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U.S.S. ROBISON
(DDG-12)IN WAR...IN PEACE...IN READINESS
Click to view crew list
The USS ROBISON (DDG-12), a Charles F. Adams-class guided missle destroyer, was commissioned on 9 DEC 1961. USS ROBISON was built at Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan, commissioned in Boston, then initially homeported in San Diego. the end of 1963 began the regular deployments that marked ROBISON's career. Her 1960s deployments usually placed her as part of a screening force around the aircraft carriers at Yankee Station. ROBISON, when the opportunity arose, provided shore bombardment and destroyed light enemy supply craft in Vietnamese waters. After Vietnam, ROBISON resumed a regular cycle of "West Pacs", standing her "watches" in the Far East. USS ROBISON made a total seventeen deployments always "In War...In Peace...In Readiness". USS ROBISON served her country for 29 years, 9 months and 22 days, until decommissioned on 1 OCT 1991. The hulk of ROBISON was sold to Consolidated Minerals for conversion into a "power barge", but the scheme failed to pan out and she was scrapped in 1996.
The USS ROBISON (DDG-12) deployment history and significant events of her service career follow:
DDG-12 Deployments - Major Events
Add a DDG-12 Shellback Initiation | Add a DDG-12 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
APR | 1959 | - | Keel Date: 28 APR 1959 at Consolidated Steel Corporation Orange TX | ||
APR | 1960 | - | Launch Date: 27 APR 1960 | ||
DEC | 1961 | - | Commissioned: 9 DEC 1961 | ||
NOV | 1962 | - | JUN | 1963 | West Pac |
NOV | 1963 | - | DEC | 1963 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
NOV | 1963 | - | DEC | 1963 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
AUG | 1964 | - | FEB | 1965 | West Pac |
AUG | 1964 | - | FEB | 1965 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
AUG | 1964 | - | FEB | 1965 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1966 | - | JUL | 1966 | West Pac |
JAN | 1966 | - | JUL | 1966 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1967 | - | JUL | 1968 | West Pac |
APR | 1967 | - | APR | 1970 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUL | 1967 | - | FEB | 1968 | West Pac |
JUL | 1967 | - | FEB | 1968 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
AUG | 1967 | - | JAN | 1968 | Sea Dragon |
JUN | 1968 | - | AUG | 1969 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUN | 1968 | - | AUG | 1969 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1969 | - | JUL | 1969 | West Pac |
JAN | 1969 | - | JUN | 1969 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1970 | - | JAN | 1972 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUN | 1970 | - | DEC | 1970 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1971 | - | JAN | 1972 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUN | 1971 | - | DEC | 1971 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1972 | - | DEC | 1972 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUN | 1972 | - | DEC | 1972 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUL | 1974 | - | JAN | 1975 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
AUG | 1974 | - | JAN | 1975 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1976 | - | AUG | 1976 | West Pac |
MAR | 1976 | - | AUG | 1976 | West Pac |
MAR | 1976 | - | JAN | 1980 | west pack |
JUL | 1978 | - | OCT | 1978 | SouthPac Goodwill Cruise |
FEB | 1979 | - | SEP | 1979 | West Pac-Indian Ocean |
APR | 1979 | - | Shellback Initiation - 10 APR 1979 - Pacific Ocean | ||
MAY | 1980 | - | Shellback Initiation - 23 MAY 1980 - Indian Ocean | ||
AUG | 1980 | - | JAN | 1981 | West Pac |
MAR | 1983 | - | SEP | 1983 | West Pac-Indian Ocean |
OCT | 1984 | - | MAR | 1985 | Mediterranean-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf |
FEB | 1985 | - | Shellback Initiation - 6 FEB 1985 - Pacific Ocean | ||
SEP | 1985 | - | FEB | 1986 | West Pac |
SEP | 1986 | - | MAR | 1987 | West Pac-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf |
JAN | 1987 | - | Shellback Initiation - 22 JAN 1987 - Pacific Ocean | ||
JAN | 1987 | - | Shellback Initiation - 22 JAN 1987 - Indian Ocean | ||
JUN | 1988 | - | DEC | 1988 | West Pac-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf |
JUN | 1989 | - | NOV | 1989 | West Pac-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf |
JUN | 1989 | - | NOV | 1989 | West Pac-Indian Ocean |
FEB | 1990 | - | JUL | 1990 | West Pac-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf |
OCT | 1991 | - | Decommissioned: 1 OCT 1991 |
DDG-12 General Specifications
Class: Charles F. Adams-class guided missle destroyer
Named for: Samuel Shelburne Robison
Complement: 24 Officers and 330 Enlisted
Displacement: 3277 tons
Length: 437 feet
Beam: 47 feet
Flank Speed: 33 knots
Range: 4 500 nautical miles
Final Disposition:Sold for scrap on 20 June 1994
USS ROBISON (DDG-12)
Robison (DDG-12),
a guided missile destroyer, was laid down 28 April 1959 by Defoe Shipbuilding
Co., Bay City, Mich.; launched 28 April 1960; sponsored by Mrs. John H. Sides,
wife of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet; and commissioned 9 December 1961
at the Boston Naval Shipyard, Comdr. D. V. Cox in command.
Robison steamed
for the west coast 29 January 1962 via the Panama Canal. On 1 March she
received a message diverting her to Clipperton Island, to rescue 10 stranded
seamen from the tuna boat Monarch,
which had capsized 20 days earlier.
Arriving at San Diego on 7 March, Robison underwent shakedown and then post-shakedown availability 14 June in San Francisco. Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, who had twice served on Admiral Robison's staff, visited the ship on 25 June.
Following completion of availability 31 July, Robison proceeded to Mare Island for
ammunition, took on ASROC and Tartar missiles at Seal Beach, and then commenced
3 months of local training operations out of San Diego. She got underway with
Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 11 on 13 November for her first WestPac tour of
duty. Upon completion of this deployment, Robison
arrived San Diego 21 June 1963 for coastal operations.
She departed San Diego 18 November in company with Parsons (DD-949) for escort duties.
Calling at Pearl Harbor 23 November, she departed 2 days later in company with Midway (CVA-41). Upon detachment from Midway, she touched at Guam, and then
escorted Hancock (CVA-19) eastward.
Following fueling stops at Midway and Pearl Harbor, she arrived San Diego 19
December.
In January 1964 Robison
entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard for regular overhaul. After missile
qualifications and refresher training, she steamed 14 August for her second
WestPac deployment. Following her successful participation in modern naval
warfare training exercises and calls at various Far Eastern ports, she departed
Yokosuka 24 January 1965 and arrived San Diego 6 February.
Local spring operations were followed by a midshipman
training cruise from 10 June to 5 August. The latter month also brought a call
at Portland, Oreg., and a visit, on the 24th, by the Chief of Naval Operations,
Adm. David L. McDonald. In the fall she sharpened her ASW, AAW, and shore
bombardment techniques during coastal operations. Early in the new year 1966,
the destroyer prepared for her third tour of duty in support of 7th Fleet
operations in WestPac.
That deployment ended with her return to San Diego 18 July
1966. Overhaul in San Francisco took her through the fall and into the winter
months, culminating in her return to homeport on 3 February 1967. Refresher and
type training filled the next 5 months, and 25 July saw Robison once again en route to the Orient.
After calling at Pearl Harbor 31 July and Yokosuka, Japan, 5
August, she commenced Tonkin Gulf operations 25 August in the screen for Coral Sea (CVA-43). In naval gunfire
support and "Sea Dragon" operations during the period from 26 August
1967 to 9 January 1968, Robison was
credited with the destruction of 78 waterborne logistics craft. Her remarkable
degree of combat readiness during this period earned for her the Meritorious
Unit Commendation.
Upkeep, availability, training, and operating off the west
coast maintained Robison's state of
readiness through the next 11 months. She steamed from San Diego for her fifth
WestPac deployment on 30 December 1968 in company with carrier Kitty Hawk (CVA-63). The usual call at
Pearl Harbor was followed by arrival at Subic Bay, 20 January 1969. After
voyage repairs Robison joined Task
Group 77.3 in Tonkin Gulf. The destroyer, flagship of her division, served in
the screen of both Kitty Hawk and Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). She also
provided naval gunfire support to troops ashore in the I Corps Zone.
Robison returned
to San Diego on 6 July 1969, remaining there until 2 October, when she arrived
at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point, for overhaul. Work was
completed 4½ months later, and Robison
returned to her homeport of San Diego 27 February 1970, ready for refresher
training and yet another WestPac deployment.
With the advent of 1970, Robison
began a cycle of deployments which endured for three years. She spent the
spring of each year on the west coast of the United States and then, in late
spring or early summer, she deployed to WestPac. This cycle continued until
1973. During that year she remained on the west coast, engaged in normal operations
out of San Diego, where she is berthed as of January 1974.
The guided missile destroyer decommissioned on 1 October 1991, was struck from the navy list on 20 November 1992 and sold to Consolidated Metals, Inc., for scrapping.
Robison earned
seven battle stars for service off the Vietnamese coast.
19 October 2005
[Note: The above USS ROBISON (DDG-12) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS ROBISON (DDG-12), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]