Search the Site with

General Characteristics

Crew List

Memorabilia

Cruise Books

History of USS Sterett

About the Ship's Name

Image Gallery

to end of page

USS Sterett (CG 31)

USS STERETT was the sixth ship in the BELKNAP-class of guided missile cruisers and the third ship in the Navy to bear the name. Decommissioned on March 24, 1994, the STERETT spent the following years laid-up in Suisun Bay, California, as part of the Reserve Fleet until sold to International Shipbreaking Corp., Brownsville, Tx., for scrapping in 2005.

back to top

go to the end of the page

back to top

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

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

• Click here to view the list.

back to top

go to the end of the page

• Click here to see which USS STERETT memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS STERETT Cruise Books:

• WestPac Cruise Book 1977
• Central America Cruise Book 1993

back to top

go to the end of the page

History of USS STERETT:

The third STERETT, a guided missile frigate, was laid down on 25 September 1962 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.; sponsored by Mrs. Phyllis Nitze; launched on 30 June 1964, and commissioned on 8 April 1967, Capt. Edward A. Christofferson, Jr., in command.

STERETT spent the rest of 1967 operating off the west coast undergoing various post-acceptance tests and trials, participating in shakedown training, and generally preparing for her final acceptance trials held between 18 and 20 December. Arriving in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard again on 8 January 1968, she underwent post-shakedown availability until 29 March. On that day, she departed from Bremerton for FAST exercises with fast combat support ship CAMDEN (AOE 2). After 20 days in home port at Long Beach, Calif., she stood out on 23 April for FLEETEX 2-68, returning on 1 May. With the exception of two short excursions, one for nuclear capable certification and the other for COMTUEX 8-68, STERETT remained in home port until 19 June, when she departed San Pedro Bay for her first WestPac tour. After stops at Pearl Harbor and Midway, she arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, on 5 July and began preparations for her first line period in the Tonkin Gulf.

One month to the day after her departure from the United States, STERETT got underway again, this time via Subic Bay in the Philippines, en route to PIRAZ duty in the gulf. She put in at Danang, South Vietnam, for briefings on the 30th and departed immediately thereafter. On the last day of July 1968, STERETT relieved guided missile frigate HORNE (CG 30) as PIRAZ unit. With destroyer RICH (DD 820) riding shotgun for her, she plied the waters off North Vietnam until relieved on 5 August. She moved on to duty as sea air rescue (SAR) ship and strike support ship (SSS), which she performed until 4 September. During her first crack at SAR, STERETT directed two successful rescues of pilots. The guided missile frigate continued alternating between PIRAZ, SAR, SSS, and in-port periods until mid-March 1969.

On 17 March 1969, STERETT joined Carrier Division 3 in the Sea of Japan for six days of special operations. From 23 March to mid-May, she sailed along the coasts of Korea, both in the Sea of Japan and in the Yellow Sea, providing protection for Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance Program (PARPRO) flights, one of which had recently been downed by the North Koreans. By 25 May, she was back on PIRAZ station, off the coast of North Vietnam. She continued in this employment, taking time for a short period of PARPRO picket duty (9 to 13 July), until entering Yokosuka on 11 September for modifications to her weapon systems. Departing Japan at the end of October, STERETT conducted exercises and made another PARPRO cruise (3 to 20 December).

The guided missile frigate continued to shuttle back and forth between Yokosuka and the Tonkin Gulf for the first seven months of 1970. She alternated between PIRAZ duty and SAR/SSS duty, taking time out for a six-day stay at Hong Kong (10 to 16 February), an overnight layover in Keelung, Taiwan, (29 to 30 May), and a two-day visit to EXPO 70 at Kobe, Japan. On 29 July, STERETT set sail from Yokosuka to return to the United States.

Over two years after her departure for the western Pacific, STERETT entered San Diego Bay. On 15 August, she began a leave and upkeep period prior to overhaul at Long Beach. Exactly two months later, she entered San Pedro Bay on her way to the naval shipyard. STERETT underwent a five-month overhaul, during which she was converted to Navy Distillate Fuel and received various weapons modifications. She stood out of Long Beach on 23 March 1971 and arrived in San Diego Bay three days later. STERETT spent all of 1971 either in port on, or operating off, the west coast. After leaving Long Beach and overhaul, she was engaged in post-overhaul trials and refresher training. During July, she visited San Francisco (2 to 5 July), Vancouver, B. C., (9 to 13 July), and Pearl Harbor (21 to 25 July), while conducting a midshipman cruise. From August to December, STERETT was involved in several exercises. By 8 December, she began preparing for another WestPac deployment.

On 7 January 1972, STERETT pointed her bow westward for her second tour of duty off the Vietnamese coast. Visiting Pearl Harbor on the 15th and refueling at Guam 10 days later, she arrived in Subic Bay on the 29th. Following eight days at Subic Bay, she departed for the Tonkin Gulf. >From 10 February to 3 March, STERETT remained on PIRAZ station and, on 21 February, became the first Navy ship to direct the downing of a MiG-21 by Air Force CAP. En route to Subic Bay, the frigate participated in ASW exercises with submarine SCULPIN (SSN 590). She entered Subic Bay on 5 March and stayed until the 19th. She relieved guided missile cruiser CHICAGO (CG 11) as PIRAZ unit two days later. During her second line period of the deployment, STERETT participated in the downing of two more MiG's (30 March) and brought down another with a salvo of Terrier missiles during the Dong Hoi engagement on 19 April. Later on that day, she launched a second salvo of Terriers at an unidentified target, probably a Styx surface-to-surface missile, destroying it in midair. After adding two more successful pilot rescues to her tally, she returned to Subic Bay on 22 May.

STERETT changed roles upon her return to the Tonkin Gulf on 28 May. This time, she took up the south Talos station and acted as back-up for the PIRAZ ship, guided missile cruiser LONG BEACH (CGN 9). Following a six-day visit to Hong Kong, she returned to PIRAZ duty on 21 June. On 8 July, her CAP controller vectored Air Force planes to a successful interception of two additional MiG's. Just over a week later, she departed the Tonkin Gulf for Subic Bay, en route to the United States. She returned to San Diego on 8 August and operated off the west coast for the rest of 1972.

She began 1973 just as she had ended 1972, cruising in the southern California operating area. STERETT set off on her third WestPac cruise on 9 March, sailing in company with CAMDEN, aircraft carrier CORAL SEA (CVA 43), and ocean escort REASONER (FF 1063). This task unit, designated TU 37.1.2, stopped at Pearl Harbor and entered Subic Bay on 25 March. During the transit, STERETT's LAMPS helicopter crashed while ferrying the chaplain between ships for divine services. Fortunately, all crew members survived.

By the time STERETT got underway for line duty, the Vietnam cease-fire had already been negotiated. Thus, the ensuing line period was relatively uneventful, consisting of exercises, plane-guard duty, PIRAZ, and antiaircraft warfare responsibility. Underway since 2 April, the frigate entered Sasebo, Japan, on 30 May. After Sasebo, she visited Keelung, Taiwan, from 15 to 19 June and, on the latter day, steamed for the Tonkin Gulf. During this line period, STERETT had to leave the PIRAZ station to evade a typhoon, but resumed her duties on 14 July.

Following liberty in Hong Kong from 18 to 23 July, STERETT steamed for Subic Bay, where she underwent repairs and embarked three midshipmen for their First Class cruise. On 2 August, she set sail for her last line period before returning to the United States. From the 2d to the 16th, she cruised off the coast of Vietnam, then made for Yokosuka, en route to the United States. STERETT stopped at Pearl Harbor on 31 August to disembark the three midshipmen and stood out again the next day for San Diego, arriving on 6 September. She completed 1973 in the San Diego area.

STERETT entered 1974 at the hinge point between her Vietnam-era combat schedule and the long, forward-deployed career that would follow. On 1 February 1974, she began an eleven-month regular overhaul at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, a deep package that modernized command-and-control spaces, refreshed the missile battery and electronics, improved crew habitability, and pushed extensive engineering work through the plant. Yard work wrapped on 19 December 1974, setting the cruiser-to-be up for a new operating rhythm.

The Navy's reclassification on 30 June 1975 redesignated the former destroyer leader as CG 31, aligning her title with her true role: long-range air defense in carrier groups. Just days later she sortied west. Departing San Diego on 4 October 1975, STERETT staged through Pearl Harbor and Guam (including participation in the Honolulu Bicentennial Naval Review), assumed duty as a task-force flagship, and shifted into a classic Western Pacific deployment pattern: missile and gunnery exercises, flight-deck quals, and air-defense picket work punctuated by logistics from Subic Bay and short liberty in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan. She closed the eight-month cruise at San Diego on 23 May 1976.

The next chapter stretched the operating box. On 17 February 1977, STERETT sailed on a Western Pacific and Middle East deployment, participating in RIMPAC '77 en route. A somber moment followed on 11 March 1977, when her embarked HSL detachment's SH-2 crashed at sea during night exercises with two French warships. Both surviving crewmen were recovered, but the aircraft commander was lost. STERETT pressed on through a busy itinerary - crossing the Line in the Celebes Sea on 6 May 1977; port visits across Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Mauritius, Kenya, Iran, Male, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong - and returned to San Diego on 6 October 1977, greeted by families and "Tiger" riders who had joined in Hawaii for the homeward leg.

A long WestPac/Indian Ocean cruise with USS CONSTELLATION (CV 64) in 1978-1979 pulled STERETT into the new strategic reality: American naval presence spreading deep into the Arabian Sea as crises flared from the Horn of Africa to South Yemen. She was ordered to the Gulf of Iran on 7 December 1978, then, on 11 March 1979, sprinted west through the Strait of Malacca to show the flag near the North-South Yemen border conflict, earning unit recognition for sustained operations through 19 April 1979. After a Line-crossing in the Indian Ocean on 16 April 1979 and a final logistics stop at Diego Garcia, she reached home on 17 May 1979 and immediately entered a full regular overhaul at Long Beach. The ship was declared uninhabitable during the yard period (the crew moved to a nearby amphibious ship, then barracks), and STERETT did not emerge until 19 October 1980, ending a fifteen-month repair and modernization sequence.

In 1981, the Navy moved STERETT's center of gravity forward. After completing inspections and refresher training through the spring, she departed San Diego on 27 July 1981 and arrived at her new overseas home port, Subic Bay, on 19 August 1981. From the Philippines she operated on short leashes into the Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, hosting senior leaders and knitting together air-defense and replenishment skills that would soon be tested at distance. She joined Team Spirit '82 with the MIDWAY (CV 41) battle group in late March 1982, and then Cobra Gold '82 with the Royal Thai Navy in mid-May. On passage between Subic and Singapore, she crossed the Line on 30 May 1982; on 10 June 1982 she rescued fifteen Vietnamese refugees who had been robbed by pirates and left adrift - an early instance of a humanitarian mission that would recur. Ten days later, on 20 June 1982, a Vietnamese fishing boat fired on STERETT south of Con Son; no serious damage ensued, and the ship continued her schedule.

The tempo held in 1983. STERETT joined Team Spirit '83 in March and, in July, supported USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62) during Battle Week exercises before executing two large refugee rescues off southern Vietnam: 173 people on 20 July 1983 and 89 more on 21 July 1983, later transferred to Thai authorities at Pattaya Beach. In September she shifted north to the Sea of Japan as flagship for CTF-71 after the shootdown of KAL 007, remaining on scene for 55 days of search and salvage coordination until early November. The following year began with a long Indian Ocean rotation: on 5 January 1984, STERETT deployed with Battle Group ALFA centered on USS MIDWAY, completed 110 continuous days at sea (punctuated by Singapore and Pattaya port calls), and returned to Subic on 11 May 1984. In the autumn she conducted a group sail with a Canadian destroyer squadron from Yokosuka to Subic, the sort of allied integration that typified the mid-1980s.

Exercises and front-line presence continued in 1985. STERETT served as AAW picket during Team Spirit '85 (14-24 March 1985), then shadowed a Soviet task group built around the carrier NOVOROSSIYSK toward Vladivostok on 23 March 1985 - a Cold War vignette of surveillance and signaling. She deployed again with MIDWAY on 24 June 1985, crossed the Line in the Indian Ocean on 23 August 1985, touched Diego Garcia for tender work with USS SIERRA (AD 18), and ran back to Subic via Singapore and Pattaya, beginning SRA-3 (with dry-dock from 26 September-23 November 1985) and a change of command in dock on 10 October 1985.

In 1986, STERETT returned to Team Spirit (15-22 March 1986), then, after a port visit to Inchon, grounded pre-dawn on 21 June 1986 near Yeongil-man Bay by Pohang, Korea. Damage control and navigation teams stabilized the situation; she entered interim dry dock at Subic Bay on 2 July 1986 for repairs through 15 August 1986, followed by a lengthy in-port SRA-4 (22 September-3 December 1986) that bundled preservation and system checks with two changes of command. Training and coalition engagement resumed immediately in 1987: a stateside block in Pearl Harbor (28 January-15 March 1987) for inspections and combat systems qualifications, then a southern swing with Sydney (3-7 June 1987) and Melbourne (10-14 June 1987) port visits before SRA-6 (21 July-13 October 1987). She deployed to the North Arabian Gulf on 8 November 1987, spending the winter in Fifth Fleet: Muscat, Oman, hosted the crew over 23-26 December 1987, followed by tender work at Masirah on 28 December 1987, and the embarkation of the theater commander for Joint Task Force Middle East.

After turning the mission over to a relief group on 15 February 1988, STERETT headed to Pattaya and Pusan for Team Spirit '88, acted as northern picket off Korea, then shadowed another NOVOROSSIYSK-led Soviet formation (23 March-6 April 1988). In 1989, she repeated the cycle - Team Spirit '89 through 21 March 1989; a May rendezvous with USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC 19) and USS RODNEY M. DAVIS (FFG 60) for a week in Hong Kong; a historic goodwill visit to Shanghai on 21 May 1989 (among the first by U.S. warships in four decades); and two more small-boat refugee rescues in the South China Sea (7 July 1989 and 2 September 1989). Autumn brought high-end exercises - PACEX '89, ANNUALEX '89 with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and Valiant Blitz with the Republic of Korea - before STERETT joined Battle Group ROMEO (USS NEW JERSEY) in the Straits of Malacca on 23 November 1989 for a transit toward the North Arabian Sea, crossing the Line again on 21 December 1989.

In 1990, the cruiser emphasized readiness and regional engagement: naval gunfire support at the Tabones Range in the South China Sea (23-28 January 1990); a four-day Hong Kong visit beginning 29 May 1990 that doubled as a midshipman training embark; and an American-Japanese midshipman exercise between Kure and Yokosuka in late July. A new commanding officer took charge at Subic Bay on 10 September 1990. In December she fired an SM-1ER and SM-2ER during a missile exercise (12-14 December 1990) and hosted more than 450 dependents for a day at sea on 15 December 1990.

The final overseas homeport chapter closed in 1991. After a Line-crossing on 11 January 1991 and Team Spirit '91 (3-17 March 1991), STERETT departed Subic Bay on 10 May 1991 after almost a decade in the Philippines, touching Guam (15 May), holding a swim call at sea (23 May), and visiting Pearl Harbor (24-28 May) before arriving San Diego - her new and final home port - on 4 June 1991 under a 400-foot homecoming pennant. Eruption of Mount Pinatubo on 15 June 1991 devastated the region STERETT had just left. The ship then entered a thirteen-month New Threat Upgrade on 12 August 1991 at Southwest Marine, integrating modern air-search radars, upgraded SPG-55 fire control, and the combat-direction improvements needed to employ SM-2ER in dense air pictures.

Post-overhaul trials in 1992 were methodical. Authorized on 14 September 1992 to wear the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation for years of disaster relief and community support, she returned to sea on 13 October 1992, executed her Combat Systems Ship Qualification Trials from 19 October-5 December 1992 (including multiple live missile shots at Barking Sands), and on 16 December 1992 held her final change of command.

STERETT's last deployment reflected the post–Cold War pivot to policing missions. From 9 July 1993, she spent four and a half months on Central America/Caribbean counternarcotics duty, with pier time at Rodman, Panama (twice), Manta, Ecuador, Guantanamo Bay, Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica, and Mazatlan, Mexico. She transited the Panama Canal twice during CENTAM '93 (28 September and 24 October 1993), returned to San Diego on 24 November 1993, and prepared for inactivation. A final dependents' cruise on 8 January 1994 preceded the decommissioning restricted availability beginning 10 January 1994, during which combat systems were removed and usable equipment redistributed. USS STERETT decommissioned at San Diego on 24 March 1994, entered the reserve fleet on 12 May 1994, and - after a decade in lay-up - was sold for dismantling in July 2005.

STERETT earned nine battle stars for her service along the coast of Vietnam.

back to top

go to the end of the page

About the Ship's Name:

Lieutenant Andrew Sterett was born 27 January 1778 in Baltimore, Maryland. Andrew s father was a successful shipping merchant who had served as a captain during the Revolutionary War. Andrew was the fourth of ten children and despite his sizable inheritance, entered the Navy as a Lieutenant on 25 March 1798 at the age of twenty. He served as Third Lieutenant aboard the newly commissioned frigate CONSTELLATION. He was in command of a gun battery during the undeclared war with France in which the fledgling U. S. Navy scored its first victory on the high seas against the French frigate L INSURGENTE.

By February 1800 Andrew Sterett had been promoted to First Lieutenant and participated in successful battles against French ships. Later that year he assumed his first command, the schooner ENTERPRISE. This was the first US Navy ship to bear that name.

The ENTERPRISE sailed to the Mediterranean with Commodore Richard Dale to quell the Barbary pirates. Andrew Sterett and the ENTERPRISE went up against the pirate warship TRIPOLI in a furious engagement. He successfully fought off three attempts by the pirates to board his crippled ship. ENTERPRISE beat back all attacks and defeated the pirates. He was presented with a sword by President Thomas Jefferson and his crew received an additional month s pay for their heroism. Following several more dispatches to the coast of Tripoli, Sterett and the ENTERPRISE witnessed the return of freedom of the seas in the Mediterranean for American ships. He returned home in March of 1803 and resigned from the Navy in 1805. He pursued a career in the merchant marine and died a premature death in Lima, Peru on 9 June 1807 at the age of thirty.

back to top

go to the end of the page

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS STERETT Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by William Chiu when USS STERETT visited Hong Kong...

...in April 1989:

...on December 3, 1990:

back to top

Back to Cruisers list.

Back to ships list.

Back to selection page.

Back to 1^st page.