USS
Reasoner
(FF-1063)
Knox Class Destroyer
Escort
- 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
6 January 1969
- Launched 1 August 1970, Commissioned 31 July 1971
- Reclassified Frigate (FF-1063) on 30 June 1975
- Decommissioned 28 August 1993, Stricken 11
January 1995
- Fate: Leased to Turkey 28 August 1993
- renamed Kocatepe (F-252)
- Lease to Turkey renewed 29 August 1997
- Sold to Turkey 22 February 2002, still in Turkish
service
My Duties with USS
Reasoner
TAD
Jun 1990 -
Nov 1990
USS California
was in overhaul and it was determined that personnel were in
surplus. USS Reasoner was loosing their leading QM and
requested a temporary replacement and I was chosen. It was the
second time I was TAD to the USS Reasoner.
Reasoner's Nav 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. 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 Great Circle and it wasn't
too far off from the one I had made.
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 circomnavigate Ford Island. I
was the only person on board who had ever seen the back side of Ford
Island. (That's where we moored the USS Sacramento) 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."
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.
I returned to USS
California (CGN-36).
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