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To the USS John King DDG-3 Association Website. This is the official website for the USS JOHN KING DDG-3 association. This website belongs to all former crewmembers of the USS JOHN KING DDG-3. Our goal is to maintain the history of our ship. You, can continue to be part of the history of your ship by joining this association. We will try through this site to help you relive your time aboard this magnificent and most powerful destroyer. We are all proud to have served on her, and take great pleasure in remembering the good times as well as the not so good times onboard the Jolly John!
We have association reunions every other year on the odd numbered years. Check the reunion tab for more info. We really have a great time planning for and attending these reunions. We are constantly seeking to change and make each one better than the last. If you have not attended one, you are in for a real treat, so start planning to come and join us now. If you haven't been to one in a few years, come on back and check us out. In the past we have seen many plankowners, and guys from the 60's and 70's, but not many from the 80's. Probably because of children still at home and other responsibilities. Well, your time has come! We invite you to be a part of your ship's rich history and join us in these celebrations. You not only will see some of your old friends, you definatly will make some new ones, and go home with lasting memories.
One purpose of the Association, is "to foster and strengthen the fraternal, civic and patriotic bonds among former shipmates and their families who have served on the USS JOHN KING DDG-3, and to provide mutual aid to benefit to its membership." Another is to get the message out to all former crewmwmbers that we do exist and we welcome you home!
On May 01,2007, the USS JOHN KING DDG-3 ASSOCIATION commissioned this site as www.ussjohnkingassociation.org. Hopefully this web-site will help association members and those who have not yet joined, to be able to have a common place that they can come visit to find various types of information such as reunions, see who is new, look at some old photos, or chat with an old buddy. Of course, it is always neat to just load the front page and see the John King underway!
Since 02-04-61, when the USS JOHN KING was first commissioned, she has served her country as a most formidable warship. Whether active or inactive, she was always on the ready, waiting to be called. Throughout her military life, she effectually gained an outstanding list of accomplishments and a proud heritage. She served gallantly in Vietnam,Coldwar and Peacetime. She was initially designated DD953 and then changed to DDG-3. The keel laid down Aug 25,1958, Launched Jan. 30, 1960, Commissioned Feb 4th 1961, and Deconnissioned March 30,1991. Feb 10th,1999 she was sold for scrap. John King was 437 feet long, 47 feet wide, and had a draft of 20 feet. She displaced 4,500 tons and had a rated speed of 31 knots. Engineers have seen better than that! Her full compliment was 24 officers and 330 enlisted. Was fitted with two MK42 5inch guns fore and aft, two MK32 triple mount torpedo launchers, one MK16 asroc missle launcher, one MK11mod-O (Tartar) missle launcher, And one hell of a good crew!! This class of destroyer also marked the end of the steam era for tincans. With her 1200psi boilers and twin 35000 horsepower steam turbine engines,she could get up to 33+ knots in short time. In our opinion, these were the most beautiful, destroyer looking, tincans ever built! The USS JOHN KING DDG-3 met her fate at the hands of the scrapper in the late 1990's, but the memory of this beautiful ship will stay welded in our hearts and minds until we are, all of us, gone! At the time of this writing, the Charles F.Adams DDG-2 is the only surviving guided missle warship left. If you would like to do something to help save the USS CHARLES F. ADAMS, you may contact Harold (Hal) Matroni via e-mail: DDG3ENGINEER@embarqmail.com Hal is our new representative to the Adams Class Destroyer Veterans Assoc. He will be able to fill you in on all the details.
Checkout the scuttlebutt page. This is a forum where you can submit various types of information such as, looking for a lost shipmate, posting an interesting story or event that took place while onboard or on liberty, or maybe a patriotic letter or song to share. Whatever comes to mind. Mind your manners please when submitting. Ed will preview and if necessary edit. Please try and keep it down to a few paragraphs and within the scope of the John King, The Assoc., or Navy related items.
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Join our Association and enjoy the camaraderie along with your former shipmates. Share fond memories, meet some old friends, and make some new ones. This site is new so please be patient as we build it. Check back frequently to see our progress. Also, we are currently looking for photos to post in the various pages.
PLEASE SEND US YOUR PHOTOS
You can mail a photo cd to us at:
USS JOHN KING DDG-3 ASSOCIATION, 1280 FLAT ROCK GAP RD, BLAIRSVILLE, GA 30512
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Thank you for visiting. Ed Garrett, President. Dennis (Jake) Jaegle, Treasurer/Secretary. Blake Kidney, Website design/Webmaster. Harold Matroni, ACVA Representative