Josephus Daniels (DLG 27) - Naval Cruise Book

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Josephus Daniels: Weathering the Seas in the Cause of Peace USS JOSEPHUS DANIELS (CG07) the second of the Belknap Class Guided Missile Cruiser and presently the lead ship of the CG-27 Class, is named after the late North Carolina journalist and Secretary of the Navy. Built by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine and launched 2 December 1963, she was commissioned 8 May 1965 at the Boston Naval Shipyard. Josephus Daniels is 347 feet long with a beam of 53 feet, nine inches and a navigational depth of 30 feet. She is equippped with twin six bladed screws and a single rudder. Her full load displacement is 8,075 tons, comparable to the size of a World War II light cruiser. She uses satellite communications and navigation systems. The primary mission of Josephus Daniels is to provide anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine defense, and command and control functions for a Naval Battle Group. Secondary missions are to provide defense for surface ships and conduct shore bombardment in support of amphibious operations. To carry out her various missions, Josephus Daniels is equipped with Standard Missies, ASROC, Homing Torpedoes, one dual-purpose rapidfire 5 54 automatic gun mount, two Harpoon Surface-to-Surface missile launchers, port and starboard Vulcan Phalanxes, and can embark a LAMPS helicopter. In February 1970, Josephus Daniels deployed to the Western Pacific to operate with the Seventh Fleet. During the deployment, the ship served as Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone (PIRAZ) and South Search and Rescue (SAR) ship in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. In the late I970 ' s, Josephus Daniels entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard for an extensive one year overhaul. The installation of the Harpoon Missile System, improvement of the communications suite, installation of a new long-range Search Radar, and the improvement of various Sensor Systems were among the many alterations made to upgrade the ship ' s ability to counter modern day threats. Throughout her 22 years of service, Josephus Daniels has sailed the seas from the North Atlantic to the Caribbean-, she has crossed the equator numerous times and operated extensively in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. She is the first U.S. Navy ship to visit the resort of Benidorm, Spain, and, on her most recent Indian Ocean deployment, her crew experienced the rare pleasure of a visit to Singapore. Daniels prides herself on her combatant stature, her readiness for a call to action. Her first rate crew expends limitless energy to make every deployment as safe and efficient as possible.

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Josephus Daniels: A Legacy of Respect for the American Sailor BIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPHUS DANIELS Josephus Daniels (1862-1948) was a noted American newspaperman who served as Secretary of the Navy (I9I3-I92I) and Ambassador to Mexico (1933-1941). Born on May 18, 1862, at Washington, North Carolina. He was the second son of Josephus Daniels, Sr., and Mary Cleaves Seabrook Daniels. After Daniel ' s father was killed in the closing months of the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) his mother moved with her three small sons to Wilson, North Carolina, where Daniels spent his boyhood. He attended the University of North Carolina Law School briefly and was admitted to the Bar, but he never practiced law professionally. Daniels began his long career as a successful Raleigh, North Carolina newspaperman in 1885 when he acquired a controlling interest in the Raleigh State Chronicle. He was then twenty-three years old. Nine years later he bought the Raleigh News and Observer and merged it with the Chronicle. Daniels became a major editorial voice in the South, championing such causes as prohibition, better schools, and the regulation of railroads and business trusts. He was a militantly progressive Democrat and a close friend of the Democratic Presidential Candidate, William Jennings Bryan, a three-time candidate for president. But in 1911. Daniels threw his support behind Woodrow Wilson ' s successful drive for the presidency. Appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Wilson 4 in 1913, Daniels introduced a number of controversial reforms. He abolished the officer ' s wine mess, reorganized and democratized the naval ser vice, and fought vigorously against collusive bidding on armor plate and other Navy contracts. Under his leadership the Navy expanded greatly in size and fought effectively in World War I. Resigning as head of the Navy department in 1921. Daniels returned to Raleigh, resumed the editorship of the News and Observer, and took a prominent role in Democratic Party Politics. When his former assistant in the Navy department, Franklin D. Roosevelt, became President in 1933 he appointed Daniels U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. For the next eight years, the Raleigh editor served as an eloquent spokesman for the Good Neighbor Policy to improve Latin American relations. Daniels also maintained friendly diplomatic ties with Mexico in spite of the Mexican government ' s expropriation of oil companies and agricultural properties owned by U.S. citizens. Daniels retired from the Mexican post in late 1941 and returned to Raleigh. He died there on January 15, 1948. Between 1939 and 1947, he published a five-volume autobiography: Tar-Heel Editor, 1939, Editor in Politics, 1941, The Wilson Era, Years of War and After, 1946, and Shirtsleeve Diplomat. 1947. These five volumes present Daniel ' s own version of an Amercian success story in three fields: Press, Politics, and Public Service.