USS Willis A. Lee

USS Willis A. Lee (DL-4)
History
United States
NamesakeWillis A. "Ching" Lee
BuilderBethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard
Laid down1 November 1949
Launched26 January 1952
Commissioned5 October 1954
Decommissioned19 December 1969
ReclassifiedDL-4, 9 February 1951
Stricken15 May 1972
FateSold for scrap, 18 May 1973
General characteristics
Class and typeMitscher class destroyer
Displacement4,730
Length493'0" (150.3 m)
Beam50'0" (15.2 m)
Draft14'0" (4.3 m)
Speed30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement403
Armament2x 5"/54 (127 mm/54) caliber Mark 42 gun, 4x 3" (76 mm), 8x 20mm, 2x ASW rocket. (Weapon "Alfa"), 1x depth charge track

USS Willis A. Lee (DD-929) was a Mitscher-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Vice Admiral Willis A. "Ching" Lee USN (1888–1945).

Willis A. Lee was laid down by the Shipbuilding Division of the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy in Massachusetts on 1 November 1949, reclassified as a destroyer leader and designated DL-4 on 9 February 1951, launched on 26 January 1952 by Mrs. Fitzhugh L. Palmer, Jr., niece of Vice Admiral Lee and commissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard on 5 October 1954.

Willis A. Lee participated in quarantine operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Willis A. Lee was decommissioned on 19 December 1969, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 May 1972 and sold for scrap to the Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation of New York City on 18 May 1973.