USS Du Pont (DD-941), named for Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont USN (1803–1865), was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer built by the Bath Iron Works Corporation at Bath in Maine and launched by Mrs. H. B. Du Pont, great-great-grandniece of Rear Admiral Du Pont; and commissioned 1 July 1957, Commander W. J. Maddocks in command.
Du Pont off the coast of Lebanon, 1982.
Du Pont off the coast of Iran in Persian Gulf during Mail Call flight
Samuel Francis Du Pont was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family. In the Mexican–American War, Du Pont captured San Diego, and was made commander of the California naval blockade. Through the 1850s, he promoted engineering studies at the United States Naval Academy, to enable more mobile and aggressive operations. In the American Civil War, he played a major role in making the Union blockade effective, but was controversially blamed for the failed attack on Charleston, South Carolina in April 1863.
Samuel Francis Du Pont by Daniel Huntington, 1867–68, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Painting of Du Pont as a midshipman
Sophie Madeleine du Pont, in a photograph by Mathew Brady
USS Cyane Taking Possession of San Diego Old Town July 1846, by Carlton T. Chapman (detail)
