History
William V. Pratt (DLG-13) was laid down on 7 March 1958 by the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard; launched on 16 March 1960, sponsored by Mrs. William V. Pratt; and commissioned on 4 November 1961, Comdr. Boyd E. Gustafson in command.
Following shakedown training in the West Indies and post-shakedown availability at Philadelphia, William V. Pratt joined Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 18 as an active unit of the fleet in September 1962. Operating out of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, she cruised the Atlantic seaboard and the West Indies until 4 August 1963 at which time she departed Norfolk to participate in NATO exercise Operation Riptide IV, in European waters. She returned to Norfolk in September and resumed normal 2nd Fleet operations. That employment continued until 8 February 1964 when she embarked upon her first tour of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. She returned to Norfolk on 9 August and once again took up her East Coast-West Indies routine. In September and October, she visited European waters again to participate in two NATO exercises, Operations Masterstroke and Teamwork. The warship returned to Norfolk on 20 October and resumed 2nd Fleet operations. In November, she began her first shipyard overhaul at Norfolk. She completed repairs on 26 March 1966 and put to sea for trials.
On 15 April she arrived in her new home port of Naval Station Mayport, Florida. She conducted refresher training in the Guantanamo Bay operating area in May and June and returned to Mayport on 3 July. The warship resumed East Coast operations until 27 August, at which time she deployed to the Mediterranean once again. That four month deployment ended on 17 December when the guided missile frigate reentered Mayport. For the next six months, William V. Pratt conducted operations out of Mayport. She voyaged twice to the West Indies and once to the Gulf of Mexico. The warship also operated briefly off the Virginia Capes. In July 1966, she deployed to the Mediterranean for the third time in her career. She conducted operations with the 6th Fleet for the next five months, departing the Mediterranean for home on 10 December. She arrived back in Mayport 10 days later.
Following six months of normal operations along the East Coast and in the West Indies, William V. Pratt departed Mayport on 20 June 1967 for her only deployment to the western Pacific during the American involvement in the Vietnam War. En route, she transited the Panama Canal and made port calls at San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Guam before arriving in Subic Bay in the Philippines on 28 July. Early in August, she departed the Philippines for the Gulf of Tonkin and duty on the northern sea-air rescue (SAR) station. She relieved USS Berkeley on 12 August and remained on station in the gulf until early in September. After upkeep in Subic Bay, she headed back to the Gulf of Tonkin late in the month to take up duty on the south SAR station. That tour of duty lasted until the latter part of November at which time she departed the gulf for port visits to Hong Kong and Kachsinng on the island of Taiwan. She did one more period of duty on the south SAR station before leaving the western Pacific via Yokosuka in Japan, Midway Island, and Pearl Harbor. The warship arrived in San Diego on 31 December. On 2 January 1968, she resumed her voyage back to Mayport. William V. Pratt transited the Panama Canal on 10 January and reentered her home port on the 16th.
In February 1968, the warship moved to Charleston to prepare for regular overhaul. On 1 March, she entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard and began a six-month repair period. She departed Charleston on 6 September and arrived back in Mayport two days later . After refresher training in the West Indies, William V. Pratt resumed her routine of alternating 2nd and 6th Fleet tours of duty. Over the next four years, the guided missile frigate was deployed to European waters once each year. She departed Mayport on 7 January 1969 and set a course for the Mediterranean. She reported for duty with the 6th Fleet on 18 January and, for the next five months, conducted the normal round of port visits and exercises. On 1 June she arrived in Rota, Spain for turnover ceremonies before heading north on the 3rd for a series of hunter/killer exercises and visits to northern European ports. She concluded that assignment on 7 July when she departed Portsmouth, England to return to the United States. The warship arrived back in Mayport on 15 July and resumed normal 2nd Fleet operations. That employment lasted until 30 April when she pointed her bow eastward again and headed for the Mediterranean. In addition to the usual exercises and port visits, that deployment included duty with a special contingency force assembled in the eastern Mediterranean in response to Syrian intervention in the Jordanian civil war on the side of militant, anti-government, Arab guerrillas. She steamed around off the Levantine coast from early September to early October before the American show of force succeeded in securing a Syrian withdrawal. The warship then resumed normal 6th Fleet operations until 1 November when she departed Barcelona, Spain, on her way home.
Read more about this topic: USS William V. Pratt (DDG-44)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The principal office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–c. 120)
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)
“History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.”
—E.L. (Edgar Lawrence)