|
The ROBERT
A. OWENS
(DD‑827) was
launched on
15 July 1946
by the Bath
Iron Works
of Bath,
Maine. She
was
reclassified
DDK‑827 on
28 January
1948 and was
finally
commissioned
at Boston on
5 November
1949.
Following
shakedown
the OWENS
was
reclassified
DDE-827, one
of the
navy's first
hunter‑killer
destroyers,
on 4 March
1950. She
operated in
the western
Atlantic and
Caribbean
until late
1952 when
she deployed
to the
Mediterranean
for the
first time.
From then on
into the
1960s, she
operated
with the
Sixth Fleet
for six
months out
of every 18.
For the
remaining 12
months, she
conducted
antisubmarine
patrols off
the Atlantic
coast and in
the
Caribbean.
Her routine
changed in
the fall of
1957 when
she joined
NATO
exercises,
which took
her to the
North Sea.
Throughout
the 1960s
the OWENS
continued to
rotate
between the
Second and
Sixth
Fleets. In
1960 and
1962, she
assisted in
the recovery
operations
for the
space
capsules
Mercury 2
and Mercury
6. Following
antisubmarine
operations
along the
East Coast,
she was
again
reclassified,
this time as
DD‑827, on 7
August 1962.
That October
and November
saw her
operating as
a unit of
Cuban
Quarantine
Task Force
136 during
the Soviet
missile
crisis. In
1963,
following
ASW
operations
in the
Atlantic and
another
patrol off
Cuba, the
OWENS got
underway for
an extended
deployment
to the
Mediterranean,
the Red Sea,
and the
Indian
Ocean. She
began her
FRAM
overhaul
that
December of
1963 at the
Norfolk
Naval
Shipyard and
completed it
the
following
November.
The OWENS
subsequently
served as
school ship
for the
fleet sonar
school and,
after
refresher
training at
Guantanamo
Bay, joined
the recovery
force for
Gemini‑Titan
(GT3) in
March and
Gemini‑Titan
(GT4) in
June 1965.
An extended
deployment
with the
Sixth Fleet
and the
Middle East
Force took
her into May
1966 when
she returned
to duty as
fleet sonar
school ship.
She then
operated in
the Atlantic
until
deploying to
the
Mediterranean
for the
first five
months of
1967. The
OWENS was
occupied for
the rest of
the year
with East
Coast
operations,
school ship
duties, and
an overhaul,
which was
completed in
March 1968.
From 28 May
to 13 June
1968, the
destroyer
participated
in the
search for
the USS
SCORPION
that
disappeared
en route
from a
Mediterranean
deployment.
The OWENS
finished the
year in the
Mediterranean.
That
deployment
ended in
January
1969. The
rest of the
year was
spent in
Atlantic and
Caribbean
operations.
Between
January 1970
and December
1972, she
alternated
two
Mediterranean
deployments
with normal
operations
out of
Norfolk. The
ROBERT A.
OWENS’s
schedule was
much the
same
throughout
the rest of
her career
in the U.S.
Navy.
Following
her
decommissioning
on 16
February
1982, she
was
transferred
to the
Republic of
Turkey
through the
Security
Assistance
Program
(SAP) that
same day.
She served
with the
Turkish navy
as TCG
ALCITEPE
(D‑346)
until early
1999 when
she was
decommissioned
and
scrapped. |
