Returning to Caribbean and Atlantic operations, in January 1961 Robert L. Wilson pursued the Portuguese liner SS Santa Maria which had been seized by a group of revolutionaries. An eight-day chase took Wilson and Damato (DD-871) across the equator to Recife, Brazil. Returning to Norfolk, Robert L. Wilson underwent a month of preparation, then departed on 8 June for her ninth Mediterranean cruise. She spent the fall and winter of 1961 operating in the western Atlantic out of Norfolk.
Name: USS Robert L. Wilson
Namesake: Robert L. Wilson
Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Laid down: 2 July 1945
Launched: 5 January 1946
Commissioned: 28 March 1946
Decommissioned: 30 September 1974
Reclassified: DDE-847, 4 March 1950
DD-847, 1 August 1962
Struck: 30 September 1974
Nickname: "The Willy Boat"
Fate: Sunk as a target, 1 March 1980
General characteristics
Class and type: Gearing-class destroyer
Displacement: 3,460 long tons (3,516 t) full
Length: 390 ft 6 in (119.02 m)
Beam: 40 ft 10 in (12.45 m)
Draft: 14 ft 4 in (4.37 m)
Propulsion: Geared turbines, 2 shafts, 60,000 shp (45 MW)
Speed: 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range: 4,500 nmi (8,300 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 336
Armament: â?¢ 6 Ã? 5"/38 caliber guns
â?¢ 12 Ã? 40 mm AA guns
â?¢ 11 Ã? 20 mm AA guns
â?¢ 10 Ã? 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
â?¢ 6 Ã? depth charge projectors
â?¢ 2 Ã? depth charge tracks