Displacement:3020 tons (std), 4065 tons
(full) Dimensions:438'(oa),
415" (wl) x 46' 9" x 24' 9" Armament: 1 x 5"/54 Mk 42, 1 ASROC Mk16 (16
missiles), 4-324mm Mk 32 (4x1 fixed) tubes / Mk 46 torpedoes Machinery: 2 CE 1200psi boilers; 1
Westinghouse geared turbine; 35,000 shp; 1 shaft Speed: 27 knots Range:
4,500 nm @ 20 knots Crew: 13 Officers, 211 Enlisted Laid down by
Lockheed Shipbuilding, Seattle WA on January 6, 1969
Launched August 1,1970, Commissioned July
31, 1971
Reclassified Frigate (FF-1063) on June 30,1975
Decommissioned August 28,1993, Stricken January
11,1995
Leased to
Turkey 28 August 28,1993
renamed Kocatepe (F-252)
Lease to Turkey renewed August 29, 1997
Sold to Turkey February 22, 2002 Used as a
target and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea
My Duties with USS Reasoner TAD
Jun 1990 - Nov 1990
I was aboard USS California which was in
overhaul at Lockheed Shipyards in Seattle and it was
considered that some personnel (like QMs) were in
surplus. (It's hard to navigate a drydock.) USS
Reasoner out of San Diego CA, was loosing their leading QM and
requested a temporary replacement and BuPers chose
me. It was the second time I was TAD to the USS
Reasoner.
Reasoner's Nav/Admin Officer, Jon Athow, called me at home and
said that he wanted to met me before I reported. Since
his father was living in Tacoma and he was going to be home on
leave, we arranged a meeting at his father's house. When
I went to the house, his father answered the door and I knew
that I had seen him some where before. It seems that his
father, Lewis Athow, CDR, USN (Ret) had been my CO aboard USS Shelton in
Vietnam. Talk about a small world.
Two days after my arrival aboard Reasoner in San Diego the
ship departed for WestPac. For some reason, the battle
group had not given us a sailing plan and we had to have
something to work with so during the
Nav Detail out of San Diego, I computed
and plotted my own Great Circle to Hawaii. As we passed
San Clemente Island, the battle group finally sent us the way
points for their track to Hawaii and it wasn't too far off
from the one I had created. Reasoner was impressed.
We arrived at Pearl Harbor around midnight and for some reason
our berth was not ready and we were asked to kill some time
and circumnavigate Ford Island. I was the only person on
board who had ever seen the back side of Ford Island. (When I
was aboard USS Sacramento that is where we moored.) There are
no lighted navaids on that side of the island, but with my
local knowledge, we circumnavigated just fine.
Enjoyed my third Fourth of July in Pearl Harbor.
WestPac started out as a normal port visit cruise, however,
while in the Indian Ocean, the USS Independence Battle Group
was diverted to Persian Gulf for the start of "The
Gulf War."
After leaving the Gulf we made a port visit
to Phuket, Thailand. It is a lovely laid back
town. There are a lot of resorts in the area
catering to primarily to Europeans. I enjoy spending
my liberty time at Patong beach. (In 2000 Patong was
hit by a tidal wave. I was saddened to see video of
the tidal wave sweeping over the very spot where I once
stood.)
Liberty - pier side in Hong Kong. I
had never been pier side in Hong Kong. Wow! No
half hour ride on the liberty launch! While on
liberty I was cruising the streets of the Wan Chi
district when I stumbled across the filming of a Jackie
Chan movie. No, I was not part of the "crowd
scene," but it was fun to watch. This was the year
Chinese Year of the Horse. There was horse stuff
every where and I went nuts. I even had to get an
extra sea bag to get everything home.
I left Reasoner in Subic Bay. For
my work training the Nav team and my efforts in the Gulf
War, I was awarded my third Navy and
Marine Corps Achievement Medal from USS Reasoner.
Sad story about the MAC flight from Subic NAS to Clark
AFB. A young Marine was being transferred back
to the States and the Air Force had authorized
transportation of his household goods, including
pets. He and his wife showed up at Cubi Pt in
Subic with their pet dog and the Navy said,
"No." Although the pet had been authorized by
the Air Force to fly out of Clark AFB, it was
prohibited by the Navy on any flight out of Cubi
Pt. The Marine and his tearful wife went all
over the terminal looking for anyone who would take
the dog. I think that the dog was eventually taken by
Subic Bay animal control. How Stupid! Good
'ol "Military Intelligence" at work.
Flew by C-140 to Clark AFB and then by a chartered
FedEx 747 to L.A. From LA we flew commercial to
Seattle. There were several of us returning from
the Gulf and when the ticket people learned about it
we were suddenly upgraded. We weren't even
allowed to carry our own bags! We didn't know
that the Gulf War was all over the news and that we
were basically the first ones to return home.
When we returned from Vietnam, people actually spit on
us. When we returned from Operation Eagle Claw
(Iranian Hostage Crisis) no one even knew that we had
been in a war zone. It was a surprise for me to
see and experience the out pour of public support for
the Gulf War.
