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U.S.S. YELLOWSTONE
(AD-27)OLD FAITHFUL
Click to view crew list
USS YELLOWSTONE (AD-27) - a Shenandoah-class destroyer tender
In Commission 1946 to 1974AD-27 Deployments - Major Events
Add a AD-27 Shellback Initiation | Add a AD-27 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
OCT | 1944 | - | Keel Date: 16 OCT 1944 at Todd Pacific Shipyards Seattle WA | ||
APR | 1945 | - | Launch Date: 12 APR 1945 | ||
JAN | 1946 | - | Commissioned: 16 JAN 1946 | ||
FEB | 1946 | - | NOV | 1947 | North Atlantic-Med-Indian Ocean |
FEB | 1946 | - | NOV | 1947 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1947 | - | JAN | 1950 | Panama Canal |
OCT | 1951 | - | FEB | 1952 | Mediterranean |
OCT | 1951 | - | FEB | 1952 | Mediterranean |
MAY | 1953 | - | Shellback Initiation - 27 MAY 1953 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
MAY | 1953 | - | Shellback Initiation - 27 MAY 1953 - Pacific Ocean | ||
MAY | 1953 | - | NOV | 1953 | Mediterranean |
NOV | 1955 | - | MAY | 1956 | Mediterranean |
NOV | 1958 | - | MAY | 1959 | Mediterranean |
NOV | 1959 | - | APR | 1960 | Mediterranean |
NOV | 1960 | - | APR | 1961 | Regular Overhaul |
JAN | 1961 | - | JAN | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
APR | 1961 | - | APR | 1961 | Guantanamo, Bay of Pigs Invasion |
APR | 1962 | - | OCT | 1962 | Mediterranean |
AUG | 1962 | - | SEP | 1962 | Caribbean Santo Domingo |
APR | 1964 | - | AUG | 1964 | Mediterranean |
JUL | 1965 | - | AUG | 1965 | Regular Overhaul |
AUG | 1965 | - | Shellback Initiation - 17 AUG 1965 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
JAN | 1967 | - | JAN | 1968 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
MAR | 1967 | - | MAY | 1967 | Operation Springboard San Juan P.R. |
MAR | 1967 | - | MAY | 1967 | Caribbean |
JUN | 1967 | - | DEC | 1967 | Mediterranean |
JUL | 1967 | - | DEC | 1967 | Mediterranean |
JUL | 1967 | - | DEC | 1967 | Mediterranean |
JUL | 1967 | - | DEC | 1967 | med cruise |
JAN | 1968 | - | JAN | 1970 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1968 | - | NOV | 1968 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1969 | - | JAN | 1969 | San Juan |
NOV | 1969 | - | JUN | 1970 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1971 | - | SEP | 1971 | Caribbean |
SEP | 1974 | - | Decommissioned: 11 SEP 1974 |
AD-27 General Specifications
Complement: 962 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 11755 tons
Length: 492 feet
Beam: 69 feet 6 inches
Draft: 28 feet
Flank Speed: 18 knots
USS YELLOWSTONE (AD-27)
The second Yellowstone
(AD-27) was laid down on 16 October 1944 at Tacoma, Wash., by the Seattle
Division of the
Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc.; launched on 12
April 1945; sponsored by Mrs. F. A. Zeusler, the wife of Capt. F. A.
Zeusler, USCG, the District Coast Guard
Officer of the 13th Naval District; and commissioned on 16 January 1946, Capt. J. A. Ferrall, Jr., in command.
After shakedown training
out of San Diego and repairs at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to correct minor
deficiencies which appeared during her initial cruise, Yellowstone operated
in the Seattle area into March 1946. She departed Seattle on the last day
of the month, transited the Panama Canal on 11 April, and
arrived at Newport, R.I., on the 20th to take up her duties tending
destroyers of the Atlantic Fleet.
Yellowstone
performed faithful service to the Fleet for the next 28 years,
providing repair, supply, and auxiliary services (power and fresh water, etc.)
not only to destroyers (the purpose for which she was designed)
but also to aircraft carriers and submarines. In time, this valuable
adjunct to the fleet earned a reputation for reliability and dependability that
caused some to
nickname her "Old Faithful," after the famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park. The destroyer tender also earned the coveted battle efficiency
"E" award 10 times.
Yellowstone
was deployed to the Mediterranean 11 times between 1947 and 1968. Her ports of operation ranged from Izmir, Turkey, to Naples, Italy; from Venice
to Taranto; from Suda Bay, Crete, to Gibraltar; and included cities in Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. In between her deployments with the 6th Fleet, the destroyer tender operated out of Boston, Newport, Norfolk, or Bermuda.
Her tasks were performed
mostly unheralded and from from the public eye but were necessary to
maintain the ships of the Fleet in operational trim. In October
1969, she performed a noteworthy repair job when she relaced 1,162 tubes in the number one
propulsion boiler of Forrest Royal (DD-872)
as that ship was preparing to deploy
to the Mediterranean. Working against the destroyer's deadline, Yellowstone's
skilled artisans accomplished the task in
only 12 days and thus allowed her to
get underway on time.
Soon thereafter, Yellowstone
deployed to the Mediterranean for the 12th and last time. She arrived
at Naples on 9 December 1969 and, before long, found herself
with another difficult, major repair task ahead of her. She replaced the
starboard propeller of Sampson (DDG-10)-a
job that normally required a dry-docking. Repair, supply, and
deck divisions of both ships participated in the evolution that earned Yellowstone a commendation.
A little more than a
month later, the tender's talent was once again subjected to a
rigorous test. On 10 February 1970 at Naples, the Greek registry freighter
Mautric collided with Yellowstone
and the tender's nest of destroyers. Semmes
(DDG-18), Samuel B. Roberts (DD-823), and Charles F. Adams (DDG-2)
all suffered extensive hull and structural damage, but Yellowstone worked nearly 24-hour shifts from 13 to 22
February and effected the necessary
repairs. Capt. R. D. Wood, commanding
Yellowstone, and Senior Chief Ship Fitter William S. Burman received Navy commendation medals for heading the exemplary repair work that soon had all ships back in operational condition.
After a brief in-port
period at Piraeus, Greece, from 18 March to 5 April, Yellowstone returned to
Naples, where she subsequently performed her
second underwater propeller
replacement of the deployment-on Carry
(DD-817). The repair ship sailed
for home in mid-May and arrived at Mayport, Fla., on 1 June. One month later, on 1 July, the ship's home port was changed from Mayport to Charleston, S.C.
The destroyer tender
provided services to ships of Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla (CruDesFlot) 6 into January of
1971. At the end of that month, she sailed for Puerto Rico and took part in
"Springboard" exercises before
returning to Charleston on 16 February. That spring, when the Commander,
CruDesFlot 6, embarked in America (CVA-66) to deploy to the 6th Fleet, Yellowstone's commanding officer became the administrative deputy to the
Charleston representative of Commander,
CruDesFlot 6. In that role, he coordinated local pier assignments; arranged for tug and tow services; made military guardship and pier sentry
assign - ments; scheduled ship
tours; provided information and assistance
to dependents; and represented the destroyer force at meetings of
numerous naval station, base, and district
advisory boards and committees.
Yellowstone
remained in port at Charleston into 1973. Among
the noteworthy events that occurred that year was the ship's nomination to receive the Ney
award, recognizing the ship's outstanding
food service mess, as the nominee of
the Commander, Cruiser Destroyer Force,
Atlantic Fleet.
After 28 years of
continuous service to the Fleet- the last few years of which
were spent along the eastern seaboard of the United States-Yellowstone was decommissioned on 11 September 1974. Struck from
the Navy list the next day and
subsequently transferred to the
Maritime Administration for disposal, the veteran auxiliary was sold in
September 1975
[Note: The above USS YELLOWSTONE (AD-27) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS YELLOWSTONE (AD-27), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]