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USS Taylor (FFG 50)

- decommissioned -



USS TAYLOR was one of the OLIVER HAZARD PERRY - class frigates and the first ship named in honor of the late Commander Jesse Junior Taylor. Decommissioned at her homeport Mayport in Florida on May 8, 2015, the TAYLOR spent the following year laid up at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. In mid-2016, she was towed to the Detyens Shipyard in Charleston, SC., for conversion in preparation for her transfer to the Taiwanese Navy. Reportedly, this conversion would allow the ship to serve for another 30 years. On March 9, 2017, the TAYLOR was transferred to the Taiwanese Navy where she will be recommissioned as MINGCHUAN by the end of May 2017.

General Characteristics:Keel Laid: May 5, 1983
Launched: November 5, 1983
Commissioned: December 1, 1984
Decommissioned: May 8, 2015
Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Propulsion system: two General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines, two 350 Horsepower Electric Drive Auxiliary Propulsion Units
Propellers: one
Blades on each Propeller: five
Length: 453 feet (138 meters)
Beam: 47 feet (14.32 meters)
Draft: 24,6 feet (7.5 meters)
Displacement: 4,100 tons
Speed: 28+ knots
Aircraft: two SH-60 Sea Hawk (LAMPS 3)
Armament: one Mk 75 76mm/62 caliber rapid firing gun, MK 32 ASW torpedo tubes (two triple mounts), one Phalanx CIWS
Crew: 17 Officers and 198 Enlisted


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Crew List:

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


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USS TAYLOR Cruise Books:


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Short History of USS TAYLOR:

USS TAYLOR has operated extensively in the Western Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and Southwest Asia Ocean areas. The TAYLOR has made the following deployments:

- with NATO's standing Naval Force Atlantic in 1987
- to the Arabian Gulf in 1988
- in 1990 as part of Operation Desert Shield
- in 1992 as part of Operation Southern Watch
- in 1994 to the Mediterranean and Red Seas
- in 1997 with NATO's Standing Naval Force Mediterranean
- in 2002 with NATO's Standing Naval Force Mediterranean and the USS KENNEDY (CV 67) Battle Group
- November 2004 - June 2005 a seven-month cruise to the Mediterranean and Arabian Sea
- October 2006 - March 2007 a five-month surge cruise to the Mediterranean and Arabian Sea
- August 2008 - February 2009 a six-month cruise to the Mediterranean with NATO's SNMG1
- April - October 2010 a Mediterranean and North Atlantic Cruise
- February - September 2012 to the Middle East in support of counter-piracy and maritime security operations
- January - August 2014 to the Mediterranean. From July-August to the Caribbean for counter-narcotics operations



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Accidents aboard USS TAYLOR:

DateWhereEvents
October 6, 200450 miles off Mayport, Fla.
Five sailors fall into the water while their rigid hull inflatable boat is lowered from the TAYLOR. All are rescued but two are medevaced to Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Fla.
November 29, 2006Arabian Sea
USS TAYLOR and an unflagged dhow collide at 2:47 p.m. local time. The TAYLOR suffers no damage.
September 13, 20075 miles off Mayport, Fla.
USS TAYLOR suffers an engineering casualty in auxiliary machinery room 2 resulting in a fire that injures two sailors. At the time of the accident the TAYLOR was conducting combat systems and ship survivability certification tests and had to be towed back to Mayport as a result of the accident.
February 12, 2014Samsun, Turkey
USS TAYLOR runs aground while entering the harbor of Samsun. Initially planned as a short fuel stop, the port visit had to be extended due to damage caused by the grounding. On February 25, TAYLOR's CO Cdr. Dennis Volpe was relieved of duty. On March 7, TAYLOR left Samsun under tow for Souda Bay, Crete, Greece, where she arrived on March 12, to commence emergent repairs to her propeller hub and blades.


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USS TAYLOR Patch Gallery:

SNFM 2002 - HSL-46 Det.9MED 1-94 - HSL-42 Det.9MED 2000 - HSL-48 Det.5MED 1997 - HSL-46 Det.5


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About the Frigate’s Name, about Commander Jesse Junior Taylor, U.S. Navy:

Commander Taylor was born in Wichita, Kansas on 16 January 1925. He enlisted in the Navy in October 1942, and served as an Aviation Radioman until the end of World War II with Bombing Squadron VB-II aboard the carrier USS HORNET in the South Pacific.

During the Korean conflict, he returned to the Navy for training as a Naval Aviator and, in May 1952, received his commission as an Ensign. After a tour with Composite Squadron Four, he served as NROTC Instructor at the University of California at Los Angeles. Further flight training and a tour with the Staff of Chief, Naval Air Training followed at NAS Pensacola, Florida. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander while serving with VF-174. He attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and directed the Flight Division of the Bureau of Naval Weapons at St. Louis, Missouri for two years.

In July 1965, LCDR Taylor was assigned to Air Wing 16 aboard the attack carrier USS ORISKANY, and sailed to the Western Pacific. He flew 16 missions between September and November, earning an Air Medal and a Gold Star in lieu of a second award. Advanced to the rank of Commander on 1 September 1965 he had not been officially given the rank at the time of his death.

On 17 November 1965, Commander Taylor was flying his A-1 Skyraider during attacks on a key bridge near the North Vietnamese Port of Haiphong. Ground fire had downed one of the other Navy aircraft, and its pilot had ejected in a heavily defended area. Commander Taylor heard the radio transmission describing the pilot's plight. Realizing that time was of the essence in any attempt to rescue the downed pilot, Commander Taylor made a courageous decision. Although it was not his assigned mission, and having discovered that other rescue aircraft were occupied elsewhere, he took command of the rescue effort.

Commander Taylor proceeded to the scene and found the pilot still in his parachute harness in shallow water. To cover the approach of the rescue helicopter, Commander Taylor attacked the anti-aircraft gun sites despite intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire and the fact that his own plane had sustained damage. The storm of enemy fire made it impossible for the helicopter to rescue the man on the ground. Meanwhile, because of fire in his own aircraft, Commander Taylor was forced to break off his own persistent attacks. Rather than abandon his plane in enemy territory, he elected to try to ditch in the Gulf of Tonkin. However, the fire burned through the wing of his plane, and it crashed before he had time to leave it.

For his heroic determination to save a fellow pilot, even at great risk to his own life, Commander Taylor was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.


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The photo below was taken by me and shows USS TAYLOR at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., on July 31, 2000.

The photos below were taken by Stefan Karpinski and show the USS TAYLOR at Naval Base Wilhelmshaven, Germany, in early October 2003.



The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the TAYLOR laid up among her sisterships at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Penn., on October 16, 2015.



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