Commissioned in July of 1945, she served the US Navy until decommisioned in 1973. The ship was built in only 8 months near the end of World War II, the ship also parcipated in the Korean and Viet Nam Wars and was present durring our blockade of Cuba in 1962. She is now a perminate part of Battleship Cove in Falls River, Massachusetts and is open to the public.
I was a navy photographer stationed near the destroyer piers at Newport, RI. in 1961 and iften walked by the Joseph P. Kennedy, JR. I have several photographs on my Pbase site showing sailors aboard destroyers doing their job in 1962. I spent six weeks aboard the USS Hugh Purvis, DD 709.