USS Gatling (DD-671)

Gatling in the Mediterranean Sea, 1959
History
United States
Name:	USS Gatling
Namesake:	Richard Jordan Gatling
Builder:	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, N.J.
Laid down:	3 March 1943
Launched:	20 June 1943
Commissioned:	19 August 1943
Decommissioned:	2 May 1960
Struck:	1 December 1974
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 22 February 1977
General characteristics
Class and type:	Fletcher-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,050 tons
Length:	376 ft 5 in (114.73 m)
Beam:	39 ft 7 in (12.07 m)
Draft:	17 ft 9 in (5.41 m)
Propulsion:	60,000 shp (45,000 kW); geared turbines; 2 propellers
Speed:	35 knots (65 km/h)
Range:	6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	329 officers and enlisted
Armament:	5 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 DP guns, 10 × 40 mm AA guns, 7 × 20 mm AA guns, 10 × 21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes, 6 × depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Gatling (DD-671) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named after Richard Jordan Gatling, the inventor of the Gatling gun.

Gatling was laid down 3 March 1943 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey; launched 20 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. John W. Gatling, wife of the inventor's grandson; and commissioned 19 August 1943 at New York Navy Yard, Lieutenant Commander Alvin H. Richardson in command.

After shakedown out of Bermuda and alteration at New York early November, the new destroyer called at Norfolk, Virginia, to conduct training cruises for crews of destroyers still under construction.

On 19 November 1943 Gatling proceeded to Trinidad, British West Indies, to escort aircraft carrier Langley to Norfolk. Gatling stood out from Norfolk 3 December, escorting Intrepid through the Panama Canal to San Francisco, California, arriving 22 December. The next day she sailed for Pearl Harbor.

On 16 January 1944 Gatling sortied with the Fast Carrier Task Force (then Fifth Fleet's TF 58, also known as Third Fleet's TF 38) to support the forthcoming invasion of the Marshall Islands; thereafter, Gatling was continuously with the carrier task forces as they struck Japanese outposts and finally hit the heart of Japan itself.