The History and Future of the USS Cassin Young

In World War II, destroyers were all-purpose ships. They could fight off attacks from the air, from the surface of the sea and under its surface.

Between June 1942 and February 1945, the US Navy built 175 Fletcher-class destroyers. They were 376 feet in length, which meant they could carry five five-inch dual-purpose guns, torpedoes, several depth charges and antiaircraft guns. They could refuel at sea, allowing them to carry less fuel in the Pacific. They were also the first U.S. destroyers fitted with radar.

At the Naval Shipyard, crews built 14 destroyers. But at Bethlehem Steel, in San Pedro, California, is where the USS Cassin Young was built -- one of 10 destroyers built there.

Only four Fletcher destroyers remain on public display. USS Cassin Young, docked in the Navy Yard next to the USS Constitution, is one of them.

The Cassin Young

Named for Capt. Cassin Young, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery, USS Cassin Young first saw action in the Pacific in April 1944. The ship rescued 120 survivors of the stricken carrier USS Princeton in October 1944.

On the picket line off Okinawa, the ship survived two separate hits by Japanese kamikazes. In the first attack one crew member was killed; in the second attack, on July 30, 1945, 22 members of the crew were killed and 45 were wounded. The ship, considered "dead in the water," was saved by the heroic efforts of its crew.

In 1946, USS Cassin Young returned to San Pedro for repairs and was decommissioned.

With the onset of the Korean War, after the ship returned to active duty, USS Cassin Young first made its way in 1951 to the Charlestown Navy Yard for the first of several overhauls. For part of the 1950s, USS Cassin Young served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Later in the decade the destroyer made goodwill trips to northern Europe.

On Feb. 6, 1960, the ship arrived at Norfolk Naval Shipyard to be decommissioned and was put into long-term storage at the Philadelphia Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility.

But 18 years later, the US Navy transferred the ship to the Charlestown Navy Yard for use as a museum ship by the National Park Service. In 1981 USS Cassin Young was opened to the public. In 1986 the destroyer received National Historic Landmark status.

An unknown future

Like its compatriot naval ship USS Constitution, USS Cassin Young attracts every year thousands of tourists and navy buffs. (The Boston Globe reported the USS Cassin Young received 203,000 visitors in 2009.)

Last year, for the first time in 30 years, the destroyer was moved for repair into Dry Dock #1 at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Boston Globe reported that the National Park Service, which shares responsibility for the ship with the US Navy, halted the repairs several months ago. Apparently corrosion to the hull at the water line is much more extensive than first thought and the repair bill is beyond the budget of the National Park Service.

The fate of the ship at this time is questionable. It could be moved into Dry Dock 2, which is currently flooded. Officials could give up on efforts to make it sea-worthy (as a floating museum) again -- and instead secure it on land, where it could still remain a museum. Or, in perhaps the worst case scenario, it could be scrapped.

Maybe, like USS Constitution, USS Cassin Young will avert the wrecking ball. USS Constitution was almost turned into scrap. It, too, seemed to be too expensive to maintain and then Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote "Old Ironsides.'' The poem was published in Boston papers and the outcry and support from American people saved and ultimately preserved what we have today in our own back yard -- the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel.

While USS Cassin Young is USS Constitutions's junior by 150 years or so, and may not carry the historical heft of that great ship, there's still something quite perfect about them occupying the same swath in the Navy Yard.

Hopefully, once people become aware of what we might lose, USS Cassin Young will also receive the outpouring of support that saved her famous elder.

UPDATE: In late July 2010, Cassin Young closed to the public in preparation for dry-docking. On 9 August 2010, she was moved into Historic Dry Dock #1 in BNHP for the first time in 30 years for some much needed repairs to her hull. On 4 September 2012, the ship was closed to the public to allow contractors to make final repairs to the hull. She returned to her position at Pier 1 on 14 May 2013. On 4 June 2013, she was moved to the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina in East Boston while repairs were made to her berth in Charlestown. By September 2013, she had returned to her museum berth.

Information for this article was compiled with information from many sources, including the following web-sites: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2011/08/28/wwii_destroyer_pearl... http://www.nps.gov/bost/historyculture/usscassinyoung.htm; http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/books/ships/cassinyoung/index.htm; http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/793.htm; http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/793.htm; http://www.destroyerhistory.org/fletcherclass/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher_class_destroyer; http://www.microworks.net/pacific/ships/destroyers/fletcher.htm.