USS Willard Keith (DD-775)

USS Willard Keith (DD-775)


For other ships of the same name, see USS Willard Keith.
Career (United States)
Namesake: Willard Keith
Builder: Bethlehem Steel, San Pedro
Laid down: 5 March 1944
Launched: 29 August 1944
Commissioned: 27 December 1944
Decommissioned: 1 July 1972
Struck: 1 July 1972
Motto: Per Angusta Ad Augusta, Latin for "By Narrow Paths to High Places"
Fate: To Colombia 1 July 1972
Career (Colombia)
Name: Caldas (DD-02)
Acquired: 1 July 1972
Struck: 1977
Fate: Scrapped 1977
General characteristics
Class & type: Allen M. Sumner class destroyer
Displacement: 2,200 tons
Length: 376 ft 6 in (114.8 m)
Beam: 40 ft (12.2 m)
Draft: 15 ft 8 in (4.8 m)
Propulsion: 60,000 shp (45 MW);
2 propellers
Speed: 34 knots (63 km/h)
Range: 6500 nmi. (12,000 km) @ 15 kt
Complement: 336
Armament: 6 × 5 in./38 guns (12 cm),
12 × 40mm AA guns,
11 × 20mm AA guns,
10 × 21 in. torpedo tubes,
6 × depth charge projectors,
2 × depth charge tracks

USS Willard Keith (DD-775), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, is currently the only completed ship of the United States Navy ever named for Willard Keith, a United States Marine Corps captain who died in combat during the campaign for Guadalcanal. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions. Willard Keith (DD-775) was laid down on 5 March 1944 at San Pedro, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 29 August 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Willard W. Keith, the mother of Capt. Keith; and commissioned two days after Christmas of 1944, Comdr. Lewis L. Snyder in command.

Read more about USS Willard Keith (DD-775):  Cancelled Ships, World War II, 1946, 1947-1949, 1950-1952, 1953-1954, 1955-1977

Famous quotes containing the words willard and/or keith:

    And such the trust that still were mine,
    Though stormy winds swept o’er the brine,
    Or though the tempest’s fiery breath
    Roused me from sleep to wreck and death.
    In ocean cave, still safe with Thee
    The germ of immortality!
    And calm and peaceful shall I sleep,
    Rocked in the cradle of the deep.
    —Emma Hart Willard (1787–1870)

    And they that rule in England
    In stately conclave met,
    Alas, alas, for England
    They have no graves as yet.
    —Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)