Source: NavSource.Org

USS Corry DDR-817    **10/61 - 05/62

Corry was like Hailey - a short stay.  As the saying goes "Turn your hat around and ...".   Returning from a Med trip in Dahlgren, I was ordered to Corry as she was leaving for the Med.  Yes - those things happened.  Back-to-back six month cruises weren't prevalent but they weren't rare - I've seen a few DD sailors turn their hat around.  The squadron had no ETC, there was an ET1 in the other DESDIV.  In any case, I turned my hat around and went back to the Med.

Corry had been FRAM'd and designated a DDR.  In my book the AN/SPS-8 was a dog - usually down, or almost up - mostly the antenna.   I think that those who knew it would agree it was a maintenance nightmare.  But then ...

There was a lot of cross-talk in the communications audio lines.  It seemed we were always having trouble calls on audio quality.  During one longer in-port period I got into the audio distribution world.  Man, what a rat's nest.  Ringing out every twisted pair from the equipment room to the various remotes, there were crossed wires, broken leads, misconnects and no connects.  Three days later, it all seemed okay.  That receiver site experience at Corpus Christi was worth its weight in gold.  What I never understood was how it got that way to begin with - the ship hadn't been out of the yards that long.

I had a chess game with one of my techs, a particularly deep thinker, heavy into theory.   Certainly no chess master, but knowing a bit about the game I took a challenge.  This was no tournament game - no clock, no timed moves - just brainwork (in those days I had a bit more than today - brains, that is).  Others were standing around waiting to see the Chief get whacked.

There was no discussion about rules or tactics or anything - we just sat down and began.  The game developed slowly, each of us trying to think out the moves and their effect on future positions.  Little by little the game progressed.  A man here, a man there.  Somehow, without words, we'd decided that it wasn't going to be a "cut and slash" game, but a real effort to win with the least "blood" drawn.  For more than four hours we worked at this before, finally it was over - checkmate.  (By then the watchers had left.)  I've never since had that experience in chess - the tacit agreement to run a "least blood" game and the level of effort necessary to maintain it across that length of time.

On arrival CONUS, I left for Newport.

** Approximately.  I have not yet correlated dates - mind warp, I think.

History:

USS CORRY

CORRY III

(DD-817: dp. 2,425; 1. 390'6"; b. 41'1", dr. 18'6"; s. 35 k.; cpl. 367; a. 6 5", 10 21" tt., 6 dcp.,  2 dct.; cl. Gearing)

The third CORRY (DD-817) was launched 28 July 1945 by Consolidated Steel Corp. of Texas, Orange, Tex.sponsored by Miss CORRY, commissioned 27 February 1946, Commander M. S. Shellabarger in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.

CORRY sailed from Galveston, Tex., 28 March 1946 for shakedown training in the Caribbean, and arrived at Norfolk 10 July.  Following a tour of duty in European and Mediterranean waters from 23 July 1946 to 19 March 1947, CORRY conducted Reserve training cruises from the Potomac River Naval Command, then reported to Pensacola to serve as plane guard for carriers operating off Florida from 22 September 1947 to 28 April 1950.

CORRY joined Destroyer Squadron 8 at Norfolk 22 May 1950 for antisubmarine exercises which included a cruise to Quebec in July. From 2 September to 12 November she served with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, and joined a midshipman cruise to northern Europe, visiting Gotesburg and Cherbourg, France, from 1 June to 27 July 1951.  Her next tour of duty with the 6th Fleet was from 22 April to 23 October 1952. CORRY sailed out of Norfolk for local operations until 1 April 1953 when she was decommissioned for conversion to a radar picket destroyer.  She was reclassified DDR-817 on 9 April 1953.

Recommissioned 9 January 1954, CORRY carried NROTC midshipmen on a cruise to New Orleans and through the Panama Canal for operations at Balboa in the summer of 1954. From September 1954 through 1960 CORRY alternated four tours of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean with operations out of Norfolk along the east coast, and exercises in the Caribbean.

Author's Note:
History incomplete - for additional information see USS Corry Association

AB

USN Years
USS Grand Canyon AD-28