USS Brownson ( DD - 868 ) USS " Brownson " ( DD - 868 ) , a " Gearing " - class destroyer , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Willard H . Brownson , USN ( 1845 – 1935 ) . Design and launch . " Brownson " was designed by Gibbs and Cox , Naval Architects , New York office . It ' s keel was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Staten Island in New York on 13 February 1945 ; launched on 7 July 1945 , sponsored by Ensign Caroline Brownson Hart , USNR , granddaughter of Admiral Brownson ; and commissioned on 17 November 1945 , Commander William R . Cox in command . Operations . " Brownson " conducted shakedown in the Atlantic and Caribbean and was then placed in a reduced operational status at Bath , Maine for six months . Resuming active operations in October 1946 , she participated in Operation Highjump between November 1946 and April 1947 . On 10 February 1947 , a boat party attempted to make a landing in the Antarctic on Charcot Island but was unsuccessful because of heavy field ice within three miles of the coastline . Brownson spent the summer and fall of 1947 operating out of Newport , R . I . . In February 1948 she took part in the 2nd Fleet exercises in the Caribbean and then Joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean . She returned to Newport in June 1948 and spent June 1948 to May 1949 conducting reserve cruises . In May 1949 she entered Boston Naval Shipyard for an extensive modernization which lasted until March 1950 . She conducted refresher training in the Caribbean and in the summer of 1950 made a Midshipman cruise in the Caribbean . She then participated in fleet exercises , operating out of Newport . During night operations on Bermuda on 8 November 1950 " Brownson " collided with " Charles H . Roan " ( DD - 853 ) . She returned to Boston for repairs and further modernization . Leaving the yard in February 1951 she joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean . The period between October 1951 and August 1952 was spent in the vicinity of Newport . In August 1952 she went to the North Atlantic with the 2nd Fleet for NATO ' s Operation Mainbrace . In October 1952 she rejoined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean . Returning to Newport in February 1953 , she operated along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean until August 1954 , with the exception of one Midshipmen cruise and participation in Operation Springboard . She departed Newport 2 August for an extended tour in the Far East with the 7th Fleet . In the Far East " Brownson " cruised in Japan ese , Philippine , and Korean waters until January 1955 . Departing the Far East she returned to the east coast , via the Suez Canal , arriving at Newport 14 March 1955 . 1955 - 1976 . " Brownson " received the FRAM I modifications in 1959 - 60 . This included removal of gun mount 53 , where a DASH ( Drone , Antisubmarine Helicopter ) deck / hangar was placed . It was also lengthened about 20 feet , and received ASROC , among other things . It returned from service in Viet Nam via the Suez Canal in 1967 . It was later modified in the Boston NSY in 1967 with a large , low frequency , rubberized , prototype SONAR dome just forward of midships and a smaller SONAR receiver , aft but also along the keel , to achieve ' 3D ' SONAR ' pictures ' . It spent several months operating out of Newport with the DESDEV ( Destroyer Development Group ) evaluating the SONAR system . This required that it get underweigh during heavy storms to evaluate the new dome under conditions of high sea states . It underwent REFTRA ( Refresher Training ) in Gitmo in winter 1968 - 69 , joined the Sixth Fleet north of Egypt that spring , and participated in NATO fleet exercises . " Brownson " was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 September 1976 and sold for scrap on 10 June 1977 .