Construction
Built at Bethlehem Steel Corporation Yard, San Pedro, California. It was launched on September 9, 1943 and comissioned on December 31, 1943. Named for a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Cassin Young.

Wartime History
First saw action in the Pacific in April 1944 arriving at Pearl Harbor, then joins the fleet first firing on the enemy at Saipan. In October 1944 she participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and rescues 120 survivors of the stricken carrier USS Princeton. In December 1944, it survived a typoon off Luzon that sank three other destroyers. From January - March 1945, the ship serves as an aerial screen. Off Okinawa, it served on the radar picket line. The ship survived two separate hits by kamikazes. The first was April 12, 1945. The second was on July 30, 1945 and killed 22 and wounded twice as many and totally disabled the ship, the heroic efforts of her crew saved the ship. In August 1945, returns to Pearl Harbor.

Post War Service
Decommissioned in 1946, Cassin Young returned to duty in 1951. For the rest of the 1950s, she served primarily in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She entered the reserve fleet for a second time in 1960. She was transferred to the National Park Service for use as a museum ship in June 1978.

Display
Displayed at the Charlestown Navy Yard / Boston National Historical Park at Boston. The ship is a National Park Service. Cassin Young is an example of the type of ship built, repaired, and modernized in the Charlestown Navy Yard. Although built in California, fourteen Fletcher-Class destroyers just like her were produced at this yard.

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