The Rich History and Unknown Future of the USS Cassin Young
A look back on the origins and surprising survival of the USS Cassin Young, and at the current debate on how to preserve the destroyer.
(Editor's Note: For a quick history of the Cassin Young, click here.) In World War II, destroyers were all-purpose ships. They could fight off attacks from the air, from the surface of the sea and under its surface. Between June 1942 and February 1945, the US Navy built 175 Fletcher-class destroyers. They were 376 feet in length, which meant they could carry five five-inch dual-purpose guns, torpedoes, several depth charges and antiaircraft guns. They could refuel at sea, allowing them to carry less fuel in the Pacific. They were also the first U.S. destroyers fitted with radar. At the Naval Shipyard, crews built 14 destroyers. But Bethlehem Steel, in San Pedro, Calif., is where the USS Cassin Young was built -- one of 10 destroyers built …
