? The Pearl Harbor-based guided missile destroyer Joseph Strauss was built by the New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden, NJ, and was commissioned April 20, 1963. ? The ship was named for Admiral Joseph Strauss (1861-1948), who was responsible for laying the great North Sea barrage of 57,000 contact mines from Norway to Scotland during World War I. When the war ended in 1918, Strauss found himself in charge of removing the very mines he had laid - a four month operation. He was also a pioneer in ordnance research. ? In April 1965, Strauss, together with USS Ernest G. Small, became the first advanced search and rescue/antiaircraft warfare picket team in the Gulf of Tonkin to support air strikes into North Vietnam. ? Six months later, she became the first guided missile destroyer to fire in support of South Vietnam forces to aid an Army of Vietnam - U.S. Marine Corps search and destroy mission. She participated in a number of other missions during the Vietnam War. ? Strauss also served as the primary recovery ship for Gemini 12 and secondary recovery for Apollo 12. She was dubbed "SMOKN' JOE" after setting a Pearl Harbor speed record of 35.2 knots under full power in 1979. In 1980, Strauss rescued a number of Vietnamese boat people in the South China Sea.