page_title: USS Hunt (DD-674)
section_title: 1951 – 1963
hierarchical_section_title: USS Hunt (DD-674) / 1951 – 1963
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hunt (DD-674) coming alongside of the aircraft carrier USS Tarawa (CVS-40) to refuel, 25 April 1959.
context_page_description: USS Hunt (DD-674) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, the second Navy ship named for William H. Hunt, Secretary of the Navy under President James A. Garfield.
  Hunt was launched by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Kearny, N.J., 1 August 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Henry Kent Hewitt, wife of Vice Admiral Hewitt, and granddaughter of the namesake; and commissioned 22 September 1943, Commander Frank P. Mitchell in command.
context_section_description: Hunt recommissioned at San Diego 31 October 1951, Comdr. Lynn F. Barry in command. After refresher training in local areas, she departed 14 February for Newport, R.I. where she arrived 3 March 1952. She cruised from that port for the next 2½ years conducting antisubmarine and plane guard duty. She departed Newport 1 June 1954 for Yokosuka, Japan where she arrived 7 July and was underway again 16 July for task force maneuvers off the Philippine Islands. On 21 October she cleared Sasebo, Japan, on the second leg of a world cruise which took her to Hong Kong, Singapore, the Suez Canal, and Naples which she reached 20 November 1954. She passed through the Strait of Gibraltar 12 December 1954 and arrived back in Newport 18 December.
  The next 2 years were filled with intensive antisubmarine warfare and convoy exercises. Hunt departed Newport 6 November for patrol in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Suez Crisis and the Hungarian Revolution. She returned to Newport 27 February 1957 where more antisubmarine warfare and convoy exercises awaited. She embarked midshipmen at Annapolis for a training cruise which included the International Naval Review in Hampton Roads on 12 June, and a visit to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; future United States Senator and presidential candidate John McCain was one of the midshipmen on this cruise. She departed Newport for Belfast, Northern Ireland 3 September to participate in Operation "Seaspray", maneuvers with the combined forces of NATO. From 22 October 1957 through 1 August 1958 Hunt operated out of Newport. On the latter date while on a cruise to the Caribbean she sped from San Juan, Puerto Rico to join attack carrier Saratoga (CVA-60) in the Mediterranean to augment the 6th Fleet during the Near Eastern crisis which had necessitated the landing of marines in Beirut, Lebanon to check aggression. She reached that port 28 August and 3 days later was underway for the Red Sea. She completed transit of the Suez Canal 11 September for Massawa, Ethiopia, and after calling at Aden, Arabia, set course 14 October for the Mediterranean and maneuvers with the 6th Fleet en route home to Newport, arriving 13 November.
  Hunt operated out of Newport with occasional cruises in the Caribbean conducting exercises in antisubmarine warfare and battle practice. She won the Battle Efficiency Award for the fiscal year 1957 to 1958 and repeated the feat for the 1958 to 1959 period. She decommissioned 30 December 1963 and was berthed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia, Pa.
  Hunt was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 1 December 1974. She was sold 14 August 1975 and broken up for scrap.
caption: USS Hunt (DD-674) during 1959.
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