USS Willis A. Lee (DL-4)
| Career (US) | |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Willis A. “Ching” Lee |
| Builder: | Bethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard |
| Laid down: | 1 November 1949 |
| Launched: | 26 January 1952 |
| Commissioned: | 5 October 1954 |
| Decommissioned: | 19 December 1969 |
| Reclassified: | DL-4, 9 February 1951 |
| Struck: | 15 May 1972 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 18 May 1973 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Mitscher class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 4,730 |
| Length: | 493'0" (150.3 m) |
| Beam: | 50'0" (15.2 m) |
| Draft: | 14'0" (4.3 m) |
| Speed: | 30 kts. (55.6 km/h) |
| Complement: | 403 |
| Armament: | 2x 5"/54 (127 mm/54) caliber Mark 42 gun, 4x 3" (76 mm), 8x 20mm, 2x ASW rocket. (Weapon "Alfa"), 1x depth charge track |
USS Willis A. Lee (DD-929) was a Mitscher-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Vice Admiral Willis A. “Ching” Lee USN (1888–1945).
Willis A. Lee was laid down by the Shipbuilding Division of the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy in Massachusetts on 1 November 1949, reclassified as a destroyer leader and designated DL-4 on 9 February 1951, launched on 26 January 1952 by Mrs. Fitzhugh L. Palmer, Jr., niece of Vice Admiral Lee and commissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard on 5 October 1954, Comdr. F. H. Schneider in command.
Willis A. Lee participated in quarantine operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Willis A. Lee was decommissioned on 19 December 1969, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 May 1972 and sold for scrap to the Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation of New York City on 18 May 1973.