USS Blessman
Service
- as USS Blessman (DE-69)19 September 1943 — 15 January 1947714 days of the war
- as ROCS Chung Shan (DE-43)3 July 1967 — May 1995
- Name
- USS Blessman
- Namesake
- Edward Martin Blessman
- Builder
- Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard
- Ordered
- 1942
- Laid down
- 22 March 1943
- Launched
- 19 June 1943
- Commissioned
- 19 September 1943
- Decommissioned
- 15 January 1947
- Struck
- 1 June 1967
- Fate
- broken up for scrap
- Status
- Scrapped
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 1,400 long tons (1,422 t)
- Length
- 93.27 m (306 ft)
- Beam
- 11.28 m (37 ft)
- Draught
- 2.74 m (9 ft)
- Speed
- 23 knots (42.6 km/h, 26.5 mph)
- Range
- 3,700 nmi (6,852 km)
- Complement
- 213
- Main gun
- 20 mm (0.8 in)
USS Blessman was a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy. The ship was named after Edward Martin Blessman. Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard laid her keel on 22 March 1943. Launched on 19 June 1943, she entered service on 19 September 1943.
She was one of 98 ships of her class. The class followed the Evarts-class destroyer escort and was succeeded by the Cannon-class destroyer escort.
She displaced 1,400 long tons. She measured 93.3 m (306 ft) long with a beam of 11.3 m (37 ft). Her designed speed was 23 knots, and she carried a complement of 213.
Her main battery was eight 20 mm (0.8 in) guns.
She served with the United States Navy as USS Blessman (DE-69) until 15 January 1947. She was in commission for 714 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned on 15 January 1947. She was struck from the register on 1 June 1967.
She was broken up for scrap.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 2 × boilers
- General Electric turbo-electric drive
- 12000 shp
- 2 × solid manganese-bronze 3600 lb 3-bladed propellers, 8 ft diameter, 7 ft pitch
- 2 × rudders
- 359 tons fuel oil
- Armament
- 3 × single 3-inch/50-caliber guns
- 1 × quad 1.1-inch/75-caliber gun
- 8 × single 20 mm guns
- 1 × triple 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
- 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar
- 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors
- 2 × depth charge tracks
Sister ships
- HMS Bentinck (K314)
- HMS Bligh
- HMS Byron
- HMS Calder (K349)
- HMS Conn
- HMS Cosby
- HMS Dakins
- HMS Duff (K352)
- HMS Ekins
- HMS Fitzroy (K553)
- HMS Halsted (K556)
- HMS Hargood (K582)
- HMS Holmes (K581)
- HMS Hotham (K583)
- HMS Redmill (K554)
- HMS Retalick
- HMS Riou
- HMS Rowley
- HMS Rupert (K561)
- HMS Rutherford
- HMS Seymour (K563)
- HMS Spragge (K572)
- HMS Stockham
- HMS Thornborough
Sources
- Facts harvested from USS Blessman on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: U.S. Navy — U.S. Navy photo [1] from Navsource.org — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons