USS Hawkins (DD-873)

USS "Hawkins" (DD-873) was a "Gearing"-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II.

"Hawkins" was originally "Beatty", but renamed 22 June 1944 and launched by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas, 7 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Clara Jane Hawkins, mother of First Lieutenant William Deane Hawkins (killed on Tarawa); and commissioned 10 February 1945, Comdr. C. Iverson in command.

Following shakedown training in the Caribbean, "Hawkins" arrived Norfolk 23 March 1945 to undergo conversion to a radar picket ship. Emerging 26 May, she conducted training exercises before sailing 18 June from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for San Diego and Pearl Harbor. After her arrival 8 July "Hawkins" prepared to enter the last phase of the Pacific War, but 3 days after her 12 August departure from Pearl Harbor for Eniwetok the Japanese surrendered. The destroyer continued from Eniwetok to Iwo Jima and Tokyo Bay, arriving 27 August, and assisted in early occupation operations. She then escorted ships to and from the Marianas, remaining in Japanese waters until 3 January 1946. "Hawkins" then steamed to the Philippines and Saipan, finally arriving Pearl Harbor 3 April.

Arriving San Diego 11 April, the destroyer took part in training operations off the West Coast until sailing again for the Far East January 1947. During the months that followed she steamed between Chinese and Korean ports, assisting and supporting American Marine units in their attempts to stabilize the explosive Chinese situation and protect American lives. "Hawkins" also took part in rescue operations off Hong Kong 19 July 1947, when giant steamer Hong Khcng sank with over 2,000 passengers on board. She returned to the United States 8 October 1947.

After a year of operations out of San Diego the ship sailed again for the troubled Far East, arriving Tsingtao, China, 29 October. Following operations off the China coast "Hawkins" got underway from Tsingtao 6 December. On this long voyage, completing a circuit of the globe, the destroyer visited Ceylon, Turkey, Gibraltar, New York, and Panama before arriving San Diego 10 March 1949.

"Hawkins" was reassigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet soon afterward, arriving at her new home port, Newport, 23 May 1949. For the next year she took part in Reserve training cruises and readiness exercises in the Caribbean. The ship had been reclassifled DDR-873 18 March 1949. "Hawkins" departed 2 May 1950 for a cruise with 6th Fleet in the strategic Mediterranean.

While there she and the world were shocked by the Communist invasion of South Korea. After NATO maneuvers, she returned to Newport 10 October and prepared to become part of the nation's far-flung bulwark in the Korean conflict. Sailing 3 January via the Panama Canal she arrived Pusan 5 February. During her four months of Korean duty, "Hawkins" screened the mobile carrier forces during strikes on enemy positions and supply lines, provided antisubmarine protection, and controlled jet aircraft in combat air patrols. She also acted as plane guard during operations in the Formosa Straits designed to discourage Communist aggression against the friendly island. Departing the Far East in June, the destroyer returned to Newport 8 August via the Mediterranean.

For the next few years the veteran ship alternated picket duty and training operations in the western Atlantic with periodic cruises to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet. She was in the Eastern Mediterranean during the summer of 1950 when the Suez crisis threatened the security and peace of the area. "Hawkins" arrived Mayport, Florida, her new homeport, 18 August 1960. She became part of DESRON-5 performing exercises in the Bahamas and Caribbean areas with one deployment of radar picket duty off the coast of Nicaragua returning to Mayport in December 1960. In January 1961 she soon resumed her pattern of cruises to the Mediterranean. In 1961 she operated with a special Task Group in connection with American space experiments and missile tests off Cape Canaveral, now Cape Kennedy. When the introduction of offensive missiles into Cuba in 1962 threatened the security of the United States, "Hawkins" joined with other ships in quarantining that Caribbean country, cruising the Caribbean from late October until December in a modern demonstration of the power of forces afloat. In 1963 the ship returned to the Mediterranean in the Spring and in August took part in Polaris missile tests in the Caribbean with USS Alexander Hamilton (SSBN-617). During the next 5 months, "Hawkins" operated with carriers off Florida and in the Caribbean. Following additional Polaris missile tests with USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619) in February 1964, she steamed to Boston 21 March and was placed in commission, in reserve, prior to undergoing FRAM I overhaul.

Reclassified DD-873 on 1 April, "Hawkins" completed FRAM late in 1964. Assigned to Destroyer Squadron 24, she operated out of Newport until departing 29 September for duty in the Far East. Steaming via the Panama Canal and the West Coast, she joined the 7th Fleet 23 November as part of America's powerful naval commitment to thwart Communist aggression in Southeast Asia. For the next 3 months she guarded hard-hitting carriers in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin and provided gunfire support for ground troops along the coast of South Vietnam. She departed Subic Bay late in February 1966, steamed via the Suez Canal, and arrived Newport 8 April.

"Hawkins" maintained the peak readiness of her crew and equipment over the next few months with exercises off the East Coast and in the Caribbean. Departing Newport 28 November, she joined the 6th Fleet at Gibraltar 8 December and became flagship for ComDesRon 24. For more than 3 months she cruised the Mediterranean from Spain to Greece before returning to Newport 20 March 1967. Into mid-1967 she operated along the Atlantic Coast from New England to Florida.

The ship was struck from the Naval register on 1 October 1979 and sold to Taiwan in 1983. The ship was renamed Chao Yang in service with the Taiwanese Navy, and later scrapped in late 1990s. [http://www.destroyers.org/dispositions/dispositions.htm]

"Hawkins" received two battle stars for Korean service.