Frank Knox (DDR 742) - Naval Cruise Book

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The ship which now bears the name USS Frank Knox QDDR-742D did not begin with this name. The ship was on the building ways of the Bath Iron W'orks, Bath, Maine, when the Secretary of the Navy during Wo1'ld Wai' ll died in office. The Navy Department immediately determined that this illus- trious gentleman, to whom the Navy owed so much, should have his name properly perpetuated by one of the Navy's destroyers. Thus was the name FRANK KNOX bestowed on this ship. It is a proud name, commemorating a great man who, while not of the fighting line, gave so un- stintingly of his time and efforts during those troubled years. The Navy owes a great debt of gratitude to this man who so ably guided this proud fighting service during its most difficult years of expansion and the development of new concepts of warfare that proved so successful in the Pacific campaign. The ship was paid for entirely through the purchase of Wai' Bonds sold in the State of New Hampshire, the home state of Mr. Frank Knox. The ship was launched September 17, 19441, with lVIrs. Frank Knox as her sponsor. The Frank Knox was commissioned in Boston on December ll, 1944. She enjoyed a six-week shakedown cruise to Bermuda and then returned to Boston Naval Yard where she was converted to a new type of ship, the radar picket, for duty with the famous Third and Fifth Fleets in the struggle for the control of the W6StC1'11 Pacific, on the doorstep of Japan.

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ff NK KNOX Cywii-Q p mwwa ki 1 wi CRUISE BOOK COMMITTEE: LIEUTENANT W. STORY, USN, Chairman ENSIGN L. E. THERRIEN, JR., Member RDSN THOMAS A. WORK, Editor

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. . .. .. .. . . . . . . -H-L --1--rr . . - - ' f'-1------ -f-'W ln the Spring of 1945 the Frank Knox, a newly converted ship, departed the United States for the Pacific War Zone. Upon arrival the Frank Knox was attached to uBull Halsey's Third Fleet for participation in strikes on the Japanese homelands themselves. Thus, early in her life she was used for her intended purpose, and her officers and men like to think she paid for herself in those great days of battle, that she is still a sturdy and fine fighting ship. She is a real dividend to the American public, and a tribute to the man for Whom she was named. Although the Frank Knox fulfilled her mission early in life, that was not to be the end of our fine ship. She has, since those hard days of World War ll, carried the flag of the United States for ten more cruises to Western Pacific. When the upolice action of Korea began, the Frank Knox was ready. She operated as one of the original ships of the famous Fast Carrier Task Force Seventy-Seven, participating in the lnchon landings, the Hung Nam evacuation, and numerous shore bombardments of targets and troops in the support of the South Koreans and Americans ashore. This ship is now making her fifth Far Eastern tour since the Korean Conflict. There may be a need for her to assist in the protection of her fleet and her country in the future, let us hope that this will not be the case, but if such would happen, we may be assured that the Frank Knox will be ready if called.