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USS Forrest Royal (DD-872)
Encyclopedia
USS Forrest Royal (DD-872), named for Rear Admiral Forrest Beton Royal
USN (1893–1945), was a Gearing-class
destroyer
laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Staten Island
in New York
on 8 June 1945, launched on 17 January 1946 by Miss Katherine K. Royal, the daughter of Admiral Royal and commissioned on 29 June 1946 with Commander James M. Clute (US Naval Academy, Class of 1934) in command.
Forrest Royal operated with the Seventh Fleet in support of United Nations
Forces during the Korean War
then alternated operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean
with the 2nd Fleet with deployments to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet.
in the Caribbean, served as plane guard and escort for aircraft carrier
s, took part in the development of antisubmarine warfare and fired in shore bombardment exercises. Usually based at Pensacola
, she visited many ports in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico
.
On 26 September 1950, Forrest Royal sailed from Guantanamo Bay
for duty in the Korean War, arriving at Sasebo 27 October. Her first assignment was as flagship for the minesweeping at Chinnampo, a port essential to supply operations for the 8th Army. The destroyer's other activities included shore bombardment, blockade, and escort all around the Korean coast, and extensive operations with carrier task forces conducting air strikes. She sailed for home 6 June 1951, returning to Norfolk
2 July.
Forrest Royal received four battle stars for Korean War
service.
Forrest Royals next deployment, between 26 August 1952 and 29 January 1953, was for a combination of NATO exercises off the coast of Norway
, visits to principal ports in northern Europe, 2 months with the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, and antisubmarine exercises with British ships
off Northern Ireland
. Through the next year and a half, the destroyer sailed out of Newport, R.I., for exercises along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean, often serving with carriers out of Pensacola, Florida.
During a cruise round the world between 2 August 1954 and 14 March 1955, Forrest Royal sailed westward to serve with the U.S. 7th Fleet in Japanese and Philippine waters, thence onward to the Indian Ocean
and the Suez Canal
to join the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, returning across the Atlantic to Newport. She made her next visit to the Mediterranean between 14 September 1956 and 3 April 1957, and during the Suez Crisis
, patrolled along the Egyptian and Levant coasts. Assigned to service in the Persian Gulf
, Red Sea
, and Gulf of Suez
, Forrest Royal made the long voyage around the African continent for this duty, since the Suez Canal was still blocked.
Forrest Royal took part in a midshipman
cruise to South America in the summer of 1957 as well as the International Naval Review in Hampton Roads
on 12 June 1957. NATO operations took her to European waters once more that fall, and on 11 July 1958, she sailed from Newport for Morehead City, NC
, where amphibious ships of her force embarked Marines for landing exercises at Puerto Rico
. This task force cleared San Juan
1 August to land the marines at Beirut
, Lebanon, 20 to 28 August, reinforcing the troops earlier landed in the Navy's immediate response to the outbreak of Middle Eastern trouble. Forrest Royal sailed on through the Suez Canal to bring her additional strength to the 7th Fleet as it intensified its activities in the Taiwan Straits in response to renewed Communist shelling of Quemoy and Matsu
through September. Her homeward bound passage was by way of Cape Town
, South Africa, and she returned to Newport 18 November.
A highlight of Forrest Royals operating schedule in 1959 was her participation in Operation Inland Seas
, the movement of a major naval task force into the Great Lakes
in connection with the ceremonial opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. She joined in the naval review on Lake Saint-Louis
26 June taken by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain
, and called at United States and Canadian ports to greet thousands of visitors. In March 1960, she sailed once more to the Mediterranean to serve with the 6th Fleet and added a brief tour with the Middle East Force prior to her return to the States in October. She operated out of Newport for the remainder of the year.
24 Oct - 21 Nov 1962 (Source: SECNAVINST 1650.1C CH-3, 9 November 1966, 1-5.)
Operation Sea Dragon
:: May 1967
Task Force 77 | Unit TU 77.1.2 | USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692); USS Barney (DDG-6); USS Boston (CAG-1); USS Bigelow (DD-942); USS Forrest B. Royal (DD-872)
Although air power was the cutting edge of Task Force 77, surface ships were essential to the interdiction campaign in North Vietnam
and Laos
. In Operation Sea Dragon, begun in October 1966, cruisers, destroyers, and for one month battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62)
ranged the North Vietnamese littoral sinking Communist supply craft, shelling coastal batteries and radar sites, and complementing the aerial interdiction effort by bombarding the infiltration routes ashore. While at first restricted to coastal waters south of 17°31'N, by February 1967 the Sea Dragon force was authorized to operate as far north as the 20th parallel
. This area was constricted in April 1968 when the bombing halt ended American combat activity north of the 19th parallel
.
Steaming generally in pairs, the two to four American and Australian destroyers and one cruiser worked with carrier-based spotter planes, such as the A-l Skyraider and Grumman S-2 Tracker, to find, identify, and destroy infiltrating vessels and shore targets. Often, North Vietnamese coastal batteries fired back. Although several of the 19 ships that were hit required repairs at shipyards in Japan and the Philippines, no vessel was sunk during the two-year-long Sea Dragon operation. Damaged ships were quickly replaced on the gun line and the coastal deployment was maintained. Periodically, this group reinforced the Seventh Fleet cruisers and destroyers providing naval gunfire support to allied forces in South Vietnam. The naval surface group conducted the Sea Dragon effort until the end of October 1968, when American combat operations in North Vietnam ceased.
and renamed TCG Adatepe (D 353), stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
on 1 February 1973 and scrapped in 1993.
Forrest Beton Royal
Forrest Beton Royal, was a member of the United States Naval Academy class of 1915. Service in increasingly important posts afloat and ashore prepared him for his role as commander of Amphibious Group 6 in the assaults on Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, and Borneo during the Pacific War in 1944 and 1945...
USN (1893–1945), was a Gearing-class
Gearing class destroyer
The Gearing class was a group of 98 destroyers built for the US Navy during and shortly after World War II. The Gearing design was a minor modification of the immediately preceding Allen M. Sumner class...
destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on 8 June 1945, launched on 17 January 1946 by Miss Katherine K. Royal, the daughter of Admiral Royal and commissioned on 29 June 1946 with Commander James M. Clute (US Naval Academy, Class of 1934) in command.
Forrest Royal operated with the Seventh Fleet in support of United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Forces during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
then alternated operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
with the 2nd Fleet with deployments to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet.
DD-872 Operations History 1946 - 1960
Forrest Royals operations in the period prior to the Korean War illustrated the varied capability of the modern destroyer, and the wide range of missions which such ships are assigned. She conducted special tests for the Bureau of ShipsBureau of Ships
The United States Navy's Bureau of Ships was established by Congress on June 20, 1940, by a law which consolidated the functions of the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the Bureau of Engineering. The new Bureau was to be headed by a Chief and Deputy-Chief, one selected from the engineering...
in the Caribbean, served as plane guard and escort for aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s, took part in the development of antisubmarine warfare and fired in shore bombardment exercises. Usually based at Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, she visited many ports in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
.
On 26 September 1950, Forrest Royal sailed from Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
for duty in the Korean War, arriving at Sasebo 27 October. Her first assignment was as flagship for the minesweeping at Chinnampo, a port essential to supply operations for the 8th Army. The destroyer's other activities included shore bombardment, blockade, and escort all around the Korean coast, and extensive operations with carrier task forces conducting air strikes. She sailed for home 6 June 1951, returning to Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
2 July.
Forrest Royal received four battle stars for Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
service.
Forrest Royals next deployment, between 26 August 1952 and 29 January 1953, was for a combination of NATO exercises off the coast of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, visits to principal ports in northern Europe, 2 months with the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, and antisubmarine exercises with British ships
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
off Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Through the next year and a half, the destroyer sailed out of Newport, R.I., for exercises along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean, often serving with carriers out of Pensacola, Florida.
During a cruise round the world between 2 August 1954 and 14 March 1955, Forrest Royal sailed westward to serve with the U.S. 7th Fleet in Japanese and Philippine waters, thence onward to the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
and the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
to join the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, returning across the Atlantic to Newport. She made her next visit to the Mediterranean between 14 September 1956 and 3 April 1957, and during the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
, patrolled along the Egyptian and Levant coasts. Assigned to service in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
, Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
, and Gulf of Suez
Gulf of Suez
The northern end of the Red Sea is bifurcated by the Sinai Peninsula, creating the Gulf of Suez in the west and the Gulf of Aqaba to the east. The Gulf of Suez is formed within a relatively young, but now inactive rift basin, the Gulf of Suez Rift, dating back about 28 million years...
, Forrest Royal made the long voyage around the African continent for this duty, since the Suez Canal was still blocked.
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
cruise to South America in the summer of 1957 as well as the International Naval Review in Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
on 12 June 1957. NATO operations took her to European waters once more that fall, and on 11 July 1958, she sailed from Newport for Morehead City, NC
Morehead City, North Carolina
Morehead City is a port city in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007...
, where amphibious ships of her force embarked Marines for landing exercises at Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. This task force cleared San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
1 August to land the marines at Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, Lebanon, 20 to 28 August, reinforcing the troops earlier landed in the Navy's immediate response to the outbreak of Middle Eastern trouble. Forrest Royal sailed on through the Suez Canal to bring her additional strength to the 7th Fleet as it intensified its activities in the Taiwan Straits in response to renewed Communist shelling of Quemoy and Matsu
Matsu Islands
The Matsu Islands are a minor archipelago of 19 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait administered as Lienchiang County , Fujian Province of the Republic of China . Only a small area of what is historically Lienchiang County is under the control of the ROC...
through September. Her homeward bound passage was by way of Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa, and she returned to Newport 18 November.
A highlight of Forrest Royals operating schedule in 1959 was her participation in Operation Inland Seas
Operation Inland Seas
Operation Inland Seas was a United States Navy operation to celebrate the completion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959.Task Force 47 , a 28-ship detachment of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Edmund B...
, the movement of a major naval task force into the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
in connection with the ceremonial opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. She joined in the naval review on Lake Saint-Louis
Lake Saint-Louis
Lake Saint-Louis, or in French , is a lake in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, adjoining the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers.The lake is bounded to the north and east by the Island of Montreal...
26 June taken by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, and called at United States and Canadian ports to greet thousands of visitors. In March 1960, she sailed once more to the Mediterranean to serve with the 6th Fleet and added a brief tour with the Middle East Force prior to her return to the States in October. She operated out of Newport for the remainder of the year.
DD-872 Operations History 1961 - 1971
Cuban Missile CrisisCuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
24 Oct - 21 Nov 1962 (Source: SECNAVINST 1650.1C CH-3, 9 November 1966, 1-5.)
Operation Sea Dragon
Operation Sea Dragon (Vietnam War)
Operation Sea Dragon occurred during the Vietnam War and was a series of American led naval operations beginning in 1966 to interdict sea lines of communications and supply going south from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, and to destroy land targets with naval gunfire, as well give CIA agents in...
:: May 1967
Task Force 77 | Unit TU 77.1.2 | USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692); USS Barney (DDG-6); USS Boston (CAG-1); USS Bigelow (DD-942); USS Forrest B. Royal (DD-872)
Although air power was the cutting edge of Task Force 77, surface ships were essential to the interdiction campaign in North Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. In Operation Sea Dragon, begun in October 1966, cruisers, destroyers, and for one month battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62)
USS New Jersey (BB-62)
USS New Jersey , is an , and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of New Jersey. New Jersey earned more battle stars for combat actions than the other three completed Iowa-class battleships, and is the only U.S...
ranged the North Vietnamese littoral sinking Communist supply craft, shelling coastal batteries and radar sites, and complementing the aerial interdiction effort by bombarding the infiltration routes ashore. While at first restricted to coastal waters south of 17°31'N, by February 1967 the Sea Dragon force was authorized to operate as far north as the 20th parallel
20th parallel north
The 20th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 20 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, North America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean....
. This area was constricted in April 1968 when the bombing halt ended American combat activity north of the 19th parallel
19th parallel north
The 19th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 19 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, North America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean....
.
Steaming generally in pairs, the two to four American and Australian destroyers and one cruiser worked with carrier-based spotter planes, such as the A-l Skyraider and Grumman S-2 Tracker, to find, identify, and destroy infiltrating vessels and shore targets. Often, North Vietnamese coastal batteries fired back. Although several of the 19 ships that were hit required repairs at shipyards in Japan and the Philippines, no vessel was sunk during the two-year-long Sea Dragon operation. Damaged ships were quickly replaced on the gun line and the coastal deployment was maintained. Periodically, this group reinforced the Seventh Fleet cruisers and destroyers providing naval gunfire support to allied forces in South Vietnam. The naval surface group conducted the Sea Dragon effort until the end of October 1968, when American combat operations in North Vietnam ceased.
TCG Adatepe (D 353)
USS Forrest Royal was decommissioned on 27 March 1971, transferred to the Turkish NavyTurkish Navy
The Turkish Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.- Ottoman fleet after Mudros :Following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, on November 3, 1918, the fleet commander of the Ottoman Navy, Liva Amiral Arif Pasha, ordered all flags to be...
and renamed TCG Adatepe (D 353), stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 1 February 1973 and scrapped in 1993.