Santa Barbara in 1992 | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | Santa Barbara |
Namesake | Santa Barbara, California |
Awarded | 26 January 1966 [1] |
Builder | Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard [1] |
Laid down | 20 December 1966 [1] |
Launched | 23 January 1968 [1] |
Sponsored by | Mrs. Graeme C. Bannerman |
Commissioned | 11 July 1970 [1] |
Decommissioned | 30 September 1998 [1] |
In service | Transferred to Military Sealift Command, 30 September 1998 |
Stricken | 3 August 2005 [1] |
Motto |
|
Fate | Sold for scrap 2007 [1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Kilauea-class ammunition ship |
Displacement |
|
Length | 564 ft (172 m) |
Beam | 81 ft (25 m) |
Draft | 27 ft 7 in (8.41 m) |
Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
USS Santa Barbara (AE-28) was an Kilauea-class ammunition ship in the United States Navy. Santa Barbara is both the name of Santa Barbara, California and a historically active volcano on Terceira Island in the Azores. In addition, Saint Barbara is the patron saint of those who work with cannons and explosives.
Santa Barbara was laid down on 30 December 1966 at the Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard in Sparrows Point, Maryland; launched on 23 January 1968; sponsored by Mrs. Graeme C. Bannerman, the wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Logistics; and commissioned on 11 July 1970.
Following fitting out at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Santa Barbara arrived at her selected home port, Davisville, Rhode Island, on 18 September 1970. On 6 October, the ammunition ship conducted her first underway replenishment.
Santa Barbara departed from Davisville on 15 October for the Caribbean and six weeks of shakedown training at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Her shakedown completed on 25 November, the Santa Barbara returned to her home port of Davisville on 5 December.
Underway again on 11 January 1971, Santa Barbara arrived at the Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle, New Jersey, for her first regular loadout, which was completed four days later at the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, Virginia
After a short period in Davisville, Santa Barbara got underway on 1 February for her first regularly scheduled fleet exercises. With units of Task Force 27 participating in Operation Springboard, the ammunition ship operated out of Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, until 25 February, rearming 17 ships and successfully transferring over 400 tons of missiles, bombs, and projectiles. On 15 March, the Santa Barbara began a two-month availability at the Boston Naval Shipyard. Departing on 25 June, she arrived the next day at Davisville.
In July, she sailed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for refresher training, and next returned to Davisville in August. In September, Santa Barbara was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea, returning to the United States on 17 March 1972. She departed from the New England coast in April, bound for a short cruise in the Caribbean. Returning to Rhode Island in late May, she departed again on 5 June; this time ordered to the western Pacific on an extended deployment. After seven months in Asian waters, Santa Barbara entered Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 5 February 1973. Next, she proceeded to Quonset Point, Rhode Island, via the Panama Canal, arriving on the 22nd. She operated along the East Coast and in the Caribbean for the remainder of 1973 and for three months into 1974. In April 1974, Santa Barbara embarked upon another Mediterranean Sea mission.
Originally home-ported in Davisville, Rhode Island, her home port was moved to Charleston, South Carolina, one of America's oldest and most historic cities, for a period of time before the Charleston Naval Base was closed.
Decommissioned on 30 September 1998, Santa Barbara was transferred to the Military Sealift Command (MSC), Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force the same day and her hull number was changed to T-AE-28. She remained in service with MSC until she was finally retired on 5 August 2005. She was sold for scrap in 2007.
Santa Barbara's awards include Battle Efficiency "E" Awards won in 1979, 1980, 1989, and 1993 for exceptional performance from all departments. She was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation in 1973 for numerous records set replenishing at sea during the Vietnam War, and again in 1988 for her performance during her March 1988 Mediterranean Sea deployment. In 1989, she earned the Golden Anchor Award for the best sailor retention in her class of ships, and she was the parent ship for the 1989 Surface Forces Atlantic Sailor of the Year. In the 1991 and 1994 deployments she earned South West Asia Service Medal, crossing into the Indian Ocean and Red Sea in support of the 5th Fleet. Her latest awards are the Maritime Warfare Excellence Award, the Engineering/Survivability Excellence Award, the Command and Control Excellence Award, the Logistics Management Excellence Award, and the Meritorious Unit Commendation for her performance during her 1992-1994 Mediterranean deployment. The ship also earned one campaign star for Vietnam War service.
USS Ault (DD-698) was an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Commander William B. Ault, air group commander aboard Lexington. Commander Ault was declared missing in action on 8 May 1942 after leading an air attack in the Battle of the Coral Sea and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his action in the battle.
USS Stickell (DD-888) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy in service from 1945 to 1972. She was renamed HS Kanaris (D212) in 1972 on transfer to the Hellenic Navy.
USS Manley (DD-940), named for Captain John Manley (c.1733–1793), was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer built by the Bath Iron Works Corporation at Bath in Maine. The keel was laid down on 10 February 1955. Manley was commissioned on 1 February 1957 and sponsored by Mrs. Arleigh A. Burke, wife of then Chief of Naval Operations, the principal speaker at the commissioning ceremonies.
USS Vogelgesang (DD-862) was a Gearing-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Rear Admiral Carl Theodore Vogelgesang USN (1869–1927).
USS Nitro (AE–23), an ammunition ship in the U.S. Navy, was laid down by Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Sparrows Point Shipyard at Baltimore, Maryland, on 20 May 1957 and launched on 25 June 1958. It was sponsored by Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Bunting Pate, the wife of General Randolph M. Pate, and commissioned on 1 May 1959.
The second USS Pyro (AE–24), an ammunition ship, was laid down 21 October 1957 by Bethlehem-Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc., Sparrows Point, Maryland; launched 5 November 1958; sponsored by Mrs. Stuart H. Ingersoll; and commissioned 24 July 1959 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Norfolk, Va.
USS Mazama (AE‑9) was a US Navy ammunition ship laid down 14 April 1942 by the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, Fla.; launched 15 August 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Edward V. Rickenbacker; and commissioned 10 March 1944. She was named for Mount Mazama, a collapsed volcano in the Cascade Range in Oregon whose caldera is now occupied by Crater Lake.
USS Wrangell (AE-12) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract as SS Midnight during February 1944 at Wilmington, North Carolina, by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company; launched on 14 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. G. T. Cambell; delivered to the Navy, incomplete, on 28 May 1944; moved to Hampton Roads; converted to an ammunition ship by the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; and commissioned on 10 October 1944 at the Norfolk Navy Yard.
USS Suribachi (AE-21) was a Suribachi-class ammunition ship of the United States Navy. The ship was laid down on 31 January 1955 at Sparrows Point, Maryland, by Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc.; launched on 2 November 1955; sponsored by Mrs. Lemuel C. Shepherd; and commissioned on 17 November 1956. She was named for the volcano of Iwo Jima, Mount Suribachi, the hill where the photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken.
The second USS Seattle (AOE-3), a Sacramento-class fast combat support ship, was laid down on 1 October 1965, at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington; launched on 2 March 1968; sponsored by Mrs. William M. Allen, chairman of the board of the Children's Orthopedic Hospital Association, Seattle; and commissioned on 5 April 1969.
USS Sarsfield (DD-837), was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She then served in Taiwan's navy as ROCS Te Yang (DD-925) for 27 years, and now is a ship museum.
USS Detroit (AOE-4) was the fourth and last Sacramento-class fast combat support ship built for the United States Navy. She was laid down on 29 November 1966 by Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington; launched 21 June 1969; and commissioned on 28 March 1970. She is the fifth United States Navy ship named after Detroit, Michigan, the largest city in the state of Michigan, and the river of the same name.
USS Myles C. Fox (DD/DDR-829) was a Gearing-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II and the years following. She was named for Myles C. Fox, a USMC lieutenant who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for actions during World War II.
USS Voge (FF-1047), a Garcia-class frigate of the United States Navy, was named after Rear Admiral Richard George Voge. It fulfilled a Protection of Shipping (POS) mission as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combatants for amphibious expeditionary forces, underway replenishment groups and merchant convoys. It made notable contributions to submarine 'hold-down' tactics with sister ship Koelsch. In 1976, Soviet Echo II-class submarine K-22 collided with the Voge.
USS Turner (DD/DDR-834) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy, the third Navy ship named for Captain Daniel Turner (1794?–1850).
The third USS William C. Lawe (DD-763) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy.
USS William H. Standley (DLG/CG-32) was a Belknap-class destroyer leader / cruiser. She was named for Admiral William Harrison Standley, former Chief of Naval Operations and ambassador to the Soviet Union. She was launched as DLG-32, a frigate, and reclassified Cruiser on 30 June 1975.
USS Waccamaw (AO-109) was a Cimarron-class replenishment oiler in the United States Navy. She was named after Waccamaw River. The original capacity was 146,000 barrels (23,200 m3).
USS Terrebonne Parish (LST-1156), originally USS LST-1156, affectionately nicknamed the "T-Bone" by her early crew, was a Terrebonne Parish-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy in 1952. The lead ship in her class, she was named for Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, the only U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name. The ship was later transferred to Spain and renamed Velasco (L-11), and was scrapped in 1994.
The second USS Altair (AK-257) was a United States Navy Greenville Victory-class cargo ship in commission from 1952 to 1953. She was converted into a Antares-class general stores issue ship (AKS-32) in 1953 and was in commission as such from 1953 to 1969, seeing extensive service during the Cold War. Prior to her U.S. Navy career, she had operated as the merchant ship SS Aberdeen Victory during the latter stages of World War II.