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USS RICHMOND K. TURNER DLG-20

Home » Ships » DLG-20

Hull Number: DLG-20

Launch Date: 04/06/1963

Commissioned Date: 06/13/1964

Decommissioned Date: 04/13/1995

Other Designations: CG-20


Class: LEAHY

LEAHY Class

(Data is for USS Reeves as of 1965)

Length Overall: 533'

Beam: 53'

Draft: 24' 8"

Full Load Displacement: 7,630

Fuel capacity: 497,455 gallons

Armament:

Four 3″/50 caliber guns in two twin mounts
One ASROC Launcher
Two 12.75″ triple anti-submarine torpedo tubes
Two Mark 10 Mod 0 Guided Missile Launching Systems (Terrier)

Complement:

23 Officers
335 Enlisted

Propulsion:

4 Boilers
2 Allis Chalmers Turbines: 85,000 horsepower

Highest speed on trials: 32 knots

Namesake: RICHMOND KELLY TURNER

RICHMOND KELLY TURNER

Wikipedia (as of 2024)

Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner (May 27, 1885 – February 12, 1961), commonly known as Kelly Turner, was an admiral of the United States Navy during the Second World War, where he commanded the Amphibious Force in the Pacific theater. Turner was also responsible for the creation of the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) in 1942 that were an early precursor to the United States Navy SEALs.

Richmond Turner was born in Portland, Oregon on May 27, 1885, to Enoch and Laura Frances (née Kelly) Turner. His father alternated between being a rancher and farmer, and working as a printer in both Portland (for The Oregonian with his older brother Thomas) and Stockton, California (where he owned a small print shop). The young Richmond spent most of his childhood in and around Stockton, with a brief stop in Santa Ana, and he graduated from Stockton High School in 1904.[1]

He was appointed to the Naval Academy from California‘s sixth district, his name put forward by Congressman James C. Needham, in 1904. He graduated on June 5, 1908 and served in several ships over the next four years. Among his classmates were several future admirals including: Harry A. Badt, Paul H. Bastedo, John R. Beardall, Abel T. Bidwell, Joseph J. Broshek, Arthur S. Carpender, Jules James, Walter K. Kilpatrick, James L. Kauffman, Thomas C. Kinkaid, Willis A. Lee Jr., William R. Munroe, William R. Purnell, Francis W. Rockwell, and John F. Shafroth Jr..[2]

On August 3, 1910, he married Harriet “Hattie” Sterling in Stockton.[3]

In 1913, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Turner briefly held command of the destroyer USS Stewart. After receiving instruction in ordnance engineering and serving on board the gunboat Marietta, he was assigned to the battleships Pennsylvania, Michigan and Mississippi during 1916–19. From 1919 to 1922, Lieutenant Commander Turner was an ordnance officer at the Naval Gun Factory in Washington, D.C. He then was gunnery officer of the battleship California, fleet gunnery officer on the Staff of Commander Scouting Fleet and commanding officer of the destroyer Mervine.

After his promotion to the rank of commander in 1925, Turner served with the Bureau of Ordnance at the Navy Department. In 1927, he received flight training at Pensacola, Florida, was designated as a naval aviator, and a year later became commanding officer of the seaplane tender Jason and commander, Aircraft Squadrons, Asiatic Fleet. He had further aviation-related assignments into the 1930s and was executive officer of the aircraft carrier Saratoga in 1933–34. Captain Turner attended the Naval War College and served on that institution’s staff in 1935–38 as head of the Strategy faculty.

Turner’s last single ship command was the heavy cruiser Astoria, on a diplomatic mission to Japan in 1939. During his service with that vessel, Astoria, the body of deceased Japanese Ambassador to the United States, Hiroshi Saito was returned to Japan. Saito died of tuberculosis in February 1939. Following World War II, Turner received Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd Class by the Emperor of Japan.[4]

Turner was Director of War Plans in Washington, D.C., in 1940–41 and was promoted to rear admiral January 1941.[3]

As Director of War Plans in the office of Chief of Naval Operations, Captain Turner became the Naval Member of the Joint Planning Committee of the Joint Board. Turner and Colonel Joseph T. McNarney, Air Corps, U.S. Army wrote “Study of the Immediate Problems concerning Involvement in War” in late December 1940. This led to Plan D, a strong offensive war in the Atlantic and a defensive war in the Pacific. This evolved into U.S. war plan “Rainbow Five“.[3]

On November 25, 1941, Turner drafted a dispatch to the Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet for release by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), which contained the words: “I consider it probable that this next Japanese aggression may cause an outbreak of hostilities between the U.S. and Japan.” CNO Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark took this message to President Roosevelt, who in relaying it to his High Commissioner to the Philippines softened the judgment words “probable” to “possible” and “may” to “might.” Roosevelt also added the bad guess: “Advance against Thailand seems the most probable.”

The Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, was highly aware of the threat of surprise Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. The final and most important warning was sent from Washington to Pearl Harbor and other Pacific outposts on November 27, 1941. It was specifically designated as a “war warning.”[5]

Turner made the decision not to send Kimmel details of the intercepted Japanese diplomatic communications although they pointed strongly to an imminent air or sea attack on the Pacific Fleet’s base at Pearl Harbor. Kimmel testified after the war that had he known of these communications, he would have maintained a much higher level of alert, and the fleet would not have been taken by surprise by the Japanese attack. As historian of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Professor Gordon Prange, wrote in Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History that was correct, even allowing for Kimmel’s desire to exculpate himself: “If Turner thought a Japanese raid on Hawaii … to be a 50-percent chance, it was his clear duty to say so plainly in his directive to Kimmel … He won the battle for dominance of War Plans over Intelligence, and had to abide by the consequences. If his estimates had enabled the U.S. to fend off … the Japanese threat at Pearl Harbor, Turner would deserve the appreciation of a grateful nation. By the same token, he could not justly avoid his share of the blame for failure.”[6]

Vice Admiral Homer N. Wallin wrote a much more comprehensive analysis of the reasons for the U.S. defeat at Pearl Harbor.[7] See also Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton, Kimmel’s chief intelligence officer, and his book, And I Was There.[8] “To anyone who is familiar with the mutinous conditions provoked by Turner’s interference in the intelligence process . . .throughout 1941, (Turner’s) barefaced denial of any responsibility for its consequences was as outrageous as it was untrue.” Page 142.

Admiral Turner testified to the Roberts Commission on January 19, 1942, the Admiral Thomas C. Hart Inquiry on the April 3rd and 4th, 1944, the Navy Court of Inquiry headed by Admiral Orin G. Murfin on September 15, 1944 and the Joint Congressional Committee Investigating Pearl Harbor in 1946.[9]

In December 1941, Turner was appointed assistant chief of staff to the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (a new position created after Pearl Harbor for Admiral Ernest King) and served until June 1942. He was then sent to the Pacific to take command of the Amphibious Force, South Pacific Force. Over the next three years, he held a variety of senior Amphibious Force commands as a rear admiral and vice admiral. He helped plan and execute amphibious operations against enemy positions in the south, central and western Pacific. He would have commanded the amphibious component of the invasion of Japan.

For the Guadalcanal Campaign, Rear Admiral Turner was Commander, Amphibious Force South Pacific (ComPhibForSoPac), also known as Task Force 62 which included 9 Groups, including Landing Force, Major General Alexander Vandegrift and Screening Group, Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, Royal Navy. He successfully fought the five-month campaign to victory which included the galling defeat at Savo Island.

For the assault on the Russell Islands, Rear Admiral Turner, ComPhibForSoPac, was named as the Commander of the Joint Force designated Task Force 61, with the Commanding General 43rd Infantry Division, Major General John H. Hester, U.S. Army, being the Commander Landing Force. For the assault on the New Georgia Groups of Islands, Rear Admiral Turner, ComPhibForSoPac, was named as the Commander Task Force 31 which included New Georgia Occupation Force, Major General Hester.[10]

For the assault on Tarawa and Makin, Rear Admiral Turner was named as the Commander, Assault Force Task Force 51, which included 10 Groups, including Northern Attack Force for Makin and Southern Attack Force for Tarawa, Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill.[11]

At Tarawa: “Rear Admiral Turner, the Task Force Commander and Immediate Senior in Command, was well over the horizon and busy with the problems of Makin. Vice Admiral Spruance, the Commander Central Pacific Force, was present at Tarawa in the Indianapolis, but with that quality which endeared him to all his subordinates, did not undertake to kibitz on the minute-by-minute performance of the local Task Force or Task Group Commanders. To Rear Admiral Harry Hill belongs full credit for a great and hard-fought victory at Tarawa.”[12]

For the assault on the Marshall Islands, Roi-Namur and Kwajalein, Rear Admiral Turner was the Commander, Joint Expeditionary Force, Task Force 51, which included 3 Task Forces and 9 Task Groups.[13]

As a result of his leadership in those many amphibious assaults, Turner was promoted to vice admiral on March 7, 1944.[14]

For the assaults on Tinian, Guam and Saipan, Vice Admiral Turner was the Commander, Joint Expeditionary Force, Task Force 51, which included the Northern and Southern Task Forces, Expeditionary Task Force, Lt. General Holland Smith and 6 Task Groups.[15]

For the assault on Iwo Jima, Vice Admiral Turner was the Commander, Joint Expeditionary Force, Task Force 50, which included the Attack Force, Rear Admiral Hill, and Expeditionary Task Force, Lt. General Smith.[16]

At the Battle of Okinawa Turner commanded Task Force 51 which included the Northern Attack Force, Rear Admiral Lawrence Fairfax Reifsnider, the Southern Attack Force, Rear Admiral Hill, Expeditionary Troops, Lt. General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., Western Island Attack Group, Rear Admiral Ingolf N. Kiland, Amphibious Support Force Rear Admiral William H. P. Blandy and Gunfire and Covering Force, Rear Admiral Morton Deyo. At the end of the Battle of Okinawa the Amphibious Forces under Admiral Turner’s command were manned by 657,000 officers and men.[17]

On May 24, 1945, Richmond Kelly Turner was promoted to full admiral.[18] Had the Pacific war continued, he would have commanded the amphibious component of the invasion of Japan. Under Admiral Turner’s command, there were to be 2,700 ships and craft in the Kyushu operation. There had been 1,213 ships and craft under his command for the Okinawa operation, 435 for the Marianas operation and 51 at Guadalcanal.[19]

Turner was present during the Japanese surrender on board the USS Missouri (BB-63) on September 2, 1945.

After World War II, Admiral Turner served on the Navy Department’s General Board and was U.S. Naval Representative on the United Nations Military Staff Committee. He retired from active duty in July 1947.

Admiral Turner died in Monterey, California, on February 12, 1961. He is buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California, alongside his wife and Admirals Chester Nimitz, Raymond A. Spruance, and Charles A. Lockwood, an arrangement made by all of them while living.


Disposition:

Stricken 4/13/1995.


TCS Ship History

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS RICHMOND K. TURNER DLG-20

The Tin Can Sailor, July 2001

The RICHMOND K. TURNER (DLG-20) was a guided-missile frigate—a “double-ender” with missiles at both ends and no guns for surface warfare—commissioned on 13 June 1964. Sailing from San Diego on 4 June 1965, she entered the Tonkin Gulf as missile support ship for the CORAL SEA (CVA-43), INDEPENDENCE (CVA-62), and ORISKANY (CVA-34) during air strikes against Vietnam. She later engaged in search and rescue missions in the Tonkin Gulf in which eight aviators were rescued.

She was at home in San Diego from December to October 1966 and then steamed west for her second Southeast Asian deployment. Operations along the West Coast and in Hawaii were followed in June 1968 by another tour off Vietnam. Duty as an antisubmarine warfare school ship occupied the TURNER until January 1970 when she returned to the Western Pacific and operations in the Sea of Japan and off the coast of Vietnam. She was back in San Diego in August 1970.

In 1971, she underwent modernization at the Bath Iron Works, in Bath, Maine, and spent much of 1972 in refresher training along the East Coast and in the Caribbean. In 1973 she operated with the FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (CVA-42) off the Virginia Capes and in May headed for Cuba. En route, she rescued the two pilots from a downed plane. In the Chesapeake Bay in July, the TURNER’s crew aided a pleasure craft floundering in dangerously high seas. She finished out the year in Caribbean and South American waters with the TATTNALL (DDG-19), VESOLE (DD-878), CLAMAGORE (SS-343), R. A. OWENS (DD-827), and R. H. MCCARD (DD-822) in exercises with the Colombian, Peruvian, Brazilian, and Uruguayan navies.

After shifting her home port to Norfolk in February 1974, the TURNER operated along the East Coast and in the Caribbean where outstanding performance in missile and other weapons exercises earned her the Atlantic Fleet’s “Top Shooter” Award. In November 1974 she began her first Mediterranean deployment, operating with the VREELAND (DE-1068), SAMPSON (DDG-10), and VESOLE (DD-878), often under observation by Soviet ships and aircraft. In July 1975, the TURNER emerged from overhaul as guided missile cruiser CG-20. Following August operations off Puerto Rico, she deployed to Northern Europe with the ALBANY (CG-10) and FORREST SHERMAN (DD-931), and the oiler KALAMAZOO (AOR-6).

A cruise to Jacksonville, Florida, with the AMERICA (CV-66) and GLENNON (DD-840); exercises off Halifax, Nova Scotia; a Caribbean cruise with the DALE (CG-19), MACDONOUGH (DDG-39), JOSEPHUS DANIELS (CG-27), and WILLIAM H. STANDLEY (CG-32); and a deployment to the Mediterranean and Black Sea took her through 1977. In 1978, she changed home port to Charleston, South Carolina, underwent overhaul, and participated in weapons exercises in the Caribbean and fleet exercises in the Eastern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. She deployed to the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Black Seas in 1979 and the next year went to Boston for OPSAIL 80 with the JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67), FARRAGUT (DDG-37), JOHN HANCOCK (DD-981), and GARCIA (FF-1040). In 1981 operations took her to Puerto Rico, the North Atlantic, and Baltic Sea. She spent 1982 undergoing an overhaul.

Following training exercises in the Caribbean with the INDEPENDENCE (CV-62), CARON (DD-970), and CLARK (FFG-11), the TURNER, INDEPENDENCE, MOOSBRUGGER (DD-980), and CARON were ordered to the island of Grenada in October 1983. The TURNER remained until 3 November providing surface interdiction and surveillance as well as escort services for the INDEPENDENCE. The four ships then went on to the Mediterranean in November and joined the multi-national peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon. The TURNER returned home in April 1984. By August 1985 she was underway for NATO exercises and a Mediterranean deployment. Off Libya on 24 March 1986, she became the first U.S. ship to fire a Harpoon missile in combat when she apparently sank an enemy vessel that was firing on an F-14.

In September 1987 she began a six-month deployment with the Middle East Force, most of it spent in the Persian Gulf. Returning on 26 October, she crossed into the Gulf of Oman where everyone aboard became eligible for “Imminent Danger Pay.” The next day, the ship went to general quarters in the Strait of Hormuz, steaming at twenty-five knots to get out of the “Worm Hole” as soon as possible. At Sitrah, Bahrain, she became antiaircraft warfare commander for the Persian Gulf and through December, performed radar picket duty and screened American and NATO-flagged ships as well as minesweeping operations in the northern gulf. Regularly covered by American media, the ship became widely known as “America’s Battlecruiser” and her crew began receiving thousands of morale-boosting Christmas cards and letters. A visit by Bob Hope and his troupe also helped to boost spirits before the ship returned to the Persian Gulf on 27 December 1987.

The year 1988 began with participation in a study to determine the effects of fatigue caused by long periods at general quarters. On 11 February the crew spent a final six hours at general quarters while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on her way back to Charleston, ending a deployment of 181 days. Two months later she was in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for an overhaul that ended in August 1989. When Hurricane Hugo struck Charleston in September 1989, the TURNER was in port on her own power and maintained communications for the entire Charleston area. Her crew coordinated relief efforts, assisted navy and civilian families with food, water and other supplies, helped clear debris, and generally volunteered wherever needed.

In August 1990 the TURNER went on stand-by in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and by December, was headed for the Arabian Gulf. She arrived in January 1991 for Operation Desert Shield and, subsequently, Desert Storm. In addition to escorting the THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71), she performed anti-air picket duties off Kuwait, monitored aircraft activity over Iraq, Kuwait, and Iran, and controlled combat air patrol stations while maintaining a twenty-four hour mine watch. During her deployment, crew members answered over 10,000 letters from home, many of which were addressed to “Any Sailor.” Two months after the February 1991 cease fire, she left the Arabian Gulf for the Red Sea to organize an interdiction effort to enforce the U.N. sanctions against Iraq. In April she assisted in the massive relief effort for the Kurdish refugees and in June headed for home.

In the Caribbean in 1992, she entered the “war on drugs” to interdict drug traffic out of South America. She began her sixth Mediterranean deployment in March 1993 and joined the combined UN and NATO effort in the Adriatic to enforce sanctions in certain parts of the former Yugoslavia. Back home in August, she returned to drug traffic interdiction in the Caribbean.

The RICHMOND K. TURNER was decommissioned on 27 June 1995 and on 9 August 1998 was sunk by missiles and laser-guided bombs fired by ships and aircraft of the ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) Battle Group.

Ship History

USS RICHMOND K. TURNER DLG-20 Ship History

Wikipedia (as of 2024)

USS Richmond K. Turner (DLG-20 / CG-20) was a Leahy-class cruiser destroyer leader in the United States Navy. The ship was named for Admiral Richmond K. Turner, who served during World War II.

The keel of Richmond K. Turner was laid on 9 January 1961 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey. She was one of nine Leahy-class “double-ended” guided missile destroyers. Launched 6 April 1963; sponsored by Mrs. Claude V. Ricketts; and commissioned 13 June 1964.[1]

The ship departed Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 10 August 1964 for her homeport of San Diego, California, stopping briefly at Yorktown and Norfolk, Virginia, and then Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She crossed through the Panama Canal, and after a port call in Acapulco, Mexico, arrived in San Diego on 11 September 1964.[1]

Richmond K. Turner departed San Diego on 4 June 1965 for her first deployment to the Western Pacific. The vessel joined Task Force 77 in the South China Sea area and served as missile support ship for the aircraft carriers Coral Sea, Independence, and Oriskany.[1]

Richmond K. Turner was reassigned to the Search and Rescue Destroyer Unit in the Tonkin Gulf in September 1965. After participating in missions in which eight aviators were rescued, the vessel departed Subic Bay and arrived at San Diego on 18 December.[1] The ship stood out of San Diego on 15 October 1966, bound a second time for Southeast Asian waters, returning to her homeport on 28 March 1967 and making a midshipman training cruise to Pearl Harbor.[1] Richmond K. Turner departed for her third tour off Vietnam on 10 June 1968, and contributed to Fleet readiness in Asian waters until returning to San Diego in December 1968.[1]

Richmond K. Turner assumed the duty as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) school ship in the southern California operating areas. In February, she conducted a SecNav guest cruise, and on 1 March, she commenced an extensive updating of her shipboard missile systems at the Naval Station San Diego. She then underwent training and further preparations for her fourth WestPac deployment, which commenced in January 1970.[1]

Richmond K. Turner arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, 4 March 1970 and spent two months operating in the Sea of Japan. The warship operated off the coast of Vietnam from June until July 1970 and returned to San Diego in August after stopping at Guam and Pearl Harbor.[1]

On 22 March 1971, Richmond K. Turner embarked for Bath, Maine and arrived at the Bath Iron Works on 27 April 1971. There, she was decommissioned 5 May, under a Navy-wide program to enhance the anti-air warfare capability of major guided-missile ships. The ship was recommissioned at Bath Iron Works on 27 April 1972.[1]

For seven months, Richmond K. Turner engaged in various trials, exercises, and refresher training along the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean Sea. The vessel returned to Newport, Rhode Island, 22 November 1972 and remained there until 9 January 1973, when the destroyer leader entered Boston Naval Shipyard for a two-month yard period. Leaving Boston in March, she continued normal operations out of Newport along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean mid-December 1973.[1] In July 1973, Richmond K. Turner departed for a 5-month deployment as the flagship for UNITAS XIV, returning in mid-December 1973.[citation needed]

In early 1974, Richmond K. Turner‘s homeport was moved to Norfolk after the Newport Naval Base reassigned most ships there to other locations.[citation needed]

After a lengthy stay in Norfolk, Richmond K. Turner deployed on a Mediterranean cruise in November 1974, returning to Norfolk in May 1975.[citation needed]

Richmond K. Turner was re-designated CG-20 in July 1975[1] and participated in Operation 200 which included the International Naval Review in New York City for the United States Bicentennial celebration on 4 July 1976.[citation needed]

In September 1978, after an overhaul at the Charleston Naval Shipyard, Richmond K. Turner reported to Fleet Training Center, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO) for Refresher Training (REFTRA). The day after arrival Richmond K. Turner was directed to intercept and conduct surveillance of Soviet Naval units operating in the West Indies.[citation needed] With that task completed, the ship was then directed to transit the Panama Canal and conduct surveillance operations off the west coast of Nicaragua.[2] Embarking REFTRA instructors, Richmond K. Turner completed all her training requirements while deployed in an operational status.[citation needed] The ship received the Meritorious Unit Commendation for these operations in March 1979.[3] From March to September 1979, conducted fleet and independent operations with the Sixth Fleet, Richmond K. Turner made port visits to Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, and Valencia, Spain; Civitavecchia (Rome) and Alassio, Italy; Athens, Greece; and Constanta, Romania on the Black Sea. “Turner” was selected to represent the United States in St. Tropez at the 35th Anniversary of the Allied landings in southern France. In July 1979, “Turner” successfully launched a Harpoon missile in the Gulf of Sidra, destroying the target ship at a range of 78 miles (126 km). This was the first firing of a Harpoon missile from a deployed US Navy ship.

In May 1980 Richmond K. Turner participated in Boston’s OPSAIL 80 and may have been awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation for conducting two special operations,[citation needed] but this award is not listed in the US Navy Unit award website. Richmond K. Turner completed four highly successful Mediterranean deployments as part of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, prior to an extensive baseline overhaul at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina from January to December 1982. During this overhaul Richmond K. Turner received numerous updates to modernize her combat systems suite. She was also fitted with the Vulcan Phalanx Close in Weapons System (CIWS) for self-defense against cruise missiles. After this overhaul Richmond K. Turner completed two more Mediterranean deployments.[citation needed] The ship received both Navy Expeditionary Medal and Meritorious Unit Commendation during this employment. During the Action in the Gulf of Sidra against the Libyan navy, the Turner disabled a Libyan patrol boat with a Harpoon missile.

Richmond K. Turner also completed a 1988 deployment to the Persian Gulf and was a participant of Operation Earnest Will.[citation needed]

Upon her return to the United States, Richmond K. Turner was overhauled in Ingalls Shipyard at Pascagoula, Mississippi, where she received the New Threat Upgrade (NTU) to her Combat Direction System as well as many engineering improvements.[citation needed]

In response to the crisis in the Persian Gulf caused by Iraq‘s invasion of Kuwait, Richmond K. Turner deployed early as a primary AAW unit in the Theodore Roosevelt battle group, which arrived in the theater just before hostilities broke out. During 60 days in the Persian Gulf, Richmond K. Turner provided protection to four carriers and served as an advance picket ship in the mine-infested waters off Kuwait. Following the cease fire, Richmond K. Turner relocated to the Red Sea where she participated in the continuing maritime interception operations in support of United Nations sanctions against Iraq.[citation needed]

Escorting the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt through the Suez Canal in late April 1991, Richmond K. Turner participated in Operation Provide Comfort, a massive relief effort to help tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees who fled the turmoil of Iraq following that country’s defeat in the war. During this time Richmond K. Turner became the Anti-Air Warfare Commander for the Aircraft Carrier Striking Force, U.S. Sixth Fleet.[citation needed]

For her operations during Desert Storm and Operation Provide Comfort, the Secretary of the Navy awarded Richmond K. Turner the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Navy Unit Commendation, the National Defense Medal and the Southwest Asia Service Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.[3]

In January 1993, petty officer 2nd class Joseph Gardner of Richmond K. Turner was the subject of a nationwide manhunt.[4][5] He was eventually placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list and was arrested in Philadelphia, October 1994. He was convicted of the 30 December 1993 gang rape and murder of Melissa McLaughlan and was sentenced to death. He was executed in 2008.

Richmond K. Turner made a final deployment to the Mediterranean as a part of the Theodore Roosevelt battle group and served as an anti-air warfare command during Operation Deny Flight over Bosnia-Herzegovina.[citation needed] Richmond K. Turner received the Armed Forces Service Medal for service relating to Bosnia.[3]

Prior to her decommissioning on 31 March 1995, Richmond K. Turner served as the test platform for the Navy’s Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile (LEAP) Program,[6][7][8] firing the first LEAP shot ever and launching the Navy into the future of missile technology.[citation needed]

Richmond K. Turner was decommissioned on 13 April 1995 and struck from the Navy list that same day. On 9 August 1998, ex-Richmond K. Turner was sunk as a target near Puerto Rico.[1] The SINKEX was conducted by the USS Enterprise battle group including the cruiser Philippine Sea, destroyers Thorn, Nicholson and Carrier Air Wing 3. The Air Force also dropped three 2,000-pound bombs. Richmond K. Turner sank in nearly 3,000 fathoms (18,000 ft) of water.[9]

Awards

Richmond K. Turner earned eight battle stars for Vietnam service.[1]

List of awards from Navy unit awards site.