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USS Fiske (DD 842)

- formerly DDR 842 -
- decommissioned -


USS FISKE was one of the GEARING - class destroyers and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. Decommissioned on June 6, 1980, the FISKE was transferred to the Turkish Navy the same day. Recommissioned as PIYALE PASA the ship was heavily damaged in a grounding in 1996. Subsequently decommissioned, the ship was scrapped in 1999.

General Characteristics:Awarded: 1943
Keel laid: April 9, 1945
Launched: September 8, 1945
Commissioned: November 28, 1945
Decommissioned: June 6, 1980
Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
FRAM I Conversion Shipyard: New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, NY
FRAM I Conversion Period: February 1964 - November 1964
Propulsion system: four boilers, General Electric geared turbines; 60,000 SHP
Propellers: two
Length: 391 feet (119.2 meters)
Beam: 41 feet (12.5 meters)
Draft: 18.7 feet (5.7 meters)
Displacement: approx. 3,400 tons full load
Speed: 34 knots
Aircraft after FRAM I: two DASH drones
Armament after FRAM I: one ASROC missile launcher, two 5-inch/38 caliber twin mounts, Mk-32 ASW torpedo tubes (two triple mounts)
Crew after FRAM I: 14 officers, 260 enlisted


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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS FISKE. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.


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USS FISKE Cruise Books:


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USS FISKE History:

USS FISKE was launched 8 September 1945 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. F. E. Ribbentrop; and commissioned 28 November 1945, Commander C. H. Smith in command.

Joining the Atlantic Fleet, FISKE served as engineering school ship for Destroyer Force, Atlantic, out of Portland, Maine, and made three cruises to the Mediterranean for duty with the 6th Fleet from her home port at Newport prior to the outbreak of the Korean War. In addition, she took part in the regular schedule of training operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean where in 1948 she rescued 10 men from a small coastal freighter sinking in the Windward Passage.

On 3 January 1951, FISKE sailed from Newport for the Panama Canal and the Far East, reporting on 12 February to the 7th Fleet at Sasebo for duty in the Korean War. Along with screening carrier task forces, she patrolled off Korea, joined in bombarding shore targets, and escorted shipping from Japan to the action areas. Sailing westward for home, she arrived at Newport from her round-the-world cruise 8 August 1951. FISKE was decommissioned 1 April 1952 for conversion to a radar picket destroyer and was reclassified DDR 842 on 18 July 1952.

Recommissioned 25 November 1952, FISKE trained with her new equipment in preparation for her participation in the fall of 1953 in NATO Operation "Mariner," which took her north of the Arctic Circle. In 1954 she resumed her annual tours of duty in the Mediterranean, serving the carrier task forces of the 6th Fleet as radar picket. Her training operations when assigned to the 2nd Fleet for duty in the western Atlantic and Caribbean included special work in development of antisubmarine warfare, and air defense. Homeported at Mayport, Fla., from August 1960, FISKE joined in NATO exercises north of the Arctic Circle in the fall of 1960, and at the close of the year, sailed for patrol duty in the Caribbean. Two more Mediterranean cruises followed in 1961 and 1962. Between overseas voyages, she served in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean, with Cuban Missile Crisis duty with a carrier striking force in the Autumn of 1962.

FISKE underwent a second major conversion during February-November 1964. Emerging from the New York Naval Shipyard in her new FRAM I configuration, she was now a modern anti-submarine warfare ship and was again designated DD 842. Following a year of service in the U.S. and Caribbean, which included patrol work off Santo Domingo during a governmental crisis in the Dominican Republic, the destroyer began the second of her cruises around the World. This one took her to the waters off Vietnam, where she performed search and rescue, carrier escort and shore bombardment duties in March-June 1966. In 1967 FISKE steamed back to the Mediterranean, voyaging to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf during this deployment, which included a trip around Africa. Another Sixth Fleet tour took place in 1968-1969, and in mid-1970 she again operated in Northern European waters.

In 1973, though now approaching the end of her third decade, FISKE returned to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, steaming there by way of the South Atlantic. Though transferred to the Naval Reserve Force later in that year, she was again sent to the Mediterranean in 1974. USS FISKE was placed out of commission in June 1980 and leased to Turkey. Renamed PIYALE PASA, she was an active unit of that nation's navy until the end of the Twentieth Century.


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About the Ship's Name:

Bradley Allen Fiske was born in Lyons, New York, on 13 June 1854. He was appointed to the Naval Academy from the State of Ohio in 1870, graduating four years later and receiving his commission as a Navy Ensign in July 1875. Fiske's early service years included duty as an officer on board the steam sloops-of-war PENSACOLA and PLYMOUTH, both on the Pacific Station, and the paddle steamer POWHATAN in the Atlantic. He also received instruction in the then-young field of torpedo warfare. Promoted to Master in 1881 and Lieutenant in 1887, during much of that decade he had training ship duty in USS SARATOGA and USS MINNESOTA, served in the South Atlantic Squadron on the steam sloop BROOKLYN, and was twice assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance in Washington, D.C. As one of the Navy's most technically astute officers, in 1886-1888 he supervised the installation of ordnance on USS ATLANTA, one of the first of the Navy's modern steel warships. In 1888-1890 he was involved in the trials of USS VESUVIUS, whose large caliber compressed-air guns were then considered a promising experiment, and was in charge of installing electric lighting in the new cruiser PHILADELPHIA.

During the rest of the 1890s, Lieutenant Fiske was mainly employed at the Bureau of Ordnance and at sea, where he was an officer of the cruiser SAN FRANCISCO and the gunboats YORKTOWN and PETREL. While in the latter, he took part in the 1 May 1898 Battle of Manila Bay. Following the Spanish-American War, Fiske continued his service in Philippine waters on board the monitor MONADNOCK. Promoted to the ranks of Lieutenant Commander in 1899, Commander in 1903 and Captain in 1907, he was an Inspector of Ordnance, Executive Officer of USS YORKTOWN and the battleship MASSACHUSETTS, Commanding Officer of the monitor ARKANSAS and cruisers MINNEAPOLIS and TENNESSEE, had recruiting duty, served as Captain of the Yard at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, attended the Naval War College and was a member of the Navy's General Board and the Army-Navy Joint Board, among other assignments.

Bradley Fiske became a Rear Admiral in August 1911, subsequently commanding three different divisions of the Atlantic Fleet as well as serving at the Secretary of the Navy's Aide for Inspections. In February 1913 he was appointed Aide for Operations, a post that later became that of Chief of Naval Operations. In this position he forcefully advocated the creation of a Naval general staff and the elevation of the Nation's preparedness for war. Following a year at the Naval War College, Rear Admiral Fiske was retired upon reaching the age of 62 in June 1916. However, his professionally-related activities continued into the mid-1920s with service as President of the U.S. Naval Institute and several sessions of temporary duty with the Navy Department. During his very creative career, Fiske invented a large number of electrical and mechanical devices, with both Naval and civilian uses, and wrote extensively on technical and professional issues. Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske died at New York City on 6 April 1942.


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After FRAM I Conversion:




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