USS Suribachi (AE-21)
_underway_on_1_June_1984_(6423341).jpg) The USS Suribachi (AE-21) in June 1984 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Keel laying | January 31, 1955 |
| Launch | November 2, 1955 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | 17th November 1956 |
| Decommissioning | 2nd December 1994 |
| Whereabouts | Wrecked in 2009 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
9,758 tons empty weight |
| length |
156 meters |
| width |
22 meters |
| Draft |
8.5 meters |
| crew |
20 officers, 324 sailors |
| drive |
2 steam boilers |
| speed |
20 knots |
| Armament |
4 × 3-inch / 50- caliber guns |
The USS Suribachi (AE-21) was a munitions ship of the United States Navy entered service in November 1956 . She was the lead ship of the two-unit Suribachi class and took part in missions in the Vietnam War and the Second Gulf War. In December 1994 the Suribachi was retired after 38 years of service and sold for demolition in 2009 after 15 years in the reserve fleet .
history
The Suribachi was laid on January 31, 1955 in the shipyard of the Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard and was launched on November 2, 1955. The commissioning took place on November 17, 1956 under the command of Captain Brooks J. Harral. The ship is named after Mount Suribachi .
After test drives in front of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base , the Suribachi took part in three NATO exercises in September and October 1957 . Worldwide deployments of the ship followed in the next few years. From 1963 to 1965 the Suribachi was briefly in reserve before it was put back into active service.
From July 1972 to February 1973 the ship was stationed off the coast of South Vietnam and supplied the ships of the United States 7th Fleet there. Between this multi-month mission, the Suribachi made short stops to Subic Bay , Hong Kong and Amphoe Sattahip , but always returned to Vietnam after three to four days.
Another active war mission was the ship in 1991 to supply US warships with ammunition during the Second Gulf War. In September 1992 a crew member of the Suribachi was injured when a Boeing-Vertol CH-46 helicopter crashed due to a technical defect at the stern of the ship.
On December 2, 1994, the Suribachi was retired after 38 years of service and transferred to the reserve fleet at Newport News . After almost 15 years of berth, the ship was sold for demolition in June 2009.
Web links
- Entry to Suribachi on navsource.org (English)
- Entry to Suribachi on navysite.de (English)