UNDERWAY! 2025 Wall Calendar / W.W. II SPECIAL EDITION

NOW AVAILABLE -
CLICK HERE
For RATING SHIRTS - Click on your Rating Abbreviation below:
AB AC AD AE AG AK AM AO AQ AS AT AW AX AZ BM BT BU
CE CM CS CT DC DK DM DP DS DT EA EM EN EO ET EW
FC FT GM GS (53-61) GS (78-Now) HM HT IC IM IS IT JO LI LN LS
MA (48-67) MA (72-Now) ME ML MM MN MR MS MT MU NAVY NC ND OM OS OT
PC PH PM PN PR QM RD (WW2) RD (48-72) RM SD SF SH SK SM
SO ST SV SW TM UT WT YN NAVY DIVER
Click on your Rating abbreviation above:


U.S.S. STEINAKER

(DD-863)

FIGHTING DD-863

Click to view crew list
 

USS STEINAKER (DD-863) - a Gearing-class destroyer

In Commission 1945 to 1982

DD-863 Deployments - Major Events

Add a DD-863 Shellback Initiation Add a DD-863 Deployment - Major Event
Month Year to Month Year Deployment / Event
SEP1944-Keel Date: 1 SEP 1944
at Bethlehem Steel Corporation Staten Island New York
FEB1945-Launch Date: 13 FEB 1945
MAY1945-Commissioned: 26 MAY 1945
JAN1952-MAY1952Mediterranean
JUN1958-SEP1958Mediterranean-Lebanon
FEB1959-SEP1959Mediterranean
JAN1961-NOV1961Mediterranean
FEB1962-AUG1962Mediterranean
OCT1962-OCT1962Cuban Missle Blockade
MAY1964-APR1965Dry Dock
NOV1965-MAR1966Mediterranean
MAY1966-DEC1966Mediterranean
JUL1966-MAY1967Mediterranean-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf
MAR1968-OCT1968West Pac-Viet Nam
MAR1968-NOV1968West Pac
JUN1968-Shellback Initiation - 12 JUN 1968 - Pacific Ocean
AUG1968-Shellback Initiation - 17 AUG 1968 - Pacific Ocean
JAN1969-JUL1969Regular Overhaul
AUG1969-NOV1969Sea Trials
SEP1969-OCT1969Guantanamo Bay
JAN1970-JUL1970North Atlantic
APR1970-APR1970Blue Nose - Arctic Circle
JAN1971-JUL1971Mediterranean
JUL1972-NOV1972North Atlantic Cruise
OCT1972-OCT1972Blue nose initiation
JAN1979-JUN1979Regular Overhaul
JUL1980-AUG1980Guantanamo Bay
NOV1980-Shellback Initiation - 3 NOV 1980 - Atlantic Ocean
MAY1981-AUG1981UNITAS
JUL1981-Shellback Initiation - 16 JUL 1981 - Atlantic Ocean
JUL1981-Shellback Initiation - 31 JUL 1981 - Atlantic Ocean
JUL1981- Shellback Initiation - 1 JUL 1981 - Atlantic Ocean
JUL1981- Shellback Initiation - 31 JUL 1981 - Atlantic Ocean
FEB1982-Decommissioned: 24 FEB 1982

DD-863 General Specifications

Class: Gearing-class destroyer

Named for: Private First Class Donald B. Steinaker (1922-1942)

Complement: 336 Officers and Enlisted

Displacement: 3460 tons

Length: 390 feet 6 inches

Beam: 40 feet 10 inches

Flank Speed: 36 Knots

Range: 4500 Nautical Miles

Final Disposition:Sold to Mexican Navy 24 February 1982; still active as of June 2005



USS STEINAKER (DD-863)



Steinaker (DD-863) was laid down on 1 September 1944 by the Bethlehem Steel Co. Staten Island N.Y.launched on 13 February 1945 sponsored by Miss Carol Steinaker; and commissioned on 26 May 1945 Comdr. S. A. McCornock in command.


Steinaker held her shakedown cruise off Guantanamo Bay Cuba and returned to Norfolk her home port where she acted as a training ship for the remainder of the year. Until 1952 the destroyer alternated her operations between the east coast with the Atlantic Fleet and deployment with the 6th Fleet. She was deployed to the Mediterranean in 1947 1949, 1950, 1951, and the first five months of 1952.


Steinaker entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 1 July 1952 for conversion to a radar picket destroyer and was classified as DDR-863. The work was completed on 28 February 1953 and shakedown at Guantanamo Bay followed. She made her first deployment to the 6th Fleet as a picket destroyer from 16 September to 3 February 1954. She also served with the 6th Fleet for portions of 1955 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, and 1965. In 1964 the destroyer was converted under the FRAM program and given modern antisubmarine weapons and detection equipment. On 1 July of that year she resumed the designation DD-863.


Steinaker was in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean for two months in 1967 as a unit of the Middle East Force. On 26 March 1968 she stood out of Norfolk headed for her first tour in the western Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal on 31 March and after calling briefly at San Diego Pearl Harbor Midway Guam and the Philippine Islands arrived off Vietnam.


Steinaker was assigned to the 7th Fleet from 20 May trough 1 October and participated in naval gunfire support operations off Binh Thuan and Phu Yen Provinces "Sea Dragon" operations off the coast of North Vietnam to interdict seaborne infiltration of Communist forces into South Vietnam; and antiaircraft picket duty off the demilitarized zone. She also operated with aircraft carriers conducting strikes against North Vietnam.


Steinaker returned to the east coast of the United States via Subic Bay Singapore Yokosuka and Okinawa. She arrived at Norfolk on 5 November 1968 and resumed Atlantic Fleet operations until 9 January 1970. At that time she was assigned to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Standing Naval Force Atlantic. This tour lasted until 23 July 1970. She made another voyage to the Mediterranean from 23 February to 23 July 1971 and returned to the North Atlantic from 10 July to 18 November 1972.


Steinaker was transferred to Destroyer Squadron 10 Naval Reserve Force on 1 July 1973 and changed her home port to Baltimore. Into December 1974 she serves as a training ship for reserves.


Steinaker received two battle stars for service in Vietnam.

[Note: The above USS STEINAKER (DD-863) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS STEINAKER (DD-863) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]