USS Joseph Strauss DDG 16 / Admiral Joseph
Strauss / Charles F. Adams class Guided Missile Destroyer – US Navy
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s e a f o r c e s – online
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Naval Forces
Technology, History & Information
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Guided Missile Destroyer
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DDG 16 - USS Joseph Strauss
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USS Joseph Strauss (DDG 16)
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US Navy photo
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Type,
Class:
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Guided Missile Destroyer; Charles F. Adams - class;
planned and built as DDG
16; |
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Builder:
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New York Shipbuilding
Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, USA; |
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STATUS:
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Awarded: July 21, 1959 Laid down: December 27, 1960 Launched: December 9, 1961 Commissioned:
April 20, 1963 Decommissioned:
February 1, 1990 Fate: Stricken
September 30, 1992; sold to Greece;
renamed HS Formion (D-220); decommissioned: 2002; sold for scrap in
2004; |
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Homeport:
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-
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Namesake:
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Named after and in honor of Admiral Joseph Strauss (1861
– 1948); > see history, below; |
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Ship’s
Motto:
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> PROMPTUS AD AGENDUM
< (prompt
to act) |
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Technical Data:
(Measures, Propulsion, Armament,
Aviation, etc.)
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see: INFO
>> Guided
Missile Destroyer / Charles F. Adams – Class |
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Pictures,
photos & more ...
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HS
Formion (D 220) >> |
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Joseph
Strauss |
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Photo credits: US Navy, US Naval
Historical Center, |
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Namesake
& History: |
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Admiral Joseph
Strauss (November 16, 1861 – December 30, 1948); |
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Joseph Strauss was born 16
November 1861 in Mount Morris, N.Y. He was commissioned Ensign 1 July 1887
and began a distinguished career as specialist in ordnance in June 1893 when he
reported to the Bureau of Ordnance in Washington, D.C. During the
Spanish-American War he served in Lancaster blockading the Cuban coast, then
returned to the Bureau of Ordnance. He established the Naval Proving Ground,
Indian Head, Md., 1900 to 1902; served on a Special Board of Naval Ordnance
in 1906; and was a member of the Joint Army-Navy Board on Smokeless Powders
the following year. He conducted experimental work with torpedoes while
commanding cruiser Montgomery 1909 to 1911; commanded Ohio (BB-12) in 1912;
then became Chief of Bureau of Ordnance 21 October 1913. |
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USS Joseph
Strauss (DDG 16): |
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Joseph Strauss (DDG-16) was
laid down 27 December 1960 by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; launched
9 December 1961; sponsored by Mrs. Lawrence Haines Coburn, granddaughter of
Admiral Joseph Strauss, and commissioned in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
20 April 1963, Cdr. William M. A. Greene, USN in command. Joseph Strauss departed
Philadelphia 6 June 1963 for a brief cruise to Puerto Rico and Willemstad,
Curacao, and then transited the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet on the
western seaboard. She arrived in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard 13 July 1963
for alterations, followed by tactics out of San Diego north to Seattle, Wash. The flagship of Destroyer
Squadron 3, Joseph Strauss sailed from Long Beach 30 June 1964. After calling
at Pearl Harbor and Midway Atoll, she arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, 18 July.
She departed 3 August 1964 to rendezvous off Okinawa 6 August with
Constellation (CVA-65). She then patrolled off the Vietnam coast and the
South China Sea with task forces built around Constellation, Kearsarge
(CVS-33) and Ticonderoga (CVA-14). Brief sweeps were made to the Philippines
and ports of Japan. She arrived in Yokosuka 15 December 1964 for upkeep,
again sailing 21 January 1965 to support U.S. Forces in Vietnam until 1
March. During this period, she operated with Ranger (CVA-61),Hancock
(CVA-19), Coral Sea (CVA-43), and Yorktown ( CVS-10) . Following upkeep in Subic
Bay (1-10 March), Joseph Strauss sailed with ships of the Royal Thai Navy for
exercises in the Gulf of Thailand. She was briefly flagship of the 7th Fleet
(22-26 March) during the official visit of Vice Admiral Paul B. Blackburn,
Jr., to Bangkok Thailand. She departed Yokosuka 19 April for operations that
brought recognition and honor to both the ship and her crew. Commencing 24 April 1965,
Joseph Strauss, together with Ernest G. Small (DDR-838), was part of the
first advanced SAR/AAW picket team in the Gulf of Tonkin to support U.S. air
strike operations against North Vietnam. From 16 through 21 May, she observed
operations of a Russian task unit. She returned to Yokosuka 23 May through 8
June, then again sailed for the Gulf of Tonkin. Her ensuing 27 days as
flagship of the AAW/SAR picket unit were highly successful, establishing
operational procedures and capabilities which remain destroyer standards. On
17 June 1965, two F4B Phantom's from Midway (CVA-41), under Joseph Strauss
advisory control, shot down two MIG-17's, accounting for the first two
hostile aircraft downed by U.S. Forces in aerial combat since 1953. Three
days later, two propeller-driven Skyraiders, also from Midway and under
Joseph Strauss Combat Information Center team were decorated by the Secretary
of the Navy. Joseph Strauss arrived in
Hong Kong 6 July 1965, putting out to sea 14 to 16 July to avoid Typhoon
Freda, and again 18 to 19 July to carry the 7th Fleet Salvage Officer to
Pratus Reef to assist in refloating Frank Knox (DDR-742). She departed Hong
Kong 21 July for Yokosuka. The following day she took a disabled Nationalist
Chinese fishing boat in tow and delivered it safely to Keelung 23 July,
thence sailed to Yokosuka, arriving 25 July for upkeep. On 3 September 1965, she
successfully fired two improved Tartar missiles off Okinawa. After a 1-day
stop at Sasebo, Joseph Strauss proceeded south in the screen of Bon Homme
Richard (CVA-31). Upon arrival in the South China Sea, she was detached for
picket patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin during the last 3 weeks of September She
spent the first 2 weeks of October supporting operations off Vietnam in the
screen of Bon Homme Richard and Oriskany (CVA-34). She then returned to Subic
Bay for naval gunfire support training which continued off Danang, South
Vietnam. On 28 October 1965, she fired her first shots in anger, expending
217 5-inch shells in support of a combined ARVN-Marine Corps
search-and-destroy operation against the Viet Cong. Throughout November she
formed an advanced SAR/AAW picket team with Tucker (DD-875) in the Gulf of
Tonkin. She returned to Yokosuka 7 December 1965 for upkeep and preparations
to resume operations off South Vietnam. Joseph Strauss returned to the Gulf
of Tonkin 10 February 1966 and remained active in the war zone until heading
for Hong Kong exactly one month later. Back in the fighting 26 April, she
remained in the war zone until returning to Yokosuka 15 June. That day her
home port was changed to Pearl Harbor which she reached 20 July. Joseph Strauss operated in
the Hawaiian area until heading back for the Western Pacific 14 January 1967.
She remained in the Far East supporting the struggle against Communist
aggression until returning to Pearl Harbor 17 June. There she prepared for
future action. 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. The Joseph Strauss was
decommissioned February 1, 1990 after 27 years of service. DDG 16 was later sold to
Greece and renamed to HS FORMION (D 220). (Admiral Formion
of Athenian was a pioneer in naval tactics. Through the Peloponnesian Wars
(431-404 B.C.) He employed inventive tactics to gain victory after victory
and thus gave birth to his legend.) Decommissioned July 29, 2002.
Finally sold for scrap by the Greek Navy February 19, 2004. |
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… and patches … |
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