USS De Wert (FFG-45)

USS De Wert leaving Mayport in July 2013
History
Name: De Wert
Namesake: Hospitalman Richard De Wert
Awarded: 28 April 1980
Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Laid down: 14 June 1982
Launched: 18 December 1982
Commissioned: 19 November 1983
Decommissioned: 4 April 2014
Identification:
Motto: "Daring, Dauntless, Defiant"
Badge:
General characteristics
Class & type: Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate
Displacement: 4,100 long tons (4,200 t), full load
Length: 453 feet (138 m), overall
Beam: 45 feet (14 m)
Draft: 22 feet (6.7 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: over 29 knots (54 km/h)
Range: 5,000 nautical miles at 18 knots (9,300 km at 33 km/h)
Complement: 15 officers and 190 enlisted, plus SH-60 LAMPS detachment of roughly six officer pilots and 15 enlisted maintainers
Sensors and
processing systems:
Electronic warfare
& decoys:		 AN/SLQ-32
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 2 × SH-60 LAMPS III helicopters
Aviation facilities:

USS De Wert (FFG-45), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, was a ship of the United States Navy. She was named for Hospitalman Richard De Wert (1931–1951). De Wert posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his heroism while serving with the 7th Marines during the Korean War.

De Wert was laid down on 14 June 1982 by the Bath Iron Works, in Bath, Maine; launched on 18 December 1982, sponsored by Rita C. Kennedy; and commissioned on 19 November 1983 at Bath, Commander Douglas Armstrong in command.[1]

Comnander Destroyer Squadron Six conducted a Command Administration Inspection 24–26 August 1985.[2] The ship got underway with an air detachment embarked 13 August through 7 September to participate in a Readiness Exercise (READEX 3-85), along with fifteen surface ships, two (2) submarines of the United States Atlantic Fleet and one unit of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

The ship got underway on 2 October for its first major overseas deployment. De Wert joined the Sixth Fleet on 14 October and participated in Operation Display Determination 85, under the command of Commander Task Force 60 with 2 carriers, 16 warships, and 130 aircraft of the Sixth Fleet. This exercise proved to be predominately an anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare exercise.

On 16 February 2007, De Wert was awarded the 2006 Battle "E" award.[3]

In 2011, De Wert earned all command excellence awards and was awarded the 2010 Battle E award.

On 11 October 2011, De Wert, along with the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel RFA Fort Victoria, rescued the Italian vessel Montecristo after it was boarded by Somali pirates, while on joint anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean.[4]

De Wert was decommissioned on 4 April 2014.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Smolinski, Mike (6 June 2009). "USS De Wert (FFG45)". Frigate Photo Archive. NavSource Naval History. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
  2. ↑ De Wert Command History 1985, via History.navy.mil, DeWert
  3. ↑ Ludwick, Paula M., MC1 (February 19, 2007). "Surface Force Ships, Crews Earn Battle "E"". United States Navy. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  4. ↑ "UK and US forces 'rescue pirate-held Italian ship'". BBC News. October 11, 2011.
  5. ↑ http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=80141

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

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