USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (DD-850) is a former United States Navy . The ship was named after Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., a naval aviator, son of the former Ambassador to Britain, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., and older brother of future President John F. Kennedy. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. served, with interruptions for modernization, until 1973. Among the highlights of her service are the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the afloat recovery teams for Gemini 6 and Gemini 7. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. is on display as a museum ship in Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts. She was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989 as one of a small number of surviving Gearing-class destroyers. 1945–1950 USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Fore River Shipyard at Quincy, Massachusetts, launched on 26 July 1945, sponsored by Miss Jean Kennedy, sister of Lieutenant Kennedy. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was commissioned at Boston on 15 December 1945. The new destroyer sailed on 4 February 1946 for shakedown training in the Caribbean. Robert F. Kennedy, Joseph's brother, then 20 years old, sailed on this cruise as an apprentice seaman. Kennedy was discharged from the navy on 30 May 1946. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. returned to her homeport, Newport, in April 1946, and was occupied for the next few months in Naval Reserve Training. Arriving Norfolk on 8 October, the ship joined Admiral William D. Leahy's flagship, , and other units for a cruise to Chile and Venezuela. She transited the Panama Canal twice on this voyage, and was reviewed by the President of Venezuela on 25 November 1946. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. returned to her home port on 14 December 1946. During 1947 the destroyer operated on the East Coast and in the Caribbean. She sailed for fleet maneuvers off Puerto Rico on 9 February and upon completion steamed eastward to join the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. During this period of great unrest in Europe, the fleet carried out the important role of peacekeeper and stabilizer. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. visited various Mediterranean ports before arriving Newport on 26 June 1948. The remainder of the year was spent in antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises, and the first half of 1949 saw her make two training cruises to the Caribbean. The ship sailed