Photograph by "Official U.S. Navy Photograph, Released, U.S. Naval Photographic Center, U.S. Naval Station, Anacostia, Washington 25, , Public domain. Via
Wikimedia Commons.
U.S.S. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY JR. (DD-850)
A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1976. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“(DD-850) is a former United States Navy Gearing-class destroyer. The ship was named after Lieutenant Joseph P.”
Wikipedia article USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 272 National Register listings in Bristol County · listed in 1976 · category: Structure · one of 8 National Historic Landmarks in Bristol County.
Also known as. Fall River MRA (AD); Fall River MRA
Township. Fall River city
National Register reference number.76000231- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
24 since 2002
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 24 fires within 5 miles of U.S.S. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY JR. (DD-850) between
2002 and 2020, burning about 54 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
11
Arson/incendiarism
4
Debris and open burning
4
Misuse of fire by a minor
2
Recreation and ceremony
1
Power generation/transmission/distribution
1
Equipment and vehicle use
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 1,069 specimens
collected within 10 miles of U.S.S. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY JR. (DD-850) between 1844 and
1975: 591 Animalia, 368 Plantae, 77 Fungi, 29 Chromista, 4 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A E Schuyler, A. B. Hervey, A. Macrae and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
2 workings within 5 miles of U.S.S. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY JR. (DD-850): 1 unknown, 1 plant.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Fall River, the town this property stands in, in 24 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 10 flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 2 hail.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
At 1:25 PM EST, several cars were trapped in flood waters on Quequechan Street and Warren Street, near a Walmart store. The two streets were closed due to flooding.
Warren Street was flooded and impassable. A car was stuck in flood waters on Pleasant Street at the intersection with Quarry Street. Manhole covers popped off due to flooding on Globe Street.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
3,138 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. is moored in Battleship Cove just north of the Braga Bridge on the Taunton River. It is protected to the east by filled land and a high embankment, to the west by the U.S.S. Massachusetts and faces the open river to the north. The destroyer is 390 feet in length and measurer 41 feet at the extreme beam. The ship, haze gray in color, has a steel hull and aluminum superstructure. In 1961 the ship was extensively modernized into an ASW (anti-submarine warfare) destroyer. The torpedoes were replaced by guided missile equipment and a remote control Helicopter (no longer extant) was installed on the after deck. The ship is also equipped with five inch 45 calibre guns for anti-air warfare and shore bombardment.
The exterior of the ship is in the process of being restored, and the interior spaces are being prepared for exhibition halls and other educational facilities.
Statement of significance
/ARCHITECT The Joseph P. Kerinedy Jr.is significant for the role it played in the Korean War and in the Cuban Missile Blockade as well as for its strong associations with the Kennedy family. The ship was named for the eldest son of former Ambassador and Mrs. Joseph P. Kernedy. Kennedy, Jr., a young Navy aviator, was killed off the coast of Normandy on a secret bombing mission. Joseph Kennedy's brother, Robert F., served on the ship as a radarman, and President John F. Kennedy watched the America Cup races in 1962 from the second deck of the ship. In 1951 the Kennedy received battle stars for the first UN counter-offensive and for the Communist China Spring Offensive in the Korean War.
As flag ship of Destroyer Di- vision 102, the Kennedy participated in numerous Atlantic Fleet training exercises and was part of the NASA recovery forces for GT 7/6, GT 12, and the Apollo IV. The ship also participated in the "People to People" program and "Project Handclasp", visiting Europe, Africa, South America and the Middle East. In 1961 the Kennedy entered the New York Naval Shipyard for modernization of her weapons systems, electronics and conmnications, and was given a ASROC launcher which greatly multiplied her ASW capability. In 1962 the Kennedy received worldwide attention when she participated in the Cuban Blockade. The Kennedy, along with the U.S.S. Pierce, intercepted, halted and boarded the Russian chartered freighter Marcula.
In 1972 the Kennedy returned from its final deployment in the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet and was decommissioned in 1973. The ship moved to Battleship Cove in 1974, and is now used as an educational resource. It has been designated the Official Conmon- wealth memorial to the dead of the Korean and Vietnam Conflicts.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 76000231, 16 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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