DLG-7 - Tin Can Sailors

Hull Number: DLG-7

Launch Date: 12/11/1958

Commissioned Date: 05/20/1961

Decommissioned Date: 04/01/1991

Call Sign: NSBL

Other Designations: DDG-38 DL-7

Class: FARRAGUT (1960)

FARRAGUT (1960) Class

(Data for USS Dewey (DLG-14/DDG-45) as of 1981)

Length Overall: 512' 6"

Beam: 52' 4"

Draft: 19' 0"

Standard Displacement: 4,853 tons

Full Load Displacement: 6,124 tons

Fuel capacity: 810 tons

Armament:

One 5″/54 caliber guns
One ASROC Launcher
Two 12.75″ triple anti-submarine torpedo tubes
One Mark 10 Mod 0 Guided Missile Launching System (Terrier)
Two Harpoon Missile Launchers

Complement:

30 Officers
364 Enlisted

Propulsion:

4 Boilers
2 Allis Chalmers Turbines: 85,000 horsepower

Highest speed on trials: 33 knots

Namesake: STEPHEN BLEECKER LUCE

STEPHEN BLEECKER LUCE

Wikipedia (as of 2024)

Stephen Bleecker Luce (March 25, 1827 – July 28, 1917) was a U.S. Navy admiral. He was the founder and first president of the Naval War College, between 1884 and 1886.From 1909 to 1910 he was vice president,from 1910 to 1911 president of the Aztec Club of 1847.

Born in Albany, New York, to Dr. Vinal Luce and Charlotte Bleecker, Stephen B. Luce was one of the Navy’s outstanding officers in many fields, including strategy, seamanship, education, and professional development. He is best known for being the founder of the Naval War College. In 1854 Luce married Elizabeth Henley, who was a grand niece of Martha Washington, wife of President George Washington. Their children included daughter Caroline (1857–1933), who became the wife of Montgomery M. Macomb, a brigadier general in the United States Army.^[1]

Luce entered the Navy, at the age of 14, on October 19, 1841, as a midshipman. He was instructed at the Naval School in Philadelphia until the newly instituted United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland was opened in 1845. He graduated from the academy in 1848 and was warranted as a passed midshipman to date from August 10, 1847. He was promoted to lieutenant on September 15, 1855.

Luce served with the Atlantic coast blockaders during the American Civil War, and commanded the monitor Nantucket at the siege of Charleston, South Carolina. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1862. He was assigned to the US Naval Academy in Newport, RI from January 1862 to October 1863. In 1862, while serving as head of the Department of Seamanship at the U.S. Naval Academy, he prepared one of the first seamanship textbooks used by the academy. During the war he also commanded the USS Sonoma, USS Canadaigua and USS Pontiac.^[2]

He was promoted to commander in 1866.

After the Civil War, Luce organized the Navy’s apprentice training program to prepare seamen and petty officers for fleet duty. From 1869 to 1872 he commanded the sloop-of-war USS Juniata which was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. He was promoted to captain in December 1872 and served as the captain of the yard at the Boston Navy Yard until 1875. He commanded the famous USS Hartford from November 1875 to August 1877. From August to December 1877 Captain Luce was inspector of training ships. From January 1878 to February 1881 he commanded the training ship USS Minnesota.

From July to September 1884 Luce commanded the North Atlantic Squadron with the USS Tennessee as his flagship. From June 1886 to February 1889 Luce commanded the North Atlantic Squadron with the USS Richmond as his flagship.

Luce was also instrumental in starting the U.S. Naval Institute and its publication, Proceedings. He served as the institute’s president from 1887 to 1898.

In 1881 Luce was promoted to commodore, in which capacity he commanded the US Navy Training Squadron in Newport from April 1881 to June 1884.^[3]

While in command of the Training Squadron, Luce developed and implemented the apprentice training program—the first formal program for training enlisted sailors for service in the Navy. Luce’s plan was to have bright and healthy young men (in the age range of 14 to 17 years old) serve a three-year apprenticeship with the Training Squadron during which they received an academic education as well as hands on training to learn various seamanship skills.

The “boys”, as the apprentices were officially referred to, were typically enlisted by their parents until they would reach the age of 21 whereupon they could decide if they wished to extend their service in the Navy. Previously, the Navy had taken recruits with no prior experience and all training of enlisted sailors was “on the job”. The problem with this approach was that many recruits lacked the discipline and skills necessary to be useful to the Navy. Luce’s vision from the apprentice program was to develop sailors who were fully trained and accustomed to navy life prior to joining the fleet. The program ended when the United States entered the First World War in 1917 as the Navy needed to train sailors rapidly for service during the war.

Based on Luce’s urgings and exhaustive reports, the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, was established October 6, 1884 with Luce as its first president. In 1885 he was promoted to rear admiral, and in 1886 he was succeeded as president by Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, whose writings had greatly influenced the Navy’s decision to establish the War College.

The USS Richmond was Luce’s last assignment at sea before retiring, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 62, on March 25, 1889. Despite being retired, Luce continued his interest in the improving the efficiency of the Navy. He returned to the War College in 1901 and served for nearly a decade as a faculty member. He finally retired in November 1910 at the age of 83.^[2]

Luce died on July 28, 1917^[2] and was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.^[5]^[6]

Disposition:

Stricken 11/20/1992

Ship History

USS LUCE DLG-7 Ship History

Wikipedia (as of 2024)

The third USS Luce (DLG-7/DDG-38) was Farragut-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy that served from 1962 until discarded in 1992. The ship was named for Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce (1827–1917). Luce was sold for scrapping in 2005.

Luce was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Quincy, Massachusetts, on 1 October 1957. The ship was launched on 11 December 1958, sponsored by the wife of Felix Stump, and commissioned on 20 May 1961 Commander David H. Bagley in command. USS Luce was reclassified as a guided missile destroyer on 30 June 1975 and designated DDG-38.

Luce departed Mayport, Florida, on her shakedown cruise 14 February 1962. She spent the month of April with the U.S. 6th Fleet in her first task force operations, and returned home 11 May, where Capt. H. J. Ereckson, Commander of Destroyer Division 84, made her his flagship. She departed 3 August to rejoin the 6th Fleet, en route participating in NATO exercises Riptide III with units of the British and French navies. In the next 7 months she joined in three major NATO exercises before returning home 2 March 1963. During the spring and early summer, the guided missile destroyer conducted missile tests, trained midshipmen, and engaged in independent exercises along the Atlantic coast.

On 20 August 1963 she steamed to the Caribbean Sea for independent air, surface, and shore bombardment firings, and returned to Mayport 4 September. She joined Task Force 23 for intensive antisubmarine warfare (ASW) and anti-aircraft (AA) exercises 28 October, and after a short operation with the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise was back in Mayport for tender availability.

On 8 February 1964 she again joined the 6th Fleet, and was called upon to stand guard for 3 weeks near the unsettled island of Cyprus to evacuate American citizens if necessary. She hosted the Secretary of the Navy and Commander 6th Fleet 24 April for a missile firing demonstration, and then escorted the carrier USS Shangri-La on a high‑speed Atlantic crossing to Mayport, where she arrived 23 May.

In July the ship steamed to New York City to participate in operation “Sail” with a regatta of sailing craft from all over the world. She returned to Mayport after a 4-month overhaul 28 January 1965. The frigate had won both the Engineering and Battle Efficiency “E”s during 1964.

Luce returned to the Caribbean for intensive refresher training in March 1965. On 29 April she embarked a company of marines at Guantanamo Bay and proceeded to the troubled Dominican Republic 30 April. She patrolled the coast of the politically disturbed island until 8 May. She returned to the Mediterranean Sea in June for 4 months of operations with units of the Spanish, French, Greek, and Italian navies. In September she operated with the destroyer USS Corry in the Black Sea, and she returned to the Mediterranean late in 1965. She arrived Mayport 6 November and embarked Commander Destroyer Squadron 8. In December she engaged in missile firing and after a brief time in port in 1966 continued testing and improving missile techniques and carrying out the fleet’s widespread peacekeeping activities which guard the free world.

On 19 January 1966 an “actual nuclear incident” occurred when the nuclear warhead on a Terrier anti-air missile separated from the missile and dropped about eight feet on the Luce while the ship was docked at Mayport Naval Station. It is recorded that “there were no personnel casualties, and aside from the dent in the warhead, no equipment was damaged.”^{[citation needed]}

On 13 June 1966 Luce got underway for deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. After participating in various exercises with United States and other allied ships, and representing the United States at two international trade fairs, she returned to Mayport on 26 October. The first half of 1967 saw Luce operating again in the Atlantic and Caribbean, and participating in a midshipmen training cruise in June. On 7 August, Luce began a regular overhaul at the U.S. Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina. She continued in overhaul until early 1968, then operated locally and in the Caribbean until departing Mayport 14 September for the Persian Gulf, sailing via Recife, Brazil, and various ports along the west and east coasts of Africa. She arrived at Bahrain 29 October and continued to stand watch over the troubled Middle East into 1969.

Luce was decommissioned on 1 April 1991 at Naval Base Mayport, Florida, and stricken from the Navy list on 20 November 1992. On 16 December 1994, Luce was sold for scrapping and on 17 June 2005, the scrapping was completed.