USS Gearing ( DD - 710 ) USS " Gearing " ( DD - 710 ) was the lead ship of her class of destroyer s in the United States Navy . She was named for three generations of the Gearing family , Commander Henry Chalfant Gearing , Sr . , Captain Henry Chalfant Gearing , Jr . and Lieutenant Henry Chalfant Gearing , III . Construction . " Gearing " was launched on 18 February 1945 by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co . , Kearny , New Jersey . The " Gearing " was sponsored by Mrs . Thomas M . Foley , daughter of Commander Gearing and commissioned 3 May 1945 with Commander T . H . Copeman in command . History . After shakedown off Cuba , " Gearing " reached Norfolk 22 July 1945 and trained precommisioning crews for other destroyers until putting in at Casco Bay , Maine , 5 October . Celebration of Navy Day from 26 to 29 October at New London , Connecticut , gave 5 , 000 citizens the chance to board the powerful destroyer . Subsequently " Gearing " put in at Pensacola , Florida , 4 November to screen carrier " Ranger " during carrier qualification operations . Returning to Norfolk 21 March 1946 , she conducted peacetime operations along the Atlantic coast of North and South America , in the Caribbean , visiting Montevideo , Uruguay ; and Rio de Janeiro , Brazil . " Gearing " sailed 10 November 1947 on her first Mediterranean cruise , calling at Algeria , Malta , Italy , and France before mooring again at Norfolk 11 March 1948 . Peacetime operations along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean prepared her for a second cruise to European waters ; the destroyer visited most of the nations washed by the Mediterranean from 10 November 1947 to 11 March 1948 and duplicated this long voyage from 4 January to 23 May 1949 . During the fall of 1949 " Gearing " took part in Operation Frostbite , an Arctic cruise test and development of cold weather techniques and equipment . She continued operations off the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean through 1950 . Another voyage from 10 January to 17 May 1951 brought her from Norfolk to the Mediterranean and return ; the remainder of the year was occupied by training cruises as far north as Halifax and south to Cuban waters . By now " Gearing " had established the pattern of peacetime operations she followed well into the 1960s : " Med " cruises usually once a year , and exercise in the Atlantic and Caribbean . These kept her in fighting trim for the ceaseless duties of seapower . She was modernized and overhauled late 1961 through early 1962 at Boston . In October 1962 " Gearing " took part in the American " quarantine " patrol against Cuba as the world trembled on the brink of war and was the first to intercept a Soviet vessel . This swift and classic use of power at sea solved the crisis . On 1 November " Gearing " returned to Norfolk . Through the remainder of 1962 she continued operations in the Atlantic . After participating in Operation " Springboard - 63 . " early in 1963 , " Gearing " sailed for the Mediterranean in March serving with the 6th Fleet during the summer . She returned to Newport in September for a " FRAM I " overhaul . Following operations in the Caribbean and North Atlantic in the spring and summer of 1964 , " Gearing " entered the Mediterranean 4 October to rejoin the 6th Fleet . After returning home early in 1965 , she continued operating in the Atlantic Fleet into 1967 . She was decommissioned in 1973 , stricken on 1 July 1973 and sold for scrap on 6 November 1974 .