From 1945 to 1982 the destroyer docked beside you, USS Orleck, served with the United States Navy as a Gearing-class ship. Launched into a long life at sea, she was sold in October 1982 to Turkey and renamed Yücetepe (D 345). After final decommissioning the Turkish government transferred her to the Southeast Texas War Memorial and Heritage Foundation at Orange, Texas, where she was berthed as a museum ship.
The Orleck Foundation later moved her to the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and on 26 March 2022 she arrived here in Jacksonville to serve as a naval museum on the downtown riverfront. She remained a museum here until 3 April 2023, when she docked at her permanent home at the Shipyards West. The ship you see carries the name of Joseph Orleck, who was born 22 January 1906 in Columbus, Ohio, enlisted in the Navy on 23 June 1924, rose through the ranks, and was warranted boatswain on 14 December 1938 and appointed ensign on 15 June 1942.
He assumed command of USS Nauset on 28 May 1943 and went down with his ship after a Luftwaffe bomber attack in the Gulf of Salerno on 9 September 1943. The destroyer's steel hull looms over the riverfront docks beside you.