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Exciting Times on USS The Sullivans (DDG-68)


Subdeacon Joe

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The resulting fire on USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) following the explosion of a Raytheon SM-2 Block IIIA guided missile. US Navy Photo obtained by USNI News

 

 

 

“On July 18 at approximately 9 a.m. (EDT) a Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) test missile exploded after suffering a malfunction as it was fired from the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) during a planned missile exercise off the coast of Virginia,” read a statement from Naval Sea Systems Command provided to USNI News.

There were no reported injuries and though the ship suffered a small fire on its port side “from missile debris” the destroyer was able to return to Naval Station Norfolk, Va. unassisted, NAVSEA said.

“It is too early to determine what, if any, effect this will have on the ship’s schedule,” read the statement.

 

 

 

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Wow. Could have been really really bad!

USS Forrestal. 48 years ago next week.

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The Juneau? I thought it went down in the South Pacific in 1942.

USS The Sullivans DD-537, Destroyer

 

 

Class: Fletcher

Commissioned: 1943

Decommissioned: 1965

Displacement: 2,050 Tons

Rated Speed: 35 Knots

Length: 376 Feet

Beam (width): 39 Feet

Complement: 290 Enlisted, 20 Officers

 

The five Sullivan brothers enlisted in the Navy and served together aboard the cruiser USS Juneau. On 13 November 1942, while fighting off Guadalcanal, the five brothers died with seven hundred other sailors when the USS Juneau was sunk by a Japanese submarine. President Roosevelt directed that one of the new Fletcher class detroyers be named after the brothers. The USS The Sullivans was launched in San Francisco on April 4, 1943.

The ship sported the shamrock of Ireland on her forward stack and sailed into World War II with 23 crew members named Sullivan. She fought in the Marshalls, Carolines, Mariannas and Philippines and earned nine battle stars. After deployment in Korea, the Cuban blockade, and the rescue efforts for the sub Thresher, she was laid up. The vessel was acquired by the City of Buffalo and is on display at the Buffalo and Erie county Naval & Servicemen's park. It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.
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