STATUS:
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Awarded: January 4, 1962
Laid down: February 4, 1963 (as DEG 2)
Launched: October 15, 1963 (as DEG 2)
Commissioned: June 3, 1967 (as DEG 2)
Reclassified to FFG 2: June
30, 1975
Decommissioned:
September 1, 1988
Fate: sunk as a target during exercise
RIMPAC 2000 on June 15, 2000;
location: 023°
53' 06.0" N / 159° 35' 05.0" W (Pacific) in a depth of 4938 meters;
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DeWitt Clinton Ramsey was born
on 2 October 1888 at Whipple Barracks, Ariz. Graduated from the Naval
Academy, he was commissioned Ensign in June 1912. In 1917 he qualified as a
naval aviator. During World War I, he was Inspection Officer for United
States Naval Air Stations in France, and a member of the Inter-Allied
Armistice Commission.
During the interwar period, Ramsey served as a naval aviator on various naval
staffs and ships. Reporting on board Saratoga (CV-3) in 1938, he was her
executive officer into 1939. Later that year, he headed the Plans Division of
the Bureau of Aeronautics in the Navy Department. In 1941 he became Assistant
Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics.
During World War II, he commanded Saratoga (CV-3) in the Battle of the Coral
Sea on 7 and 8 May 1942, in the Battle of Midway 4 to 6 June, and during the
landings against Guadalcanal, Solomons, in August. For his skillful use of
airpower against Japanese naval forces in the Solomons, he won the Navy
Cross. In Saratoga, he next commanded a task force that included a British
carrier, Victorius.
Ramsey received the Distinguished Service Medal as Chief of the Bureau of
Aeronautics from 6 August 1943 to 1 June 1945, and a Gold Star as Vice Chief
of Naval Operations from 15 January 1946 to 3 January 1948. After commanding
the Pacific Fleet, he served as Commissioner of U.S. Trust Territory in the
Pacific, until retiring 1 May 1949. Admiral Ramsey died 7 September 1961 in
Philadelphia.
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