Rathburne (FF 1057) - Naval Cruise Book

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SHIP S HISTORY USS RATHBURNE is the second U S Navy ship named for Captain John Peck Rathburne a naval hero of the early Continental Navy who served from 1775 unt1l his death in 1782 in an English prison RATHBURNE IS the sixth ship of the KNOX Class of Fast Frigates designated specifically for Anti Submarine Warfare CASWD with secondary mission capabilities for Anti Air Warfare CAAWJ shore bombardment and sea control funct1ons The present day USS BATH BURNE CFF 10573 was built by Lockheed Sh1pbu1ld1ng and Construction Company of Seattle Washington Her keel was la1d on 8 January 1968 and she was christened and launched on 2 May 1969 On 16 May 1970 RATHBURNE was commissioned at Puget Sound Naval Sh1pyard Bremer ton Washington She IS equ1pped with the most modern and h1ghly soph1st1cated long range underwater sound detection system QSONARD as well as extremely effective and modern radar communications and electronics installations The ship s principle armaments are an anti subma rlne homing torpedo system a five inch 54 calibre rapid f1re gun Basic Point Defense Missile System for anti a1r defense and Harpoon Weapon System for ant1 Shlp defense also the ship IS outfitted to embark LAMPS helicopters in further support of the ASW m1ss1on RATHBURNE IS powered by a 35 000 shaft horsepower steam turbine which drives a single shaft and propels the ship at speeds in excess of 25 knots She is manned by a complement of 17 officers and 244 enlisted men USS RATHBURNE arrived in Pearl Harbor on 20 July 1970 and was assigned to Destroyer Squadron TWENTY FIVE In April of 1971 she began her first deployment to the Western Pacific CWESTPACJ during which she became the first of the class to achieve more than 200 helicopter landings on her flight deck In 1972 RATHBURNE began her second deployment to WESTPAC during which she was continuously employed as a Naval gunfire support ship off the coast of Vietnam The ship earned the Combat Action Ribbon and the Meritorious Unit Commendation for Gunfire Support Oper ations RATHBURNE returned to Pearl Harbor in February 1973 to begin her f1rst regularly scheduled overhaul the next October On 7 September 1974 RATHBURNE transferred to Destroyer Squadron THIRTY THREE and Taiwan to the east coast of Africa In October of 1976 RATHBURNE commenced her fourth deployment principally engaged as an ASW escort for the aircraft carriers USS CORAL SEA and USS MIDWAY USS RATHBURNE returned to Pearl Harbor in May of 1977 to begin her second regular overhaul Upon completion of overhaul in August of 1978 the ship began predeployment prepara tions during which it passed the Operational Propulsion Plant Examanation on the first attempt with an uncond1t1onal satisfactory grade the first ship in Pearl Harbor to do so in three years In March of 1979 RATHBURNE left for her fifth WESTPAC deployment 1nclud1ng two and one half months in the Indian Ocean RATHBURNE visited such ports as Hong Kong Singapore Rodrigues Island Port Louis Mauritius and Mombasa Kenya The ship returned to Pearl Harbor on 4 October 1979 USS RATHBURNE commenced her sixth deployment in October 1980 During the first half of deployment the ship operated with the South Korean Navy and visited such ports as Sasebo Japan Ch1nhae Korea and Hong Kong After spending 3 weeks in Guam for an upkeep period RATHBUBNE proceeded south to participate in naval exercises with the Australian and New Zealand NHVICS While Down Under the ship visited Ul1th1 Lae New Guinea Sydney and Geelong Australia Auckland Wellington Whangarei and Mount Manganu1 New Zealand and Pago Pago USS RATHBURNE returned to homeport in April 1981 Following a brief stand down she began local operations which included workups for an Operational Propulsion Plant Re examina tion This was successfully completed in early July and was followed by a two month Selected Restricted Availability Begmmng in late September 1981 RATHBURNE began pre deployment work ups which in cluded refresher training READIEX and RIMPAC 82 a major multi national naval exercise in Hawa11an waters 1nvolv1ng nav1es from Canada Australia New Zealand and of course the United States On 30 April 1982 she began her seventh WESTPAC deployment 7 began her third deployment. This eight-month deployment saw the ship in operations from

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