U.S.S. SAMUEL N. MOORE

USS SAMUEL N. MOORE (DD-747)

Samuel N. Moore ( DD-747) was laid down on 30 September 1943 by the Bethlehem Steel Company Shipbuilding Yard Staten Island N.Y. Iaunched on 23 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Samuel N. Moore and commissioned on 24 June 1944 Comdr. Horatio A. Lincoln in command.

Following shakedown off Bermuda the new destroyer steamed via the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor to the Pacific war zone arriving at Ulithi on 3 November 1944. There she joined the Fast Carrier Task Force and defended Vice Admiral Mitscher's flattops from enemy aircraft and submarines. The carriers that she guarded launched numerous air strikes against Japanese positions in the Philippines the Ryukyus Formosa the Pescadores Indochina China and the Japanese home islands. She was damaged by a typhoon on 5 June 1945. In an attack on the night of 22 and 23 July she launched torpedoes at enemy shipping off the east entrance to Sagami Wan Japan. She rescued one aviator on 10 June and two more on 18 July.

After Japan capitulated Samuel N. Moore aided occupation forces visiting Shanghai and Tsingtao China and Pusan Korea. From 1947 into 1950 she operated off the west coast. Departing San Diego on 1 May 1950 she steamed to the western Pacific.

In response to Communist aggression in Korea she headed north from Hong Kong on 27 June. During the summer and fall she served off Korea before returning to San Diego on 11 February 1951. Sailing again for the Far East on 1 December she guarded carriers and bombarded enemy shore installations in Korea from February to May 1952 before returning to San Diego on 26 June. Steaming from Long Beach on 2 February 1953 she returned to Korea. Defending the fast carriers again she visited Koje Island in March. In April she aided the defense of Yang-do Island and patrolled near Chongjin; in May she fought enemy shore batteries at Wonsan Harbor. In June she patrolled the Taiwan Strait and in July she provided shore bombardment off Korea. After the end of fighting in Korea she returned to Long Beach on 30 August.

Departing Long Beach on 4 May 1954 she cruised with antisubmarine forces in the western Pacific patrolled Taiwan Strait and visited the Tachen Islands on 19 August before returning to Long Beach on 5 December.

From 1955 through 1959 she made annual deployments to the western Pacific visiting the Philippines Taiwan and Japan. In 1960 and 1961 she served with a specialized antisubmarine task force in the western Pacific before conducting operations off the west coast in 1962 and 1963.

From 13 March to 2 October 1964 Samuel N. Moore was away from Long Beach on another deployment to the western Pacific. In August during the crisis following the Gulf of Tonkin incident Samuel N. Moore supplied ammunition to Maddox (DD-731) and transferred documents from Maddox and Turner Joy (DD-951) to Ticonderoga (CVA-14).

Sailing from the west coast for the western Pacific on 28 September 1965 she provided gunfire support off Vietnam operated as a plane guard in the South China Sea and fired on targets in the Mekong Delta before returning to Long Beach on 8 April. Getting underway again for the western Pacific on 28 March 1967 she patrolled off North Vietnam as part of Operation "Sea Dragon " and protected aircraft carriers in Tonkin Gulf before arriving at Long Beach on 20 September. Underway from Long Beach to the western Pacific on 18 July 1968 she again guarded carriers in the Tonkin Gulf before returning to Long Beach on 26 February 1969.

In April she became a Naval Reserve training ship at Tacoma Wash. Decommissioned on 24 October she was struck from the Navy list that day. She was sold on 10 December 1969 to the Republic of China in whose navy she serves as Heng Yang (DD-2) through 1974.

Samuel N. Moore received five battle stars for World War II three battle stars for Korea and seven battle stars for Vietnam.

[Note: The above USS SAMUEL N. MOORE (DD-747) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS SAMUEL N. MOORE (DD-747) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]