Post-war Service
Standing out of San Diego 3 January 1946, Putnam steamed for the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, for availability. She subsequently operated out of Newport, Rhode Island until the beginning of 1947, when she made Pensacola, Florida, her base. Late April 1947, Putnam called at Norfolk, Virginia, to be readied for a peacetime cruise to European waters.
Putnam was one of three destroyers assigned 19–25 April 1948 to the United Nations mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, to attempt to maintain peace between Arab and Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. When the truce temporarily broke down Putnam stood into Haifa 23 July to evacuate the UN team from that port. She was thus the first U.S. Navy ship to fly the UN flag.
After a brief period of decommissioned reserve status with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Putnam reactivated in October 1950. A Mediterranean cruise took her away from Norfolk from October 1951 through 4 June 1952. Local operations and overhaul were followed by Caribbean refresher training 21 May through 10 July 1953. Putnam departed Norfolk 25 September and transited the Suez Canal 15 October, arriving Yokosuka 10 November. She operated in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea through 11 March 1954. Departing Midway 17 March, she touched at Pearl Harbor 21 March, called at various West Coast ports, then transited the Panama Canal and arrived Norfolk 1 May.
The USS Putnam appears in cameo scene in the 1954 Paramount film "The Bridges at Toko-Ri". Watch for her in the scene where "Mike Forney" played by Mickey Rooney and "Nestor Gamidge" played by Earl Holliman are transferred via bosun's chair from the deck of the carrier "Savo", (actually the USS Oriskany CV-34), to the port side deck of the Putnam.
A round of training cruises and deployments ("Lantflex" 1–55) took Putnam from the East Coast to the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Her 1955 and 1956 Mediterranean deployments were followed by NATO North Atlantic exercises late 1957. A September 1958 Mediterranean deployment was followed by overhaul at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
Summer 1959 found Putnam participating in the first operation "Inland Seas" during which she steamed in all five of the Great Lakes. Between 1960 and 1969 the destroyer made nine annual deployments to the Mediterranean, interspersed with northern European operations, coast-wise trips, and visits to the Caribbean. In June 1962 she entered the New York Naval Shipyard for a FRAM II conversion, which was completed in March 1963.
On 6 August 1973, Putnam was decommissioned and struck from the Navy List. Within a year she was sold for scrapping.
Read more about this topic: USS Putnam (DD-757)
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