Being a Navy Vet as well as a history buff, I’m into all things military, especially all things Navy. In our travels, we’ve toured 2 battleships and an aircraft carrier. (Alabama, Texas, and Lexington). The big ships are fun, but I prefer the “small fry”, as that’s where I served. As far as I know, there is only one Navy Destroyer protected as a museum.
The USS Kidd is a Fletcher class Destroyer, now permanently docked on The Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, LA. Fletcher was a small, fast, reliable, multi-job platform, and over 175 were built from 1942 to 1944. They had 5 5″ guns in turrets, a host of 20mm and 40mm anti aircraft guns, torpedo tubes, and depth charges. Fletcher class was one of the first ships with modern electronics. Radar gave her eyes over the horizon, as well as radar guidance for all her weapons.
Kidd served in the Pacific, playing a role in the “Island Hopping” campaign. She was hit by a Kamikaze during the invasion of Okinawa, and returned to the mainland US for repairs. 38 US Sailors died that day. Kidd was repaired and ready to rejoin the fleet for the invasion of Japan when atomic bombs brought the war to an end. All in all, it was a great day touring this historic Navy ship.
But that was not the only excitement on that day! Near the end of my tour, there was some unscheduled excitement. Someone on the ship started shouting about someone drowning! There was a young woman in the water! The quarterdeck watch tossed her a life ring, and one of the guys touring the ship jumped into the water to help her ashore. By the time the Baton Rouge rescue squad arrived, all was well and the woman was ashore.
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