USS Gyatt

Gyatt In 1957, with her novel missile system aft
History
United States
Name	USS Gyatt
Namesake	Edward Earl Gyatt
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down	7 September 1944
Launched	15 April 1945
Commissioned	2 July 1945
Decommissioned	22 October 1969
Reclassified	DDG-712, 1 December 1956 DDG-1, 23 May 1957 DD-712, 1 October 1962
Stricken	22 October 1969
Fate	Sunk as a target, 11 June 1970
General characteristics
Class and type	Gearing-class destroyer
Displacement	2,425 long tons (2,464 t)
Length	390 ft 6 in (119.02 m)
Beam	41 ft 4 in (12.60 m)
Draft	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Complement	345
Armament	As DD-712 : 3 × twin 5"/38 (127 mm) dual purpose guns 16 x 40 mm Bofors AA guns 20× 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns 1 × quintuple 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 × depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks As DDG-1 : 2 × twin 5"/38 (127 mm) dual purpose guns 2 × twin 3"/50 (76 mm) AA guns 1 × twin arm Terrier AA missile launcher 2 × triple 12.75 in (324 mm) anti-submarine torpedo tubes

USS Gyatt (DD-712/DDG-1/DDG-712) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy operated between 1945 and 1968. The ship was named for Edward Earl Gyatt, a United States Marine Corps private and Marine Raider killed during the Battle of Guadalcanal. She was laid down in 1944, commissioned in 1945, and missed combat during the Second World War. In 1955, she was converted into the world's first guided missile destroyer (DDG) to evaluate the RIM-2 Terrier surface-to-air missile and the practicality of similar weapons.

Her service contributed to the development of dedicated air-defense missile escorts and of later anti-air missiles by identifying flaws in both designs. Her goal was completed in 1962, and she was converted into a floating testbed for radars and other electronic equipment. By 1969, structural issues caused by missile launches forced her to be decommissioned and later sunk as a target in 1970.