page_title: USS Edson
section_title: Commissioning and initial service
hierarchical_section_title: USS Edson / Commissioning and initial service
caption_attribution_description: Bow of the USS Edson at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, along side other destroyers and USS Trout submarine
context_page_description: USS Edson is a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer, formerly of the United States Navy, built by Bath Iron Works in Maine in 1958. Her home port was Long Beach, California and she initially served in the Western Pacific/Far East, operating particularly in the Taiwan Strait and off the coast of Vietnam. Her exceptionally meritorious service in 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin was recognized with the first of three Navy Unit Commendations. During the following years she was shelled by North Vietnamese land forces, and apparently received friendly fire from the US Air Force.
  Following an onboard fire in 1974, Edson returned to the West Pacific and was later commended for her roles in the evacuation of Phnom Penh and Saigon.
  She was decommissioned in 1988, but the following year became a museum ship at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York. Returning to Navy lay-up in 2004, it was agreed in 2012 that she should again become a museum ship, at Bay City, Michigan. A National Historic Landmark, she is one of only two surviving Forest Sherman-class destroyers.
context_section_description: USS Edson was named for Major General Merritt "Red Mike" Edson USMC (1897–1955), who was awarded the  Medal of Honor (while serving as Commanding Officer of the First Marine Raider Battalion on Guadalcanal) and the Navy Cross and Silver Star for other actions in World War II.
  Edson was laid down on 3 December 1956 by Bath Iron Works Corporation and launched on 4 January 1958, sponsored by Mrs. M. A. Edson, widow of General Edson; and commissioned on 7 November 1958, with Commander Thomas J. Moriarty in command.
  Edson called at Ciudad Trujillo and Caribbean ports while conducting shakedown training en route to Callao, Peru, where she lay from 18–21 February 1959 delivering supplies for the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru. She reached Naval Station Long Beach, California, her home port, on 2 March, and through the remainder of the year perfected her readiness with exercises along the west coast. On 5 January 1960, she sailed from Long Beach for her first deployment in the Far East, during which she patrolled in the Taiwan Straits and took part in amphibious operations off Okinawa, and exercises of various types off Japan. On 29 April, she rescued three aviators from USS Ranger, whose A-3D aircraft crash landed in the ocean.  Edson returned to Long Beach on 31 May for an overhaul which continued through October.  Edson spent the remainder of 1960 conducting training off San Diego.
caption: The bow of USS Edson at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
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