_underway_in_the_Mediterranean_Sea%2c_in_1952.jpg) USSVesole refueling in 1952 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Vesole |
| Laid down | 3 July 1944 |
| Launched | 29 December 1944 |
| Commissioned | 23 April 1945 |
| Decommissioned | 1 December 1976 |
| Stricken | 1 December 1976 |
| Identification |
|
| Motto | "Going on Before" |
| Fate | Sunk as target, 14 April 1983 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Gearing-classdestroyer |
| Type | Destroyer |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 390.5 ft (119.0 m) |
| Beam | 40.9 ft (12.5 m) |
| Draft | 14.3 ft (4.4 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 36.8 kn (68.2 km/h; 42.3 mph) |
| Range | 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement | 350 as designed |
| Sensors & processing systems | Mk37 GFCS |
| Armament |
|
USSVesole (DD-878) was aGearing-classdestroyer of theUnited States Navy.
Kay Kopl Vesole was born on 11 September 1913 inPrzedbórz,Poland. Sometime thereafter, his family immigrated to the United States and settled inIowa where he later attended theState University of Iowa. On 19 October 1942, he accepted an appointment as anEnsign in theUnited States Naval Reserve. He studied at a series of naval training schools during the remainder of 1942 and the first part of 1943. Beginning at the Naval Training School,Tucson,Arizona, he transferred to the Naval Training Station (Local Defense) atBoston,Massachusetts, in January 1943. The following month, he moved from Boston toGulfport, Mississippi, to enter the Armed Guard School. In April, he moved to the Armed Guard Center located atNew Orleans. Then he was routed toPanama City,Florida, to take command of the armed guard gun crew on board a merchant ship.
By December 1943, he commanded the armed guard crew assigned to theLiberty shipSSJohn Bascom. On the night of 2 December, the ship was anchored atBari,Italy, when a massive air raid of 105LuftwaffeJunkers Ju 88 bombers attacked the port. During that raid the ship was bombed. Before it sank, Vesole directed the defense of the ship despite severe multiple wounds. When it became apparent that the ship would sink, he led a party below and supervised the evacuation of the wounded. Once in the lifeboat, he manned an oar and helped to row the boat ashore even though he had only one functional arm. When he reached land, he disregarded his wounds in order to help pull survivors out of the oil-covered and flaming waters and to get them safely into a nearby bomb shelter. Finally, an ammunition explosion inflicted still further wounds on him, which proved fatal. He was posthumously awarded theNavy Cross.
Vesole was laid down by theConsolidated Steel Corporation atOrange, Texas on 3 July 1944,launched on 29 December 1944 by Mrs. Kay K. Vesole andcommissioned on 23 April 1945. She was ordered as aradar picket destroyer. Her mid-section torpedo tubes were removed to make room for a second radar mast and aft torpedo tubes were replaced with quad mounted40 mm BoforsAA guns
Vesole alternated operations along theUnited States East Coast and in the Caribbean with the2nd Fleet with deployments to the Mediterranean with the6th Fleet, participated inblockade operations during theCuban Missile Crisis in 1962, underwent an extensiveFleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul at thePhiladelphia Navy Yard inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, in 1964, and during theVietnam War served as plane guard foraircraft carriers onYankee Station in theTonkin Gulf, participated inOperation Sea Dragon andOperation Market Time, patrolled onsearch and rescue duties, and carried outnaval gunfire support missions.
Vesole deployed in northernEuropean waters from January to June 1969 as a participant inStanding Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT), aNATO multinational squadron under aDutchCommodore and CanadianChief of Staff. During this cruise,Vesole made port calls atDen Helder, the Netherlands;Portland,Plymouth,Portsmouth, andLondon, England;Trondheim,Norway;Lisbon, Portugal;Funchal on Portugal'sMadeira Island;Bermuda; and others.Vesole participated inQueen Elizabeth II's review of NATO ships in honor of NATO's 20th Anniversary. The STANAVFORLANT squadron incorporated American, Norwegian, Dutch, and British ships, as well as West German, Portuguese, and Canadian ships for a period.
From April to September 1970,Vesole deployed from its new homeport ofCharleston, South Carolina, to the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Indian Ocean as part of the three-ship Middle East Force (USS Valcour, a converted seaplane tender asflagship) and two destroyers deployed on six-month rotations. En route from Charleston,Vesole made port/refueling visits toBridgetown, Barbados;Monrovia, Liberia;Luanda, Angola; andLourenco Marques, Mozambique. While attached to MIDEASTFOR, the two destroyers operated as single ship units.Vesole visitedMombasa, Kenya;Diego Suarez, Madagascar; Djibouti, then a French overseas territory;Asmara, then-Ethiopia; Bahrain;Bandar Abbas, Iran;Dhahran, Saudi Arabia;Karachi, Pakistan;Cochin, India;Colombo, then-Ceylon;Malé, Republic of the Maldives; andVictoria, Seychelles. The ship embarkedRobert Strausz-Hupé, the American Ambassador to Ceylon and accredited to the Maldives for that nation's fifth anniversary of independence. The Ambassador presented that country's president with aMoon rock from anApollo program mission.Vesole returned to Charleston in October, with port/refueling visits in Lourenco Marques, Luanda, Dakar, Senegal; and St. John's, Antigua.
Vesole wasdecommissioned at Charleston,South Carolina, and stricken from theNaval Vessel Register on 1 December 1976 and sunk as atarget offPuerto Rico on 14 April 1983.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
Media related toUSS Vesole (DD-878) at Wikimedia CommonsShipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1983 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
