USS GEORGE K. MACKENZIE (DD-836) was launched by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine on May 13, 1945, and placed in commission two months later. Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie’s daughter, Donna, sponsored the ship.
DD-836 was a GEARING class destroyer, one of a proposed class of 105 state-of-the-art super destroyers; improvements over the fourteen foot shorter ALLEN SUMNER’s that they succeeded. Although all were not completed, GEARING class "cans" were to form the mainstay of U.S. destroyer forces well into the 1970’s.
As launched, USS GEORGE K. MACKENZIE was 391’0" long, with a beam of 40’10" and a draft of 23’. Her designed displacement was 3,160 tons, but her standard displacement at commissioning, 2,450 tons, was more representative of her "true" weight; heavier than some World War I cruisers. Her offensive fire-power included 6 - 5" 38 cal. "naval rifles" in three twin mounts. Anti-aircraft protection was provided by sixteen 40mm, three in "quad" mounts and two in twins, along with ten twin 20mm weapons. She still carried 5 - 21" torpedo tubes in a single mount, amidships, between her twin stacks. Six "K" guns and two depth charge "racks" composed her anti-submarine capability.
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