USS Richard E. Byrd (DDG-23)

USS Richard E. Byrd
History
United States
Name:	Richard E. Byrd
Namesake:	Richard E. Byrd
Ordered:	3 November 1960
Builder:	Todd Shipbuilding Corp. Seattle, Washington
Laid down:	12 April 1961
Launched:	6 February 1962
Commissioned:	7 March 1964
Decommissioned:	27 April 1990
Struck:	1 October 1992
Identification:	DDG-23
Motto:	Inter Utrosque Polos Tridens Sea Power from Pole to Pole
Fate:	Sold to Greece for spare parts; Sunk as target 19 June 2003
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)
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)

USS Richard E. Byrd (DDG-23), a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, was named after noted polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd.

The keel for Richard E. Byrd was laid down 12 April 1961 by Todd Shipbuilding Corp. Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 6 February 1962; sponsored by Mrs. Richard E. Byrd, whose daughter, Mrs. Robert G. Breyer, acted as proxy sponsor for the admiral's wife. The ship was commissioned on 7 March 1964, Comdr. Walter G. Lessman in command. She was decommissioned on 27 April 1990 and in 1992 was sold to Greece and used for spare parts. She was sunk as target 19 June 2003.

Following a 45-day fitting out period at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, Richard E. Byrd steamed for her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, via the Panama Canal, arriving 14 June 1964. Richard E. Byrd deployed to the Mediterranean 6 January 1965 as a unit of Destroyer Division 182.

Late January 1967 Richard E. Byrd moved south to the Jacksonville, Florida operations area, and, while serving as rescue destroyer for the aircraft carrier Lexington, she rescued Lt. (jg) John F. Dickinson, whose A4-E aircraft crashed during a landing approach. In May Richard E. Byrd was at sea as part of the screen of the carrier USS America, which force rendezvoused with the damaged USS Liberty on 9 June.

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