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Hull Number: DDG-82

Launch Date: 10/16/1999

Commissioned Date: 04/21/2001

Call Sign: NLSN


Class: ARLEIGH BURKE

ARLEIGH BURKE Class


Namesake: CLYDE EVERETT LASSEN

CLYDE EVERETT LASSEN

Wikipedia (as of 2024)

Clyde Everett Lassen (March 14, 1942 – April 1, 1994), a native of Fort Myers, Florida, was a Commander in the United States Navy and a Naval Aviator. He initially served over four years as an enlisted sailor, enlisting in September 1961 and eventually achieving the rate of Aviation Electronics Technician 3rd Class (AT3) prior to being selected as a Naval Aviation Cadet (NAVCAD). Upon completion of flight training as a NAVCAD, he received his wings as a Naval Aviator and his commission as an officer in the rank of Ensign.[1]

As a Lieutenant, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his rescue of two downed Naval Aviators while piloting a search and rescue helicopter in Vietnam.

On June 19, 1968, Lassen, then a 26-year-old Lieutenant, junior grade flying a UH-2A Seasprite of HC-7 (assigned to the USS Preble), embarked on a mission to recover two downed Naval Aviators (from VF-33, off the USS America) whose F-4J plane had been shot down on a night interdiction mission deep inside North Vietnam. Upon reaching the hilly terrain where the aviators were hiding, Lassen made several attempts to recover the aviators, but dense tree cover, enemy weapons fire and intermittent illumination frustrated his efforts. Lassen turned on the landing lights of the helicopter, despite the danger of revealing his position to the enemy. After the pilots made their way to the helicopter and with his bullet-riddled helicopter dangerously low on fuel, Lassen evaded further antiaircraft fire before landing safely at sea on board the USS Jouett with only five minutes of fuel left in the helicopter’s fuel lines. The account of the rescue was logged as a successful, routine search and rescue mission.

LT Lassen became the first Naval Aviator and fifth Navy man to be awarded the Medal of Honor (MOH) for bravery in Southeast Asia (SEA)/Vietnam. He was also only one of three Naval Aviators to be awarded the MOH in SEA (along with CAPT Michael J. Estocin, and RADM James Stockdale), and the only rotary wing Naval Aviator to be awarded the MOH in SEA.

He remained in the Navy and in the early 1980s served as Commanding Officer of Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHT (HT-8), an advanced rotary-wing training squadron for USNUSMCUSCG, and NATO/Allied student aviators at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida. He retired in 1982 with the rank of Commander, remaining in Pensacola, Florida until his death from cancer in 1994.

In 2010, the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs opened the Clyde E. Lassen State Veterans’ Nursing Home in St. Augustine (St. Johns County), Florida, naming it in CDR Lassen’s honor. The 120-bed facility offers skilled nursing care and can accommodate 60 residents with dementia/Alzheimer’s disease.[4]

Medal of Honor

Clyde E. Lassen
Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, Helicopter Support Squadron 7, Detachment 104, embarked in U.S.S. Preble (DLG-15).
place and date: Republic of Vietnam, June 19, 1968.
Entered service at: Jacksonville, Fla.
Born: March 14, 1942, Fort Myers, Fla.

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as pilot and aircraft commander of a search and rescue helicopter, attached to Helicopter Support Squadron 7, during operations against enemy forces in North Vietnam. Launched shortly after midnight to attempt the rescue of 2 downed aviators, Lt. (then Lt. (J.G.)) Lassen skillfully piloted his aircraft over unknown and hostile terrain to a steep, tree-covered hill on which the survivors had been located. Although enemy fire was being directed at the helicopter, he initially landed in a clear area near the base of the hill, but, due to the dense undergrowth, the survivors could not reach the helicopter. With the aid of flare illumination, Lt. Lassen successfully accomplished a hover between 2 trees at the survivors’ position. Illumination was abruptly lost as the last of the flares were expended, and the helicopter collided with a tree, commencing a sharp descent. Expertly righting his aircraft and maneuvering clear, Lt. Lassen remained in the area, determined to make another rescue attempt, and encouraged the downed aviators while awaiting resumption of flare illumination. After another unsuccessful, illuminated rescue attempt, and with his fuel dangerously low and his aircraft significantly damaged, he launched again and commenced another approach in the face of the continuing enemy opposition. When flare illumination was again lost, Lt. Lassen, fully aware of the dangers in clearly revealing his position to the enemy, turned on his landing lights and completed the landing. On this attempt, the survivors were able to make their way to the helicopter. En route to the coast he encountered and successfully evaded additional hostile antiaircraft fire and, with fuel for only 5 minutes of flight remaining, landed safely aboard USS Jouett (DLG-29).



USS LASSEN DDG-82 Ship History

Wikipedia (as of 2024)

USS Lassen (DDG-82) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named for Medal of Honor recipient Commander Clyde Everett Lassen. This ship is the 32nd destroyer of her class. Lassen was the 14th ship of this class to be built by Ingalls Shipbuilding at Pascagoula, Mississippi, and construction began on 24 August 1998. She was launched and christened on 16 October 1999. On 21 April 2001, she was commissioned at the Florida Aquarium Pier in Tampa, Florida.

She was homeported in San Diego until she shifted homeport to Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan in August 2005.

On 15 February 2009 at 12:25 pm, Lassen collided with a Japanese 14-ton pleasure boat in Yokosuka harbor. On 23 March 2009 the Japan Coast Guard filed a case against both the destroyer’s and the fishing boat’s captains with local prosecutors for professional negligence that endangered traffic.[1][2]

On 1 July 2009, Fox News Channel reported that Lassen was tracking the North Korean ship Kang Nam 1, suspected of carrying contraband.

On 27 October 2015, Lassen conducted a 72-nautical mile transit through the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea and passed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of seven artificial islands built up by China (commonly called the “Great Wall of Sand“), completing one of the most publicized freedom of navigation operations on record.[3][4] This was the first time since 2012 that the US had directly challenged China’s claims in the Spratly Islands.[5][6]

In January 2016, she moved to Naval Station Mayport in Mayport, Florida. According to the Standard Navy Distribution List, March 2016, at that time she was assigned to the new Naval Surface Squadron 14.[7]