: Joseph Gainard
Builder: Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Laid down: 29 March 1944
Launched: 17 September 1944
Commissioned: 23 November 1944
Decommissioned: 26 February 1971
Struck: 26 February 1971
Fate: Sold 26 March 1974 to be scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type: Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer
Displacement: 2,200 tons
Length: 376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam: 40 ft (12 m)
Draft: 15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Propulsion:
  • 60,000 shp (45,000 kW);
  • 2 propellers
Speed: 34 kn (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range: 6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement: 336
Armament:

USS Gainard (DD-706), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, was named for Joseph Gainard, who was awarded the Navy Cross for distinguished service while Master of American merchant steamer City of Flint during 1939.

Gainard was laid down on 29 March 1944 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, in Kearney, New Jersey and launched on 17 September 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Joseph A. Gainard, widow of Captain Gainard. The ship was commissioned at New York on 23 November 1944, with Commander Francis J. Foley in command.

After shakedown training off Bermuda, Gainard departed New York on 1 February 1945 for operations out of San Diego, California, and Pearl Harbor. She departed Pearl Harbor on 12 March and staged at Saipan for the forthcoming invasion of Okinawa, acting as a part of a decoy task force that made feints against the southeastern coast between 1 and 2 April while the landings were effected on the western beaches.

Gainard operated as radar picket and fighter director ship throughout the bloody Okinawa Campaign, detecting enemy air raids, providing early and continuous information to friendly forces, and initiating interception with a Combat Air Patrol unit that found her controlling an average of 10 planes from dawn to dusk with the assistance of a fighter director team on board. In 39 days on picket stations, she was instrumental in the destruction of at least 27 kamikazes, 5 of which were shot down by her gunners.


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