Dahlgren (DDG 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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What a buddy? The Wheels Now this is the Navy I signed up for. What are we celebrating this time? It was here just a minute ago?! The trials of sea duty

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No really! I used to bt- ond In rommand! Lost again! WiT How about a blindfold and a smoke? WARDROOM CPO MESS The man behind Mighty Finel I don ' t care who ' s in the barber shop - get a haircut! Sometimes you have to cook it yourself. All dressed up and no place to go. EMIT, NTPI, OPPE, OOPS

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USS DAHLGREN REAR ADMIRAL JOHN ADOLPHUS DAHLGREN I he ship ' s namesake, Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahl- gren, would be proud of the reputation DDG-43 has maintained since her commissioning on April 8, 1961. After 25 years the destroyer has un- dergone regular modernization allowing her to remain as one of the world ' s most capable warships, which seems only fitting since Rear Ad- miral Dahlgren made his name as a brilliant ordnance innovator who rev- olutionized Naval gunnery. Shocked by the haphazard and unsafe design of existing guns, which were so prone to explosion that they sometimes dealt a death blow to their own ships, he lent his standout mathematical talent to the task of designing a gun that would withstand the forces pro- duced by continuous firing. It was a job that would take him most of his life, but Admiral Dahl- gren lived to see the Dahlgren gun , one of the first rifled-barrel guns, change the way of warfare on the seas, and earn him the title of Father of Modern Naval Ordnance. Two previous ships have borne his name; the first was Torpedo Boat 9, launched in 1899 at Bath, Maine. Over 150 feet from stem to stern, she carried a crew of 29. After she was scrapped in 1920, her name was bestowed on DD-187, a destroyer built in 1918 by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company. She was 314 feet long, displaced 1060 tons and had a crew of 1 1 1. One of her first duties was as a test platform for a new variable-pitch propellor. She later served as a training ship in antisub- marine warfare exercises. In 1939 she was refitted with the new experi- mental Babcock and Wilcox 1200 psi boilers and General Electric geared turbines, another first, before being sold in 1946. I he American Eagle, a symbol of the strength of the United States dominates the insignia of the USS DAHLGREN. In the eagle ' s talons are found a trident and a sword, traditional symbols of sea power. A shield and the ship ' s motto complete the insignia. The motto, OPTIMUS NOTA ARMIS, means Renowned for Su- perior Weapons. It is applicable in the past to Admiral Dahlgren and in the future to the USS DAHLGREN. The lower left segment of the shield contains a sketch of the nine-inch Dahlgren gun representing Admiral Dahlgren ' s superiority in the field of ordnance during the Civil War. The opposite segment contains a missile representing the modern superiority of the weapons systems of the DAHLGREN. The first DAHLGREN, Torpedo Boat 9, circa 1899. Photo courtesy of The Mariners ' Museum, Newport News, Virginia. The 1918 DAHLGREN, DD-187, circa 1936. Photo courtesy of The Mariners ' Museum, Newport News, Virginia.