Anyway, the Orleck was just towed to Lake Charles, where it will be a museum ship; right now it is undergoing overhaul and clean-up to prepare it for its museum role.
Here's a pic; it's one of the old-fashioned "all gun" destroyers, with no missile launchers as found on more modern ships:
The USS Orleck (DD-886), a Gearing-class Destroyer.
And it's tiny, too, compared to more modern destroyers, which probably would have been classified as cruisers in the old days, if size it the criterion, rather than role.
Anyway, the Orleck is in the news because of some stowaways found onboard after the ship was towed to Lake Charles.
update: I note that the Gearing-class destroyer that I remember from Pensacola was the USS Robert A. Owens.
6 comments:
Bob, I served from '73 to '75 on a Gearing class destroyer (USS William M. Wood, DD-715) with a FRAM II modification, which was decommissioned in '76 & later sunk to be part of an artificial reef. They were sturdy, but obsolete by the '80s. The Wood's keel was laid in Nov. '44, and launched in April '45. Thanks for the memories your story & the picture brought back.
Wow, this post caused me to take a major trip down memory lane. I was stationed on USS Robert McCard DD-822 in the mid 1970s. At that time she was home ported in Tampa, FL and was used as a reserve training ship.
That Gearing destroyer has an ASROC missile launcher mid-ships. When the Gearing were modified to the FRAMs they added the missile capabilities. Sorry, but it is not an "all gun" ship.
@Bill Courson: You are correct. I should point out that, as originally built, the Gearing class were, indeed, all-gun destroyers; the Asroc launchers were a later upgrade.
A true Tin Can, I served on the USS Orleck 1980-1981,
in Tacoma. Where is she now?
@Michael Augustine: The Orleck was purchased from the Republic of Turkey and towed to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she is now a museum ship.
Thanks for stopping by!
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