USS Maddox, a 2200-ton Allen M. Sumner class destroyer, was built at Bath, Maine. She was commissioned in early June 1944, went to the Pacific toward the end of August and entered combat as an escort for Task Force 38's fast carriers during their strikes in the Philippines and South China Sea areas from November 1944 into January 1945. While off Formosa on 21 January, Maddox was hit by a Japanese suicide plane that killed seven of her crewmen. This damage kept her out of action for nearly two months, but the destroyer was able to assist the carriers during their March 1945 raids on Japan. She spent the remaining five months of the Pacific War supporting the Okinawa campaign and participating in further attacks on the Japanese home islands.
Maddox began the post-World War II era by transporting veterans from the Far East to the United States. She again operated in Asian waters in 1946-47 and had just started another tour there when the Korean War broke out in late June 1950. For the rest of the year, she supported the United Nations forces in Korea, performing escort, blockade and bombardment missions, and also took part in patrols between Taiwan and mainland China. Maddox had similar duties during two subsequent Korean War cruises and deployed to the western Pacific for Seventh Fleet duty seven more times between 1954 and 1962.
Following two years' operations along the west coast, in March 1964 Maddox began an especially eventful Seventh Fleet tour. On 2 August 1964, while on patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin, she was attacked by North Vietnamese motor torpedo boats. During the night of 4 August a second attack was believed to have taken place, leading to retaliatory strikes on North Vietnam by U.S. carrier planes. This Gulf of Tonkin Incident was a very important precursor to the direct U.S. combat role in Southeast Asia that began the next year. During 1965-1968, Maddox served three more times in the Far East, doing her part to support the Vietnam War effort and other U.S. interests in the region.
In mid-1969, Maddox became a Naval Reserve Training Ship. She performed this duty along the west coast until early July 1972, when she was decommissioned and sold to the Republic of China. Renamed Po Yang, the destroyer served in the Taiwan area with the ROC Navy until about 1985.
This page features, or provides links to, all the views we have related to USS Maddox (DD-731).
For more images related to USS Maddox, see:
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.
In addition to the images presented on these pages, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Maddox (DD-731). The following list features some of these images:
The images listed below are NOT in
the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."
USS Maddox (DD-731) Underway in the Atlantic, eastward from Long Island, 6 July 1944. Taken from a squadron ZP-11 blimp. Starboard bow aerial view, more starboard than bow. The ship is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 9d. As 80-G-237857, but aerial starboard broadside (from somewhat forward) taken 27 August 1944. As 80-G-237857, but starboard bow aerial view taken 27 August 1944. This view is much more toward the ship's bow than 80-G-245437. USS Maddox (DD-731) during anti-submarine exercises off the coast of California, June 1962. The ship is seen from off the starboard bow, underway with a depth charge exploding astern. She takes up only about a quarter of the image width. Another destroyer is in the distance
Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
For more images related to USS Maddox, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 8 March 2002
New images added and page divided 20 March 2004