USS Vandegrift (FFG-48)

The Vandegrift during rocket exercises
Overview
Order	April 28, 1980
Keel laying	October 13, 1981
Launch	October 15, 1982
1. Period of service
Commissioning	November 24, 1984
Decommissioning	19th February 2015
Technical specifications
displacement	4100 tons
length	138.1 meters
width	13.5 meters
Draft	7.5 meters
crew	17 officers, 198 sailors
drive	1 propeller, driven by 2 gas turbines; 41,000  wave horsepower
speed	29+ knots
Armament	1 gun 76 mm, 2 torpedo launchers, disarmed: 1 rocket launcher

The USS Vandegrift (FFG-48) is a United States Navy frigate and belongs to the Oliver Hazard Perry class . It was named after General Alexander A. Vandegrift , a Marine who was, among other things, Commandant of the Marine Corps .

history

FFG-48 was commissioned in 1980 and laid down at Todd Pacific Shipyards in May 1983 . After a year the frigate was launched and was christened. The Vandegrift was put into service on November 24, 1984 .

The first use of the ship began in early 1987 and took the Vandegrift around the globe. In the Indian Ocean, she sailed with the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) and was observed by Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq during a demonstration voyage. The frigate reached its homeport of Long Beach , California in June. The next mission began a year later, during which the Vandegrift took part in Operation Earnest Will .

In 1990 she took part in Operation Desert Shield , and in 1992 she also took the ship to the Persian Gulf . Also in 1994/1995 the Vandegrift drove in the Gulf and the Indic, first with the USS Constellation (CV-64) , then for anti -submarine exercises with the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) against the USS Topeka (SSN-754) .

Today the Vandegrift is stationed in San Diego , where it has been based since 1993. It was relocated from its base in Yokosuka , Japan, in 2006 . There she was replaced by the more modern destroyer USS Mustin (DDG-89) of the Arleigh Burke-class . Still leaving Japan in 2003, the Vandegrift was the first ship since the end of the Vietnam War to sail through Vietnamese waters when she went on a visit to Saigon .

In 2006 the frigate took part in exercise Valiant Shield as part of the combat group around the Kitty Hawk . In 2010, the Vandegrift relocated to the Western Pacific alone.

Others

Spiegel-Online reported in 2012 that the captain had been replaced after a drinking spree.

Web links

Commons : USS Vandegrift (FFG-48)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• official website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ JD Gordon: Vandegrift Makes Historic Port Visit to Vietnam. In: navy.mil. November 19, 2003, accessed January 6, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Drunk in Vladivostok: US Navy fires frigate captain. In: Spiegel Online . November 4, 2012, accessed January 6, 2017 .