USS Parsons
USS Parsons (DDG-33) was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral William S. Parsons, who worked on the Manhattan Project. Built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, her keel was laid on June 17, 1957; she was launched on August 17, 1958, and commissioned on October 29, 1959, after being acquired earlier that year.
Parsons operated from San Diego and the West Coast, joining the First Fleet and later the Seventh Fleet for Western Pacific duties in the early 1960s. In 1966 she was decommissioned for a major conversion from an all-gun destroyer into a guided-missile destroyer (Decatur class). She was recommissioned on November 3, 1967, as DDG-33, and received new missile systems while retaining some gun and torpedo capabilities.
After a thorough testing period, Parsons served as a carrier escort and ASW trainer, making port visits around Asia and the Pacific. She was forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, from late 1971, supporting forces in Vietnam and conducting additional operations through the early 1970s. She left Vietnam around December 1974 and, in 1980, rescued 111 Vietnamese refugees south of Saigon.
Parsons was decommissioned on November 19, 1982, struck from the Naval Vessel Register on December 1, 1984, and finally sunk as a target on April 25, 1989.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:26 (CET).