USS Gridley (DLG-21)

USS Gridley (CG-21)
History
United States
Name:	Gridley
Namesake:	Charles Vernon Gridley
Builder:	Puget Sound Bridge and Drydock Company, Seattle, Washington
Laid down:	15 July 1960
Launched:	31 July 1961
Commissioned:	25 May 1963
Decommissioned:	10 September 1968
Recommissioned:	17 January 1970
Decommissioned:	21 January 1994
Reclassified:	CG-21 on 30 June 1975
Struck:	21 January 1994
Motto:	World's Greatest Cruiser
Fate:	Sold for scrap to International Shipbreaking LTD, Brownsville, TX. 04 October 2003. Reacquired from MARAD 23 January 2004. Scrapping completed on 31 March 2005.
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Leahy-class cruiser
Displacement:	7400 tons
Length:	533 feet
Beam:	53 feet
Draft:	26 feet
Propulsion:	2 × De Laval steam turbines providing 85,000 shp (63 MW); 2 shafts 4 × Foster-Wheeler boilers
Speed:	30 knots
Complement:	373 officers and men
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-39 followed by AN/SPS-48 3D air search radar AN/SPS-43 followed by AN/SPS-49 2D air search radar AN/SPS-10 surface search radar AN/SPG-55 missile fire control radar AN/SQS-23 bow mounted sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 Mark 36 SRBOC
Armament:	four 3 in (76 mm)/50 guns (Later replaced by 8 Harpoon anti-ship missiles), two Mk 32 SVTT Mounts with three Mk 46 torpedoes each, four Terrier missile launchers (Later replaced with Standard Missiles), one ASROC launcher, 2 Phalanx CIWS Mounts ('70's era and later)

Sold for scrap to International Shipbreaking LTD, Brownsville, TX. 04 October 2003.

USS Gridley (DLG-21/CG-21), a Leahy-class guided missile cruiser, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after Charles Vernon Gridley, who distinguished himself with Admiral George Dewey's force at the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898.

Her keel was laid down by the Puget Sound Bridge and Drydock Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 31 July 1961 sponsored by Mrs. Stuart D. Rose, great-granddaughter of Captain Gridley, and commissioned on 25 May 1963 with Captain P. A. Lilly in command.

After outfitting at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, Gridley made a goodwill visit to British Columbia and then conducted acceptance trials out of her homeport, Long Beach, California. The new cruiser returned to Puget Sound Shipyard from 8 November to 9 December 1963, after which she joined the Pacific Fleet as flagship of Destroyer Squadron 19.

Following shakedown out of San Diego, California, early in 1964, Gridley departed Long Beach 8 April and steamed via Pearl Harbor to Australia for commemoration of the Battle of the Coral Sea, arriving Adelaide, South Australia, on 5 May. The frigate next headed for the Philippines, stopping at Subic Bay on 29 May through 31 May, before proceeding to Okinawa on 2 June and Sasebo, Japan, on 8 June.

...
Wikipedia