The U.S.S. Bainbridge was steaming up the Yangtze River in 1912 when Commodore Mark Hersey got a desperate message to hurry below. He found a crewman with his fist in a hole in the side of the ship—holding back the Yangtze's waters. While scraping paint, the sailor had punched a hole clear through the tinny sides of America's first destroyer. Recalls Hersey: ''We stuffed a potato in the hole, covered it with concrete and prayed."
At Quincy. Mass., last week the Navy celebrated the 60th anniversary of the construction of the original Bainbridge by commissioning a namesake that is totally...
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