USS Lawrence (DDG-4)

USS Lawrence (DDG-4) was a Charles F. Adams class guided-missile destroyer in the United States Navy. It was the fifth ship named after Captain James Lawrence USN (1781–1813). The USS Lawrence served on blockade duty during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 and, in 1972, was part of "Operation Linebacker" in the west Pacific.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Lawrence.

USS Lawrence (DDG-4)
History
United States
Name: USS Lawrence (DDG-4)
Namesake: James Lawrence
Ordered: 28 March 1957
Builder: New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down: 27 October 1958
Launched: 27 February 1960
Acquired: 20 December 1961
Commissioned: 6 January 1962
Decommissioned: 30 March 1990
Stricken: 16 May 1990
Motto: "Don't give up the ship"
Fate: sold for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type: Charles F. Adams-class destroyer
Displacement: 3,277 tons standard, 4,526 full load
Length: 437 ft (133 m)
Beam: 47 ft (14 m)
Draft: 15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Westinghouse steam turbines providing 70,000 shp (52 MW); 2 shafts
  • 4 × Foster-Wheeler 1,275 psi (8,790 kPa) boilers
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range: 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement: 354 (24 officers, 330 enlisted)
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • AN/SPS-39 3D air search radar
  • AN/SPS-10 surface search radar
  • AN/SPG-51 missile fire control radar
  • AN/SPG-53 gunfire control radar
  • AN/SQS-23 Sonar and the hull mounted SQQ-23 Pair Sonar for DDG-2 through 19
  • AN/SPS-40 Air Search Radar
Armament:

Construction

USS Lawrence was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey on October 27, 1958. The ship was launched on February 27, 1960, by Mrs. Fernie C. Hubbard, the great-great-granddaughter of Captain James Lawrence. The ship was commissioned on January 6, 1962, and commanded by Thomas W. Walsh. After a shakedown cruise on the Great Lakes, USS Lawrence proceeded to Naval Station Norfolk for duty in the Atlantic Fleet.

Service history

Cuba

Following the rapid development of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, the warship deployed with Task Group 136.1, a surface quarantine group of cruisers composed of USS Canberra (CAG-2), USS Newport News (CA-148), three guided-missile destroyers including USS Lawrence, and twelve escorts. The group took up a blocking position north of Cuba on October 24, 1962, two days into the crisis. On Friday, October 26, 1962, USS Lawrence and MacDonough (DLG-8) began shadowing MT Grozny, a tanker proceeding towards Cuba. The next day, the Soviet Union agreed to defuse the crisis and military forces on both sides began standing down.[1]

Mediterranean

After returning to Norfolk on December 6, 1962, USS Lawrence began the first of many Mediterranean cruises on 6 February 1963, steaming across the Atlantic to join the Sixth Fleet for operations in European waters, where she remained until July 1, 1963. Following a second Mediterranean deployment between April and August 1964, the warship received an extensive overhaul in Norfolk over the ensuing winter. Before the end of the decade, she conducted four more cruises; a Sixth Fleet deployment (August 24, 1965 to December 17, 1965), a NATO exercise in the North Atlantic (August 3, 1966 to September 5, 1966), another Mediterranean tour (September 27, 1966 to February 1, 1967) and a third Sixth Fleet cruise (January 10, 1968 to May 4, 1968). During her fourth Mediterranean deployment, USS Lawrence helped rescue crewmen from the sinking merchant vessel New Meadow, in distress off the coast of Crete.

West Pacific

Following two additional Mediterranean deployments, one in 1969 and another in 1971, the much-traveled destroyer made one Vietnam War tour in the Western Pacific from 1972 to 1973, providing naval gunfire support, rescuing downed aviators and serving as plane guard during aircraft carrier operations. Among her guests on Yankee Station were the Chief of Naval Operations and Secretary of the Navy.

As the U.S.S. Lawrence came through the locks in the Panama canal, her sister ship was sabotaged by a crewman that dropped a large wrench into the main reduction gear shaft, causing her to be towed to San Diego for repairs while the USS Lawrence sailed on to Vietnam and engaged in "Operation Linebacker". At the time, she was affectionately known as the "Leapin Larry" by her crew. For her service, she was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation.

Sixth Fleet

Two more Sixth Fleet cruises followed in 1977-78 and 1979, and during the latter she briefly visited the Black Sea. USS Lawrence circumnavigated Africa en route to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, deployment that took place in 1974. USS Lawrence passed through the Mediterranean en route to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, deployments that took place in 1980 and 1983 to 1984.

Caribbean

USS Lawrence also saw frequent service closer to home, in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, and occasionally visited other waters. In 1986, she circumnavigated around South America as part of Operation Unitas XVII, exercising with Latin American navies and visiting ports in Puerto Rico, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil. During that deployment, she served as the flagship for Destroyer Squadron 26.

Decommissioning

The USS Lawrence was decommissioned on March 30, 1990 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on May 16, 1990.[2] The ship was sold for scrap on April 15, 1994. The Navy repossessed the ship in October 1996 after the ship breaking company failed, and it was finally resold for scrap on February 10, 1999.[1]

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References

Citations
  1. "Lawrence V (DDG-4)". Naval History and Heritage Command. 20 July 2005. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  2. "Naval Vessel Register - LAWRENCE (DDG 4)". www.nvr.navy.mil. Retrieved 4 September 2019.

Sources
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