The USS John Basilone

[Old No7]

The USS John Basilone is the topic for this post; named after the hero of Guadalcanal -- Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone -- who received the Medal of Honor for his acts of heroism in that battle, and is the only enlisted Marine to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.

DDG 122 is the second Navy ship to be named in his honor. Rather than pasting in all the images -- see This Link (click here) for the images and story.

My family and I once watched as Bath Iron Works launched a new destoyer down the old slipways -- making quite the splash! -- but now they use a sinking dry dock, as shown in the images. Some nice images of her sailing on the mighty Kennebec River are included in the photo array. And for those not aware, the tight port/startboard "Z turn" at Fiddlers Reach (when headed out, or down river) is what limits the length of Bath-built ships for the Navy. We used to catch stripers there years ago.

A friend once complained to me that he had to go to see "yet again" for 5-day sea trials on one of the Arleigh Burke class missile destroyers he'd worked on, and he's miss his son's graduation... I quickly volunteered to take his place, but it didn't happen...

Never forget. Remember the fallen.

Old No7

Edit to add some images...

How they're built:


Almost done:


At Fiddlers Reach:

[jeepnik]

Basilone highway is on Camp Pendleton and is one of the off-ramps from the 5 freeway. I doubt more than a handful of drivers passing it know who he was. Or that he didn't have to return to combat where he was killed.

On the other hand of those who use the off ramp I'd bet almost everyone knows his story.

The Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton is visible from the 5 and just a very short distance from the main gate. But during its construction and frequently while servicing it I found it quicker to use the less used gate on Basilone and then drive parallel to the 5 on surface streets. Though a time or three I did get held up by armored vehicles crossing the road armed Marines start pretty early in the morning sometimes.

[TraderVic]

Cool. I served on DDG-13 (USS Hoel) 50 years ago. Would be real interesting to see how advanced the weapon systems are nowadays.

[Ray]

Cool. I served on DDG-13 (USS Hoel) 50 years ago. Would be real interesting to see how advanced the weapon systems are nowadays.

Had to look-up that one. Charles F. Adams class. We went almost everywhere the Adams went out of Mayport in the '80s.

As for the Burke class destroyers of the o.p., they surely have proven themselves from a damage control/watertight integrity sense. The one terrorist bombing & the two serious collisions were serious & deadly trials of their endurance.

[Griff]

I served on the USS Somers, DDG-34, one of 4 converted Forrest-Sherman class destroyers, for my last two years in the Navy. My son served on DDG73, USS Decatur as a plank owner. I got to attend her commissioning ceremony in Portland, OR... My son's chief was a shipmate of mine... Good for a lot of laughs. It might be prejudice, but I prefer the lines of the Forrest-Sherman class destroyers, over the Arleigh Burke.

DDG-34.jpg

[TraderVic]

There were several of the Forrest-Sherman class destroyers in WestPac, both tours I was over there. We were tied outboard of the USS Turner Joy in Subic at least once.

[earlmck]

Mighta' staid in the Navy if I coulda' rode on something like that beauty!

I got to spend one night on a "tin can" in my short career. A helo flew me off the old Bon Homme (carrier) and dropped me onto a destroyer to help fix their radar, which was my specialty at the time. I recall the job of that fellow was to maneuver around a Russian trawler/eavesdropper to keep said trawler from interfering with air ops of the carriers there in the Tonkin Gulf. Woulda' liked to stay a while but got plucked off the next day and returned to the boring old flat top.

[OldWin]

We used to build the turbines for all the Arleigh Burke destroyers. Did them for the Boomer and SSN attack subs too.
About 90% of work was Navy until the early 90s.

[Ysabel Kid]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!!!

[Ray]

We used to build the turbines for all the Arleigh Burke destroyers. Did them for the Boomer and SSN attack subs too.
About 90% of work was Navy until the early 90s.

The tin can (knox class) I was on was scheduled to go to to the persian gulf in 1987 but we were deferred to the mediterranean instead and a perry class frigate took our place in the persian gulf by virtue of both its superior mode of propulsion (g.t. vs. our boilers) and its missile array & electronic countermeasures. You can easily guess who replaced us. USS Stark ! and the rest is history as they say.

I won't say anything critical of the stark & her brave crew but it is a fact that our phalanx c.w.i.s. was online round the clock with FCs & GMGs continuously on station. We were just in the placid mediterranean and not necessarily in harm's way but we were prepared to buzzsaw incoming missiles providing that the scope jockeys (OSs) weren't asleep on watch in combat control. It was indeed determined (later in 1988) that the stark's c.w.i.s. was inexplicably offline though now wikipedia cites that the radar did not detect the missiles on that fateful evening.

USS_Stark_(FFG-31)_memorial_in_Mayport_kindlephoto-686796085.jpg

[OldWin]

We used to build the turbines for all the Arleigh Burke destroyers. Did them for the Boomer and SSN attack subs too.
About 90% of work was Navy until the early 90s.

The tin can (knox class) I was on was scheduled to go to to the persian gulf in 1987 but we were deferred to the mediterranean instead and a perry class frigate took our place in the persian gulf by virtue of both its superior mode of propulsion (g.t. vs. our boilers) and its missile array & electronic countermeasures. You can easily guess who replaced us. USS Stark ! and the rest is history as they say.

I won't say anything critical of the stark & her brave crew but it is a fact that our phalanx c.w.i.s. was online round the clock with FCs & GMGs continuously on station. We were just in the placid mediterranean and not necessarily in harm's way but we were prepared to buzzsaw incoming missiles providing that the scope jockeys (OSs) weren't asleep on watch in combat control. It was indeed determined (later in 1988) that the stark's c.w.i.s. was inexplicably offline though now wikipedia cites that the radar did not detect the missiles on that fateful evening.

USS_Stark_(FFG-31)_memorial_in_Mayport_kindlephoto-686796085.jpg

The phalanx is an incredible weapon. Bullets ALWAYS work. Same reason I don't feel the big guns will ever be obsolete.

[Ray]

Re. the phalanx c.w.i.s., a test fire on my ship was minutes away when somebody reported that the door to the a.f.f.f. foam generator space for the flight deck fire hoses & foam cannon was ajar. Since that space was repair division's responsibility I was sent to secure the door. The buzzsaw commenced some 60' aft on the fantail & I had just time to step in the foam generator space and close the door and dog one door dog down to save my hearing. That thirty second burst would loosen your teeth if you were topside without hearing protection and no matter how well you were expecting it, everybody jumped when it began.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=spEXLituk ... IGZpcmU%3D

There is also the prevalent maritime legend that in actual live fire against a towed drone missile, the fire control system radar would lock onto the tow cable and the stream of depleted uranium 20mm projectiles would follow it to the tow plane and cause the pilot to have to emergency eject from the plane. Almost everyone claimed that they had seen it happen but I never believed it.

The USS Stark Incident House of Representatives Investigation Committee concluded in 1988.....

The Stark was supposed to be operating in Condition-III, which means that all weapon and sensor stations should have been manned, allowing a rapid, full engagement of weapons. But, out on a lonely radar picket post just miles from the edge of the Iran-Iraq war zone, the Stark’s chaff launchers were not armed, the Phalanx was turned off, the .50-caliber machine guns were not loaded, and the gunner’s mate assigned to the .50-caliber mount was actually lying down on the job. Worse, only one weapons control console operator was on watch in the CIC. The weapons control officer believed he was in Condition-III/White, and thus had not initialized his console into Condition-III/Yellow.

In CIC, neither of the two SLQ-32 operators saw a missile warning. The main operator at the console, however, had turned off the incoming missile audible signal warning. He claimed later that the alarm was typically set off too easily, and distracted him from performing other signal analysis. He admitted that he might have been distracted momentarily while answering a question from Lieutenant Moncrief and missed the signal altogether.

On the other hand, the firefighting and flooding damage control efforts were said to be excellent and near textbook perfect.

[rock-steady]

I worked on the repairs to the USS Stark and the USS Cole years ago. I saw on the news yesterday, that the Cole launched some anti-missile missiles defending Israel yesterday.

Time flies.....