USS Maddox (DD-731)

26°08′55″N 81°46′30″W / 26.1484805°N 81.7748860°W / 26.1484805; -81.7748860

USS Maddox underway in the early 1960s
History
United States
Name	Maddox
Namesake	William A. T. Maddox
Builder	Bath Iron Works
Laid down	28 October 1943
Launched	19 March 1944
Sponsored by	Mrs. Harry H. Wilhoit
Commissioned	2 June 1944
Decommissioned	1972
Stricken	2 July 1972
Identification	Callsign: NHHK Hull number: DD-731
Fate	Sold to Taiwan in 1973
Badge
Taiwan
Name	Po Yang (鄱陽)
Namesake	Po Yang
Acquired	6 July 1972
Commissioned	6 July 1972
Identification	Hull number: DD-10
Reclassified	DD-928 DD-910, 1979 DDG-910, mid-1980s
Decommissioned	30 June 1984
Stricken	1985
Fate	Scrapped, 1985
General characteristics
Class and type	Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer
Displacement	2,200 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam	40 ft (12 m)
Draft	15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45,000 kW); 2 propellers
Speed	34 kn (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	336 officers and men
Armament	6 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. guns 12 × 40 mm AA guns, 11 × 20 mm AA guns, 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 6 × depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Maddox (DD-731), was an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer. It was named after Captain William A. T. Maddox of the United States Marine Corps.

Maddox screened the ships of the Fast Carrier Task Force during strikes against Japanese targets in the western Pacific. She was hit by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft off Formosa on 21 January 1945. Later, she covered the Marine landings at Okinawa and operated with the 7th Fleet in support of United Nations Forces during the Korean War. Maddox participated in the Blockade of Wonsan, an 861-day siege and bombardment of the city.

After 1953, she alternated operations along the west coast of the United States and in Hawaiian waters, with regular deployments to the western Pacific with the Seventh Fleet. Maddox departed Long Beach 13 March 1964. At first steaming with fast carrier groups in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, she headed south 18 May and established patrol off the coast of South Vietnam. During August she was involved in a skirmish with North Vietnamese torpedo boats, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.