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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729), 1944-1974 --
Selected Views and Ship's Insignia.

USS Lyman K. Swenson, a 2200-ton Allan M. Sumner class destroyer built at Bath, Maine, was commissioned in May 1944. Following an Atlantic shakedown she went to the Pacific, where she was to serve continuously for twenty-seven years. From September 1944 to the end of the war with Japan in August 1945, Lyman K. Swenson was active in operations off Leyte, Luzon, the China and Indochina coasts, the Japanese home islands and Okinawa. After a brief post-war return to the U.S., she deployed to the Western Pacific in 1946-47, then spent a few years training Naval Reservists along the U.S. Pacific coast.

In March 1950, Lyman K. Swenson again went to the Far East where the late June outbreak of the Korean War soon involved her in vigorous combat activities. In three tours off Korea in 1950-53, she performed shore bombardment, blockading, and fleet screening duties. Her role in the September 1950 Inchon invasion is especially notable. After the Korean Armistice, Lyman K. Swenson continued a regular pattern of Western Pacific deployments, briefly interrupted by a major "Fram II" modernization in 1960-61. From 1965 through her final Far Eastern tour in 1970, she was active in Vietnam War operations. USS Lyman K. Swenson decommissioned in February 1971. In May 1974, she was sold to the Republic of China to provide spare parts for other ships of her type.

USS Lyman K. Swenson was named in honor of Captain Lyman K. Swenson (1892-1942), who was killed in action while commanding USS Juneau (CL-52).

This page features selected photographs of USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729) and a view of her insignia, and provides links to other images of the ship.

For other images of this ship, see:

  • USS Lyman K. Swenson -- Views Taken during the 1940s;
  • USS Lyman K. Swenson -- Views during and after "FRAM II" Modernization and
  • USS Lyman K. Swenson -- Actions and Activities.

    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: 19-N-68548

    USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729)


    Off the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 22 July 1944.
    She is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 9D.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 89376

    USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729)


    Steams through heavy seas in the Western Pacific, 1945.
    Photographed from USS Brush (DD-745).

    Courtesy of Robert O. Baumrucker, 1978.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 106KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 96968

    USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729)


    Underway off Oahu, Hawaii, 16 March 1970.
    Photographed by PH1 Dixon M. Dreher.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 104KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 67989-KN (Color)

    USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729)

    Jacket patch of the ship's insignia, as used in about 1967.

    Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN, 1969.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 165KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     

    For other images of USS Lyman K. Swenson, see:

  • USS Lyman K. Swenson -- Views Taken during the 1940s;
  • USS Lyman K. Swenson -- Views during and after "FRAM II" Modernization and
  • USS Lyman K. Swenson -- Actions and Activities.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    12 September 1999