The Richard B. Anderson (DD786), 1971-1973
The RBA LOGO
My all-time favorite ship
Commissioning Statistics in 1945
Gearing Class Destroyer:
- Displacement: 2425 tons
- Length: 390''6"
- Beam: 40'10"
- Draft: 18'6"
- Speed: 35 knots
- Armament: Six 5"/38 guns in 3 Mounts, 2 forward, 1 aft; 2x5 21" torpedo tubes
- Complement: 337 crew, 18 officers
- High-pressure super-heated boilers, geared turbines with twin screws, 60,000 h.p.
- Built at Todd-Pacific Shipyard, Seattle, Washington
Post-FRAM I
- ASW DASH Helicopter on Mini-helo deck and hangar
- Armament: Four 5"/38 guns in 2 Mounts (forward only); One eight-tube ASROC Launcher (Antisubmarine Rocket-Assisted Torpedo); Two Mark 34 Homing Torpedo Launchers
- Complement: 275 crew, 14 Officers
During 1972 Vietnam Action
- Added Armament: Four Shrike ARM Missile launching rails added atop the ASROC launcher; twin (Sidewinder) Heat-Seeking Missile turret launcher on the flight deck and two hand-held heat-seeking missile launchers plus two sets of 50-caliber machine guns.
Just back from a month on "Linebacker", eh!
Haggard looking, isn't he?!
Recognize any of these? If you are searching here, you may have been there!
These are the men who made it all work for the RBA--winners of the Chezek Memorial Award for the highest scoring gun crew in the Pacific Fleet for 1971. Rear, L to R: LT Barry Kaye, Weapons Officer, FTG3 Lewis, FTG3 Lemaster, FTG1 Andrews, GMGSN Essner, GMGC Smith. Kneeling, L to R: GMG3 Shaughnessy, FTGSN Purvine and FTGSN Winans.
This old guy is in the photo above--
which one is he?
Rainwater bath in the Indian Ocean when an evaporator craps out
--but we ran out the other side of the raincloud---what to do?
OBVIOUS!--come about for the rinse cycle!!
See my "Dedication Page"for Vietnam combat photos
OR read About the Famous First Annual RBA Cockroach Race
