USS Berkeley (DDG-15)

USS Berkeley
History
United States
Name:	USS Berkeley
Namesake:	Randolph C. Berkeley
Ordered:	21 July 1959
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
Laid down:	1 June 1960
Launched:	29 July 1961
Acquired:	30 November 1962
Commissioned:	15 December 1962
Decommissioned:	30 September 1992
Struck:	1 May 1991
Identification:	DDG-15
Motto:	Dieu Avec Nous God with us (Berkeley family motto)
Fate:	sold to Greece, 1 October 1992
Greece
Name:	Themistocles
Namesake:
Commissioned:	1 October 1992
Decommissioned:	18 February 2002
Identification:	D 221
Fate:	Sold for scrap 19 February 2004.
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 × General Electric steam turbines providing 70,000 shp (52 MW); 2 shafts 4 × Combustion Engineering 1,275 psi (8,790 kPa) boilers
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)
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:	1 Mk 11 missile launcher (DDG2-14) or Mk 13 single arm missile launcher (DDG-15-24) for RIM-24 Tartar SAM system, or later the RIM-66 Standard (SM-1) and Harpoon antiship missile 2 × 5 in (127 mm)/54 caliber Mark 42 gun 1 × RUR-5 ASROC Launcher 6 × 12.8 in (325 mm) ASW torpedo tubes (2 x Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes)
Aircraft carried:	None

USS Berkeley (DDG-15) was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Major General Randolph C. Berkeley, USMC (1875–1960), a Medal of Honor recipient for actions during the U.S. occupation of Veracruz (1914).

She was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden in New Jersey on 1 June 1960,launched on 29 July 1961 sponsored by Mrs. James B. Berkeley, Major General Berkeley’s daughter-in-law; and commissioned on 15 December 1962 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Commander Wyatt E. Harper in command.

Berkeley was decommissioned on 30 September 1992 at a ceremony in San Diego, California, and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. She was turned over to the Hellenic Navy on 1 October, and recommissioned as the Greek destroyer Themistocles (D 221). The ship remained in Greek service until her decommissioning on 18 February 2002 and was sold for scrap in 2004.

After fitting out at Philadelphia, Berkeley set out for her assigned homeport of Long Beach, California, mooring there on 16 March 1963 after visits to Port Royal, South Carolina; Kingston, Jamaica; and Acapulco, Mexico. Designed primarily to provide long-range anti-aircraft cover for task forces at sea, Berkeley devoted the next six weeks testing her Tartar anti-aircraft missile system's proficiency in that role. The warship's crew also conducted gunnery, engineering, and communication systems trials. In early May, the guided-missile destroyer demonstrated her capabilities to President John F. Kennedy, knocking down two jet drone targets with two TARTAR missiles. At the end of a short visit to the Rose Festival at Portland, Oregon, in early June, Berkeley entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard for a three-month availability. At the end of the repair period, she became a unit of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 12 and spent the rest of the year engaged in local operations in the Long Beach area.

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