The Mighty USS Joseph P. Kennedy: A Historic Battleship at Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA
Come along with us to explore the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Battleship at Battleship Cove in Fall River Massachusetts!!
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00:00Welcome back to another exciting episode. Today we are back at Battleship Cove in
00:23Fall River Massachusetts to check out the USS Joseph P Kennedy. So come along
00:32with us and see what we can see. Destroyers like the USS Joseph P
00:39Kennedy jr. DD 850 are not the biggest ships but they still take a while to
00:46explore and go through. So here's my friend Davis to tell you a little bit
00:51more about this destroyer, its history and so much more. Take it away Davis.
00:57Destroyer Joseph P Kennedy jr. known by her crew as the Joey P was laid down
01:03April 2nd 1945 by the Bethlehem Steel Company at the Fall River shipyard in
01:08Quincy Massachusetts. Launched on July 26th 1945 and commissioned on December
01:1415th 1945 she was completed in only eight months. Reflective of the fast
01:19pace of shipbuilding during the last year of World War two. Home port to
01:24nearby Newport Rhode Island the Kennedy spent the next 27 years performing
01:28countless duties. Following commissioning she spent the rest of the decade
01:32conducting training exercises in the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas and executed
01:36peacekeeping duties as a member of the 6th fleet in the Mediterranean. On
01:40February 3rd 1951 she joined the carrier task force attacking North Korean
01:46positions. In May of that year she stood off once in North Korea using her five
01:50inch guns for nearly a month of continuous bombardment duty. The Kennedy
01:55left the war zone and arrived back in the states in August 1951 and for the
01:59next several years she completed several 6th fleet tours of duty, midshipman
02:03cruises and joint NATO maneuvers. In early 1961 she operated in the Caribbean
02:09assisting with the first Mercury space flights. She arrived at New York Naval
02:14shipyard in July for renovation under the fleet rehabilitation and
02:17modernization program. This conversion afforded her new anti-submarine gear, a
02:22helicopter hangar and flight deck and other improvements designed to extend
02:26her useful life. Following a post refit shakedown cruise she returned to Newport
02:31in September 1962 to embark President John F Kennedy for his observation of
02:36that year's America's Cup races. In October the Kennedy was dispatched to
02:40the Caribbean to participate in the naval blockade of Cuba. It was here on
02:45October 26th that Kennedy stopped and boarded the Greek freighter Marikla that
02:49was suspected of ferrying missile components to Cuba. From the early 1960s
02:54until her decommissioning in 1973 the Kennedy again performed innumerable
02:58duties including her role as a recovery vessel during the Gemini 6 and seven
03:02NASA space program missions. She was stricken from the Naval Register of
03:07Ships in 1973 and acquired by Battleship Cove in 1974. In spring 2000
03:14the Kennedy was towed to Rhode Island Sound to portray herself and destroyer
03:17John or Pierce DD 753 in the Kevin Costner film entitled 13 days which
03:23recreated the events surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. Well thank you
03:27Davis that was a lot of great information. You are very welcome. I hope
03:34you come back to be with us on our future episodes to places unknown. Oh
03:41before you go one last thing there's even a carousel on site if you're
03:49interested. Now the cost is three dollars per ride it's actually up there on the
03:59second floor. I was unable to get up there without paying so I'm not really
04:04interested today to go on the carousel after going through all those ships but
04:11it is something people who came off said were pretty neat so there you go. But
04:19until then as always have a great day
04:29you