View source for USS Fechteler (DD-870)

{{Short description|Gearing-class destroyer}}
{{other ships|USS Fechteler}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:USS Fechteler (DD-870) underway in June 1964.jpg|300px|USS Fechteler (DD-870) underway in June 1964]]
|Ship caption=USS ''Fechteler'' in June 1964
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|(1970)}}
|Ship name=USS ''Fechteler''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Bethlehem Mariners Harbor]], [[Staten Island]]
|Ship laid down=12 April 1945
|Ship launched=19 September 1945
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=2 March 1946
|Ship decommissioned=11 September 1970
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=11 September 1970
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Scrapped 28 June 1972
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Gearing|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length=
|Ship beam=
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft=
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed=
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=
|Ship armour=
|Ship armor=
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship aircraft facilities=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''USS ''Fechteler'' (DD-870)''', named for [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] [[Augustus Francis Fechteler]] USN (1857&ndash;1921) and/or his son [[Lieutenant]] Frank Casper Fechteler (1897-1922), was a {{sclass|Gearing|destroyer}} laid down by the [[Bethlehem Steel Corporation]] at [[Staten Island]] in [[New York (state)|New York]] on 12 April 1945, launched on 19 September 1945 by Miss Joan S. Fechteler, granddaughter of Rear Admiral Fechteler and niece of Lieutenant Fechteler, she was also the sponsor of the first USS ''Fechteler'' and commissioned on 2 March 1946.

''Fechteler'' operated with the [[United States 7th Fleet|Seventh Fleet]] in support of [[United Nations]] Forces during the [[Korean War]], underwent conversion to a [[radar picket]] destroyer from 1 April to 1 December 1953, alternated operations along the west coast and in [[Hawaii]]an waters with deployments to the western Pacific with the Seventh Fleet, and participated in [[Operation Sea Dragon (Vietnam War)|Sea Dragon]] and [[Market Time]] operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out [[naval gunfire support]] missions during the [[Vietnam War]].

''Fechteler'' was decommissioned and stricken from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] on 11 September 1970 and sold for scrap on 28 June 1972.

==Service history==
===Before the Korean War===
[[File:USS Fechteler (DD-870) in April 1946.jpg|thumb|USS ''Fechteler'' in April 1946.]]
Her home port was [[Norfolk, Virginia]]. ''Fechteler'' operated with carriers in the Virginia Capes area, and made a brief winter cruise to [[Argentia, Newfoundland]]. On 6 January 1947 she sailed from Norfolk for the west coast, and on 26 May sailed from [[San Diego]] for her first tour of duty in the Far East. Serving in the occupation, she called at several Chinese ports, as well as at [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Yokosuka]], and [[Guam]]. She returned to San Diego 22 January 1948, to resume west coast training operations.

===Korean War===
''Fechteler'' completed a second tour of duty in the Far East in 1949, and in June 1950, when the Korean War broke out, was at sea off [[San Francisco]] on exercises. At once she sailed for [[Pearl Harbor]], where she stood by in preparation for the possible spreading of the conflict, and on 14 July returned to San Diego to prepare for Korean service. She served in the Far East on two war-time deployments, the first from 13 November 1950 to 8 August 1951, the second from 23 February 1952 to 29 September 1952. During both of these, she screened TF 77 in its air operations, sailed with the escort and patrol force, and gave bombardment and close gunfire support to the troops ashore.

===Radar picket destroyer===
[[File:USS Fechteler (DDR-870) underway c1961.jpg|thumb|''Fechteler'' as a radar picket destroyer, circa 1961.]]
''Fechteler'' was decommissioned and placed in reserve 1 April 1953, for conversion to a radar picket destroyer. Recommissioned 1 December 1953, she sailed 10 May 1954 for duty in the Far East until 6 September, when she sailed on westward to join the Atlantic Fleet at Newport, arriving 27 October. In addition to participating in the Atlantic schedule of east coast and Caribbean exercises, she also joined in a midshipman cruise in the summer of 1955, voyaging to [[Málaga, Spain]]; [[Plymouth, England]]; and [[Guantánamo Bay]], Cuba.

Once more assigned to the Pacific Fleet, Fechteler sailed from Newport 14 May 1956 for [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]], which she reached 28 June. In 1956, 1957–58, 1958–59, and 1960, she cruised in the Far East on duty with the 7th Fleet, serving both on the Taiwan Patrol, and with carrier task forces as a radar warning ship.

===FRAM===
In 1963, ''Fechteler'' entered the [[Long Beach Naval Shipyard]] and received the [[Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization|FRAM I]] modernisation. She was redesignated DD-870 and operated off [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] in the second half of the 1960s.

The destroyer was stricken on 11 September 1970. On 28 June 1972, she was sold to Zidell Explorations Inc. at [[Portland, Oregon]] and broken up for scrap.

''Fechteler'' received five battle stars for Korean War service.

==References==
*{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/f/fechteler-ii.html}}

{{Gearing class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fechteler (DD-870)}}
[[Category:Cold War destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Korean War destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Vietnam War destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Staten Island]]
[[Category:1945 ships]]
[[Category:Gearing-class destroyers of the United States Navy]]