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USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG 49)

USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY was an OLIVER HAZARD PERRY class frigate and the first ship in the Navy to bear the name. The ship was decommissioned at Mayport, Fla., on March 28, 2014.

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Crew List:

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

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• Click here to see which USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY in the News:

• August 18, 2003 - ROBERT G. BRADLEY Leads Search and Rescue Mission

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About the Frigate's Name, about Lieutenant Robert Graham Bradley:

Robert Graham Bradley was born in Washington D.C. on 26 September 1921. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy on 9 June 1939, and graduated with the class of 1943 on 19 June 1942, due to the exigencies of war. From 3 July to 27 October 1942, he underwent instruction at the Atlantic Subordinate Command, Service Force, at Norfolk, VA, before he reported to the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, NJ, on 29 October to assist in fitting out the fleet carrier USS PRINCETON (CVL 23), which was ultimately placed in commission on 25 February 1943. While serving on that ship, he received promotions to Lieutenant (junior grade) and Lieutenant on 1 May 1943 and 1 July 1944, respectively, and took part in every operation conducted by the ship ranging from the occupation of Baker Island (September 1943) to the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 1944), in which the ship was lost.

On 24 October 1944, PRINCETON was operating of the coast of Luzon, in the Leyte Gulf, about 150 miles east of Manila, when a Japanese dive bomber attacked her, releasing a single bomb that penetrated the flight hangar and main decks and then exploded, touching off a conflagration that soon had the carrier's entire hangar deck ablaze. A series of explosions then rocked the ship. Lieutenant Bradley, PRINCETON's Assistant First Lieutenant, led a repair party in the valiant effort to control the fires on the second and third decks until the intense heat generated by those flames forced him and his men to fall back. After ensuring that no wounded men had been left behind during the abandonment, Bradley followed his men into the water at about 1005 and was picked up by the destroyer MORRISON (DD 560) soon thereafter.

Shortly before 1300, Bradley left MORRISON and rejoined his ship and the efforts to save her. Unfortunately a submarine and air alert at 1330 drew off BIRMINGHAM (CL 62) and MORRISON -- the two ships then alongside -- to assume screening positions, at a time when the fire was almost totally under control. The persistent blazed flared up. With renewed vigor MORRISON and BIRMINGHAM attempted to renew their efforts alongside PRINCETON getting a line onboard the carrier at about 1515. Shortly thereafter, at 1523, the flames touched off a mass detonation of four hundred 100-pound bombs stowed aft in a torpedo magazine in PRINCETON. This explosion literally blew off the carrier's stern, killing Bradley and every man in the repair party that had been in the vicinity.

Bradley had repeatedly risked his life, entering the most dangerous areas below decks to ascertain the extent of damage and to fight the fires blazing onboard ship. For his outstanding fortitude, great personal valor and self-sacrificing devotion to the completion of an extremely perilous task, as well as his extraordinary heroism in the line of duty, Lieutenant Robert Graham Bradley was awarded the Navy Cross, posthumously.

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USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY Cruise Books:

• Maiden Cruise Book 1984-86
• Counter Drug Operations Cruise Book 2005
• Africa Cruise Book 2008-09
• AfriCom Cruise Book 2012-13

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USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY Patch Gallery:

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

The Shield:

Gold and dark blue are the colors traditionally associated with the Navy. The winged anchor refers to Lt. Bradley’s service on board small aircraft carrier PRINCETON (CVL 23) during World War II. The flaming chief symbolizes the damage inflicted aboard PRINCETON by a Japanese aerial attack during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and resulting fires which claimed Bradley’s life as he valiantly led a repair party in the effort to extinguish the flames and save the ship.

The Crest:

The cross is gold, symbolic of excellence and glory, and refers to the Navy Cross awarded posthumously to Bradley for his supreme effort and sacrifice in the battle to save PRINCETON. The two bars at the center are white for purity and nobility of purpose, recognizing the face that Bradley, although aware of the eminent danger, returned to the abandoned ship a second time with a salvage crew when an explosion touched off by the flames took their lives. The palm branch on either side of the cross symbolizes the courage that Bradley displayed in leading the salvage effort on board PRINCETON.

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USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY History:

USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY was built by Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine. Her keel was laid on December 28, 1982, she was launched on August 13, 1983, she was delivered on June 22, 1984, and she was placed in commission on June 30, 1984. Her sponsor was the namesake's mother, Edna D. Woodruff. In the days immediately following commissioning, the ship's first public activities were closely tied to her builder and namesake community, before she shifted into the practical business of turning a new hull into an operational warship.

After taking aboard initial stores and completing early checks, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY got underway for the first time on August 6, 1984, transiting down the Kennebec River and conducting a dependents cruise before proceeding south. She moored at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on August 8, and on August 11 she held her ceremonial commissioning at State Pier. Two days later, on August 13, she departed for her first assigned homeport at Charleston, South Carolina, pausing at Naval Weapons Station Earle, New Jersey, to load ammunition before arriving Charleston on August 18. The remainder of 1984 was a fast-paced sequence of readiness events and classic "new-ship" milestones. She completed early evaluations in late August, supported undersea-warfare training in local operating areas, and on September 9 sailed with other ships to evade Hurricane Diana, returning September 11. On September 14 she got underway for shakedown training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, mooring there on September 17. From September 18 through October 11, she conducted an intensive syllabus that included night antisubmarine operations and underway transfer drills. During this period, she made her first foreign port visit at Port Antonio, Jamaica, from October 6 to October 8. After completing shakedown, she staged through Port Everglades, Florida, conducted combat systems accuracy and weapons tests near Andros Island with torpedo events on October 19, and then made a liberty call at Nassau, Bahamas, from October 21 to October 24 before returning to Charleston on October 26. November and early December brought repeated underways for air and surface tracking drills, gunnery, and final preparations for live missile firing. She sailed to Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, on December 1, and on December 5 completed two successful live missile firings. After additional battle problems and electronic-warfare training, she visited St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, from December 7 to December 11, then returned to Charleston on December 15 to enter the familiar rhythm of maintenance, leave, and the next cycle of training.

In 1985, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY's schedule combined repair work, at-sea training, and port visits that reflected the Atlantic Fleet's emphasis on antisubmarine readiness and escort proficiency. In February, she visited New York City from February 8 to February 12, then proceeded to Bath for a post-shakedown availability beginning February 14 that extended deep into the spring and early summer. By mid-year, she had returned to operations, revisiting New York on July 20-21, making a brief Norfolk stop July 22-25 for safety and related work, and returning to Charleston on July 27. She completed a Western Atlantic range exercise from August 10 to August 23, then conducted refresher training at Guantanamo Bay later in the year with associated Caribbean port calls that included Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on September 20 and St. Thomas from October 11 to October 13.

In 1986, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY continued the progression from basic readiness toward sustained forward operations. Early in the year, she conducted training on the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center ranges near Puerto Rico and visited Nassau on February 27. She returned to the East Coast training cycle, made a port visit to Savannah on May 30, and then on August 18 deployed to the Mediterranean with an embarked Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System helicopter detachment, joining the broad Sixth Fleet pattern of presence operations, exercise commitments, and contingency readiness. During the deployment, she visited Toulon, France, from October 24 to October 27, then operated in the western Mediterranean with inport time at Cagliari, Sardinia, from November 10 to November 14 and a visit to Genoa, Italy, beginning November 15. She remained engaged in Mediterranean tasking into December, with the ship recorded in Genoa through at least mid-month as the year closed.

That Mediterranean work carried into 1987. USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY conducted an intermediate maintenance availability at Gaeta, Italy, supported by USS PUGET SOUND (AD 38), and performed real-world antisubmarine operations during Operation Quarterback Sneak in company with USS LUCE (DDG 38) and USS McCANDLESS (FF 1084). She also participated in large-scale scenario-based training associated with the battle groups of USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) and USS NIMITZ (CVN 68), then completed engineering evaluations and transitioned back toward the Western Atlantic. In the Puerto Rico operating areas she executed a missile exercise that included two successful Standard missile firings and received anti-air warfare certification. She continued a dense sequence of underways that included work at Roosevelt Roads, a visit to St. Thomas, operations on the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center range with USS CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI (SSN 705) that included Mk 46 torpedo firings, and carrier-related operations with USS CORAL SEA (CV 43) in the Virginia Capes area. Later in the year, she also took part in law-enforcement-oriented operations off Colombia in company with USS LUCE, USS JOHN L. HALL (FFG 32), USS VOGE (FF 1047), USNS WACCAMAW (T-AO 109), and USS CLAUDE V. RICKETTS (DDG 5), followed by port time in Kingston, Jamaica, before returning to Charleston for restricted availability periods, sea trials, and further refresher training evolutions.

By 1990, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY's record reflects the rapid geopolitical shift created by Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the U.S. response that became Operation Desert Shield. After early-year upkeep, assessments, and yard periods, she entered a Middle East Force deployment cycle. She departed Charleston on August 4, 1990, staged through the Azores from August 10 to August 12, visited Toulon from August 19 to August 21, and transited the Suez Canal on August 27. She operated in the Red Sea and Gulf region during a period of accelerating contingency operations, including work from Djibouti in early September, support activity around Fujairah, repeated inport periods at Bahrain, a port visit to Abu Dhabi, and a quarantine mission involving the Iraqi tanker Baba Gurgur. On the return leg, she transited back through the Suez Canal, visited Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on October 30-31, stopped again in the Azores on November 25, and returned to Charleston on December 4, 1990, entering a maintenance period supported by USS SIERRA (AD 18) as U.S. forces continued to build for the January 1991 coalition offensive.

Across the 1990s, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY shifted from Cold War antisubmarine emphasis to the post-Cold War mix of sanctions enforcement, maritime interception, and counter-narcotics operations. A particularly clear dated highlight came on March 2, 1995, when she made a four-day port visit to Koper, Slovenia, recorded as the first visit by a U.S. warship to that country.

From January 1 to March 17, 2004, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY was in a selected restricted availability at Mayport that included removal of the Mk 13 missile launcher, reflecting the class's late-career transition away from its original single-arm missile system. Sea trials followed on March 18-19, 2004, and she then entered a training-and-certification cycle in the Jacksonville operating areas and the Virginia Capes. That year included plane-guard duty for USS JOHN F. KENNEDY on April 17-18, replenishment training with USNS LARAMIE (T-AO 203), towing drills with USCGC DALLAS, a Norfolk inport period from October 23 to October 27, anchorage at Annapolis from October 28 to November 1, and a Veterans Day period at Mobile, Alabama, from November 10 to November 14. In August, she also executed a hurricane sortie associated with Hurricane Charley, consistent with East Coast operational risk management during peak storm season.

In early 2005, the ship completed local training underways from January 15 to January 21 and again from February 15 to February 17, before shifting into a long counter-narcotics deployment. On April 4, 2005, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY departed Mayport with an embarked Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 46 detachment, operating in support of counter narcotics and interdiction tasking in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. She pulled into Colon, Panama, on April 14 for an overnight stop prior to transiting, then was in Balboa from April 22 to April 23. The deployment blended patrol work with frequent logistics and liberty calls along both coasts of Central America and Mexico: she arrived at Acajutla, El Salvador, on May 4 for a two-day visit, made a brief stop at Golfito, Costa Rica, on May 19, and conducted a liberty visit to Panama City from June 1 to June 4, followed by a second brief stop at Golfito on June 12. She arrived in Acapulco, Mexico, on June 21 for a three-day visit, transited the Panama Canal northbound on June 25, and made a brief stop at Naval Air Station Key West on June 29 to offload a large cocaine seizure. After returning to Mayport on August 1 for a two-week upkeep, she got underway again on August 16, visited San Juan, Puerto Rico, from August 19 to August 22, and later called at Willemstad, Curacao, from September 2 to September 4. Additional brief stops followed at Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, on September 14 and Cartagena, Colombia, on September 22, then she entered Port Everglades from September 30 to October 3 before returning to Mayport on October 4, 2005, completing a six-month deployment. Routine training underways followed in early November.

In 2006, the ship emerged from another maintenance and readiness cycle. From March 14 to March 16, 2006, the guided missile frigate was underway for sea trials after a four-month selected restricted availability. On May 19, 2006, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY departed Mayport to participate in Baltic Operations 2006, a multinational exercise in the Baltic region that, in the mid-2000s, increasingly drew attention as NATO and partner navies expanded operational familiarity in Northern European waters. During that deployment, she made port calls to Kiel, Germany; Karlshamn, Sweden; and St. Petersburg, Russia, before returning to Mayport on July 7, 2006. She resumed counter-narcotics tasking later that year: on October 24, 2006, she departed Mayport for another deployment in the U.S. Southern Command maritime operating area. The patrol featured a familiar pattern of eastern Pacific refueling and canal-zone staging, including a refuel stop at Manta, Ecuador, on November 11; a brief stop at Vasco Nunez de Balboa Naval Base, Panama, on November 16; a return to Manta on November 25; a port call to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, from December 6 to December 7; and additional Balboa periods from December 15 to December 18 and again from December 30 to January 1.

In early 2007, the deployment's interdiction tempo was reflected in repeated offloads. USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY arrived at Naval Air Station Key West on January 5, 2007, for a four-day port call to unload narcotics following a recent seizure. On January 12, she offloaded a large quantity of seized narcotics at Mayport and then resumed deployment operations after a short maintenance period. She returned to Balboa on February 1 for fuel after a canal transit, made a brief Manta stop on February 12, and visited Callao, Peru, from February 24 to February 27. She again stopped briefly at Manta on March 10, returned to Balboa from March 23 to March 25, and visited Cartagena from March 28 to March 30. In early April, she staged through Port Everglades from April 3 to April 4 to embark "tiger cruise" passengers, then returned to Mayport on April 5, 2007, completing another six-month deployment.

From mid-2007 into 2008, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY alternated between training blocks, inspections, and carrier strike group workups. She conducted training and a Norfolk visit from May 25 to May 29, completed an inspection assessment underway on June 18, and hosted a friends-and-family day cruise on June 28. From July 5 to July 20 she operated as opposition forces during composite training for USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75), then continued local underways through the summer and early fall. She arrived in Boston on October 5 for a four-day visit and returned home October 12. A change of command took place on November 2, 2007, at Norfolk's Nauticus National Maritime Center, when Cmdr. Clinton Carroll relieved Cmdr. James Cody. After departing Norfolk on November 5 and returning to Mayport on November 6, the ship commenced an extended selected restricted availability on November 7.

On November 21, 2008, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY departed Mayport for a scheduled deployment in support of Africa Partnership Station, a security-cooperation initiative aimed at strengthening maritime capacity and relationships along Africa's coasts. The ship's 2009 itinerary shows a wide sweep of port diplomacy and partner engagement: she departed Cotonou, Benin, on January 9, visited Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on January 13, and on January 15 became the first U.S. Navy ship recorded anchoring at Bata, Equatorial Guinea. She arrived at Maputo, Mozambique, on February 7, reached Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on February 21, and pulled into Djibouti on March 10 after completing the first Africa Partnership Station visit to East Africa, having participated in training exercises with Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania. She then visited Casablanca on March 24, Valletta on April 9, and departed Algiers on April 20 after a two-day call. On May 4, she departed Souda Bay, Crete, for the underway portion of exercise Phoenix Express 2009 and returned to Mayport on May 23, 2009, completing the six-month deployment.

Later in 2009, beginning December 7, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY entered Atlantic Marine Florida's dry dock facility for an overhaul using a rail-and-trolley method rather than a floating dry dock. She was underway for sea trials from March 15 to March 16, 2010, then conducted local operations through the spring. On June 4, 2010, she departed Mayport to participate in the Southeast Anti-Submarine Warfare Integration Training Initiative exercise 10-3 off Florida and visited Norfolk from June 11 to June 15. She arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on June 25 for a week-long visit connected to Canada's naval centennial and an international fleet review after participating in exercise activity in the region, then returned to Mayport on July 7. Cmdr. Darryl Brown relieved Cmdr. Timothy Sparks on November 5, 2010, and the ship continued routine training underways later that month, including a brief Port Everglades call.

On January 14, 2011, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY departed Mayport for another extended deployment in the Sixth Fleet area, again aligned with Africa Partnership Station and associated multinational exercises. Her port calls traced a deliberate security-cooperation route: Lome on February 1, Libreville on February 23, anchoring off Sao Tome on February 28, and Freetown on March 7. She pulled into Limbe, Cameroon, on March 21 to participate in Obangame Express, then visited Luanda on March 29, Lagos on April 4, and Dakar on April 20 for Saharan Express. She anchored off Nouakchott on May 2, departed Casablanca on May 11, and arrived at Souda Bay on May 23 for the in-port phase of Phoenix Express 2011, then returned to Mayport on July 16, 2011.

Cmdr. Peter J. Ehlers relieved Cmdr. Brown on May 11, 2012. Later that year, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY participated in UNITAS Atlantic 2012 in the western Caribbean, and on October 31, 2012, she departed Mayport for what would be her final major deployment. She arrived at Souda Bay on November 13. By November 28 she was operating in the Mediterranean with an embarked Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 22 detachment and three MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aircraft, supporting U.S. Africa Command counter-terrorism intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance tasking. During 2013, she made repeated logistics calls that included Naples on January 5 and again from March 22 to March 27, Souda Bay on January 25 and again on May 10, and a refueling stop at Ponta Delgada, Portugal, on May 20. She returned to Mayport on May 28, 2013, after a seven-month deployment that included extensive Fire Scout flight hours.

USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY was decommissioned on March 28, 2014, during a ceremony at Mayport. She was slated for towing to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Office in Philadelphia and was identified as being offered for foreign military sale, closing nearly three decades of service that ranged from Cold War antisubmarine readiness to Persian Gulf contingency operations, Adriatic-area sanctions enforcement, African partnership deployments, and sustained counter-narcotics and maritime surveillance missions in her final years.

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USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Michael Nebel and show the ROBERT G. BRADLEY during a port visit to Malaga, Spain, April 2-5, 1995. Malaga was the ship's last port visit before returning home to Naval Base Charleston, SC., following a 6-month Mediterranean deployment. During the deployment, the ROBERT G. BRADLEY became the first US Navy ship to ever visit Slovenia when she stopped at Koper, Slovenia, March 2-5, 1995.

The photos below were taken by me during ROBERT G. BRADLEY's port visit to Kiel, Germany, from June 16 - 19, 2006. The port visit marked the end of BALTOPS 2006.

The photo below was taken by Carl Groll and shows the ROBERT G. BRADLEY getting mooring assistance by the tugs after arriving at Kiel, Germany, on June 16, 2006.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the ROBERT G. BRADLEY laid up among her sisterships at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The photos were taken on October 21, 2014.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the ROBERT G. BRADLEY laid up alongside her sisterships at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The photos were taken on October 16, 2015.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the ROBERT G. BRADLEY laid up at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on October 7, 2018.

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