USS Myles C. Fox (DD-829)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Myles C. Fox.

For the United States Marine Corps officer and Navy Cross recipient, see Myles C. Fox.

Career (United States)
Name:	USS Myles C. Fox (DD-829)
Namesake:	Myles C. Fox
Builder:	Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Laid down:	14 August 1944
Launched:	13 January 1945
Commissioned:	20 March 1945
Reclassified:	DDR-829, 18 March 1949
Reclassified:	DD-829, 1 April 1964
Decommissioned:	1 October 1979
Struck:	1 October 1979
Fate:	Transferred to Greece for spare parts, 2 August 1980
General characteristics
Type:	Gearing-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,425 long tons (2,464 t)
Length:	390 ft 6 in (119.02 m)
Beam:	41 ft 1 in (12.52 m)
Draft:	18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
Propulsion:	4 Babcock and Wilcox 615 psi (4.24 MPa) 850 °F (450 °C) superheated express type boilers supplying two sets of high pressure, low pressure and cruising turbines generating a total of 60,000 shp (45 MW) to two shafts each with a 12.5 foot (3.8 m) four-bladed propeller. Shaft rpm: 350, speed at standard displacement: 34.5 knots (64 km/h)
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Complement:	367
Armament:	• 6 × 5"/38 caliber guns • 12 × 40 mm AA guns • 8 × 20 mm AA guns • 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes • 2 × depth charge racks

USS Myles C. Fox (DD/DDR-829) was a Gearing-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II and the years following. She was named for Myles C. Fox, a USMC lieutenant who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for actions during World War II.

Myles C. Fox was laid down by the Bath Iron Works Corporation, Bath, Maine on 14 August 1944, launched on 13 January 1945; sponsored by Mrs. James C. Fox, mother of Lieutenant Fox; and commissioned at Boston on 20 March 1945, Comdr. John S. Fahy in command.

Service history

1945–1949

After Caribbean shakedown and training off New Jersey, Myles C. Fox sailed on 5 July 1945 for the Panama Canal, San Diego, and Hawaii, arriving Pearl Harbor on the 28th. She departed Pearl Harbor on 10 August for the Marshall Islands, receiving word en route of cessation of hostilities. After calling at Eniwetok, she continued to Japan, anchoring in Tokyo Bay on 9 September to begin duty screening carriers providing air cover for the occupation landings on Japan.

The destroyer served in the occupation until sailing for Saipan on 8 January 1946. On 25 March, she headed from the Marianas for San Diego with veterans aboard for transportation home. Arriving 11 April, she operated along the west coast until 6 January 1947, when she sailed for the Far East, arriving Yokosuka on the 25th. In ensuing months she called at principal ports of Japan with missions to Korea, China, Okinawa, and Hong Kong.

On 19 July Myles C. Fox and Hawkins (DD-873) with British escort ship Chilang Point some 8 miles north of Hong Kong. Six motorboats, two from each warship, and two skiffs from Hong Kong, made 76 trips to rescue some 1,800 survivors.

Myles C. Fox departed Yokosuka on 23 September and reached San Diego on 8 October. After west coast operations and overhaul, she made another Far Eastern cruise, 2 October – 23 December 1948, operating principally in the ocean approaches to Tsingtao, China, with fast carrier forces. She then operated out of San Diego until sailing on 2 May 1949 for a new home port, Newport, Rhode Island. She had been redesignated a radar picket destroyer (DDR-829) on 18 March 1949.

1950–1959

Following arrival Newport on 23 May 1949, the ship served in the North Atlantic for a year before getting underway from Norfolk on 3 May 1950 for the Mediterranean. Her 6th Fleet operations included simulated attack problems with submarines and other fleet readiness exercises. She visited ports of France, Italy, Turkey, Trieste, Greece, and Spain, cleared Gibraltar on 1 October, and returned to Newport on the 10th.

Repairs in New York Naval Shipyard, convoy exercises to Bermuda, and tactics in the Virginia Cape area kept her busy until 20 March 1951 when she put to sea with a carrier striking force that reached Gibraltar on 6 April. She returned from this Mediterranean cruise to Newport on 4 October.

After working on the east coast for almost a year, she stood out from Newport on 26 August 1952 with a fast carrier striking force built around Midway (CVB-41) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42). This cruise took her to Greenock, Scotland, and thence into the Norwegian Sea as a unit of the NATO force. She visited ports of the British Isles before proceeding by way of Lisbon to the Mediterranean for another tour with the powerful 6th Fleet, returning Newport on 4 February 1953.

On 8 June 1953 Myles C. Fox left Norfolk on a midshipman cruise that included good will calls at Rio de Janeiro and Cartagena, Colombia. She debarked the midshipmen at the Naval Academy on 5 August and returned to Newport. For the next two years she operated on the east coast and in the Caribbean. She departed Newport on 2 May 1955 for the Mediterranean. After three months with the 6th Fleet, she returned to Newport on 25 August.

1960–1969

During the ensuing years, Myles C. Fox continued this pattern of service, alternating operations on the east coast and in the Caribbean with 6th Fleet deployments. In 1961 she won the Battle Efficiency "E", and in 1964 her home port was changed to Boston. That year the ship underwent FRAM I overhaul and modernization, and she was redesignated DD-829 on 1 April.

Following her FRAM I overhaul, on 1 July 1965, Fox experienced a catastrophic fire in Radio Central. After repairs at the Boston Naval Shipyard, in June 1965 the Fox was dispatched to help support U.S. efforts to oppose a Cuban led insurgency in the Dominican Republic. The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was authorized as recognition for this Cold War campaign. On 9 August 1965, Fox deployed to the Mediterranean Sea for operations with the Sixth Fleet

On 6 March 1966, Fox was assigned to the Gemini 8 recovery team and stationed in the eastern Atlantic. While off the coast of Africa, she sped to the aid of Swedish freighter M/V Palma which was on fire. For three days firefighting teams battled the blaze before Caloosahatchee (AO-98) and Charles P. Cecil (DD-835) arrived to lend a hand. The combined efforts of these U.S. Navy ships finally extinguished the flames, and Palma resumed steaming under her own power.

After DASH qualifications off the Virginia Capes, the destroyer operated along the east coast until getting underway for the Far East on 4 October. Steaming via the Panama Canal, Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines, the destroyer arrived off the coast of North Vietnam on 7 January 1967. While in the war zone Myles C. Fox delivered numerous fire support missions against enemy ground forces and installations. Her guns also damaged three enemy junks and two sampans. She headed home on the second half of a round-the-world cruise 20 February and arrived Newport from Suez and Gibraltar 25 April.

Myles C. Fox operated on the east coast and in the Caribbean during most of 1967. She entered Boston Naval Shipyard on 26 September for overhaul through 1 January 1968.

[1969–1979]

Myles C. Fox was decommissioned on 1 October 1979 after serving 34½ years. She was sold to Greece in 1980 and cannibalized for spare parts; the ship was scrapped in 2003.

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS Myles C. Fox (DD-829/DDR-829) at NavSource Naval History
• USS Myles C. Fox (DD/DDR-829)