Commissioning
The USS Dale was a member of the Leahy-class of destroyer leaders. She was named in honor of Commodore Richard Dale, who served in the American Revolution, the Quasi-War with France and commanded operations against the Barbary Pirates off of what is now Tripoli, Libya.
The order to build the Dale was placed on Nov. 7, 1958. Her keel was laid down on Sept. 6, 1960; she was launched on June 28, 1962. She was commissioned on Nov. 23, 1963, a day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Underway
Assigned to the Pacific Fleet, the Dale would make five deployments to the Western Pacific over a seven-year period. Her first deployment would be in early 1965 and would take her into the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam for the first time. She would spend all of February and the first week of March in the combat zone before departing for a brief period and returning later in the month. She would spend another four weeks between April and May in the gulf before returning to the United States.
The Dale deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin again in 1966, and she spent most of a five-month period between June and October supporting U.S. combat operations. She would spend another five months, between December 1967 and April 1968 in the region, as well as shorter stints in 1969 and 1970. During her deployments, the Dale frequently served as a search and rescue platform, rescuing several U.S. pilots who had bailed out over the gulf in the process.
In November 1970, the Dale entered drydock at Bath, Maine, for a major overhaul. When she returned to the sea in December 1971 with the new Naval Tactical Data System and new air and anti-submarine warfare capabilities, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. She would frequently deploy to the Mediterranean Sea as part of the 6th Fleet, including during the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and several Arab nations. When tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union heightened as a result of the conflict, the Dale was ordered to the eastern Mediterranean to respond to any potential Soviet action.
During this period, the Dale and her crew proved to be highly proficient, winning multiple Battle Efficiency “E”s for outstanding combat preparedness. She would win Battle “E”s for the 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980 fiscal years. Later in her career she would win two more, in 1992 and 1993.
In 1976, the Dale helped represent the U.S. Navy during the Bicentennial Naval Review, held in New York Harbor on July 4. In 1980, she entered the Black Sea and became one of only a handful of U.S. ships to make a port of call in then-communist Romania.
In April 1986, the Dale was serving as part of the 6th Fleet during Operation El Dorado Canyon, the U.S. airstrike against Libya in retaliation for that nation’s support of a terrorist bombing of a West Berlin disco. She would win the Navy Unit Citation as part of that operation.
In the wake of Operation Desert Storm, the Dale was deployed to the Red Sea to help enforce United Nations sanctions against Iraq. In 1992 and 1993, she would serve in a similar role, upholding sanctions against Yugoslavia put in place to stop that nation’s support of Serbian militias in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Dale would be awarded Joint Unit Citations in 1990 and 1992 and won the Meritorious Unit Commendation in 1991.
Decommissioning
The Dale was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on Sept. 27, 1994. She was sunk as a target during a fleet exercise in January 2000.
Characteristics of the USS Dale
Class and type: Leahy class frigate
Displacement: 5912 tons
Length: 533 ft
Beam: 55 ft
Draft: 21 ft
Propulsion: 2 shaft; gear turbines; 4 boilers; 85,000 shp
Speed: 32 knots (37 mph; 59 km/h)
Range: 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Complement: 37 officers and 408 enlisted
Armament: 2 × Mark 10 Terrier SAM; 1 × ASROC ASW system; 4 × 3 in(76 mm)guns (removed in favour of the Harpoons during 1980s); 6 × 12.75 in(324 mm)ASW TT
Career:
Ordered: 7 November 1958
Laid down: 6 September 1960
Launched: 28 June 1962
Acquired: 8 November1963
Commissioned: 23 November 1963
Decommissioned: 27 September 1994
Struck: 27 September 1994
Fate: sunk as target, January 2000
Timeline:
November 1958: USS Dale ordered
September 1960: Keel of USS Dale laid down
June 1962: USS Dale launched
November 1963: USS Dale commissioned
1965—1970: USS Dale serves multiple tours off the coast of Vietnam
1975: USS Dale wins first Battle Efficiency “E”
April 1986: USS Dale takes part in Operation El Dorado Canyon
1991: USS Dale enforces U.N sanctions against Iraq in Red Sea
1992—93: USS Dale enforces sanctions against Yugoslavia in Mediterranean Sea
September 1994: USS Dale decommissioned
Crewmembers of the USS Dale:
An unofficial list of crew members that served on the USS Dale can be found on the unofficial navy website at: http://navysite.de. This list is compiled by former crewmembers that voluntarily register. Some quoted comments from former crewmembers are listed below; many more are available on the source website at the following Web address:
http://navysite.de/crew.php?action=ship&ship=cg_19
Campbell, Mark (served August 1988 – August 1991): “Gulf War, Red Sea Patrol. HMCS Hoover and you to Lumsden. UNREPing in a hurricaine. Shout out to all my Dale hommes, it seems like a dream now.LE OPS, ton of weed 30 kilos of cocaine that I know of. You all know it was real and more!”
Coffee, Dereck (served August 1988 – May 1991): “This was and is a great ship. I had the best time of my life serving on aboard this ship.”
Mark Porter (served September 1988—May 1992): “The dale gave me the experience i needed to enjoy a wonderful career in civilian land nothing better than watching the world go by on the fantail.”
Links:
http://navysite.de/cg/cg19.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Dale _(CG-19)
