The second USS Steinaker (DD-863/DDR-863/DD-863) was a of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, named for Private First Class Donald Baur Steinaker, USMCR

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 (1922–1942) who was killed in action on Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

 and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross

Navy Cross

The Navy Cross is the highest decoration that may be bestowed by the Department of the Navy and the second highest decoration given for valor. It is normally only awarded to members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard, but can be awarded to all...

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Steinaker was 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 1 September 1944, launched on 13 February 1945 by Miss Carol Steinaker and commissioned on 26 May 1945.

Steinaker held her shakedown cruise off Guantanamo Bay

Guantánamo Bay (Cuba)

Guantánamo Bay is a bay located in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba . It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and is surrounded by steep hills creating an enclave cut off from its immediate hinterland....

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, and returned to Norfolk, Virginia

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....

, her home port, where she acted as a training ship for the remainder of the year. Until 1952, the destroyer alternated her operations between the east coast with the Atlantic Fleet

United States Fleet Forces Command

The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...

 and deployment with the 6th Fleet. She was deployed to the Mediterranean in 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, and the first five months of 1952.

Steinaker entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard

Norfolk Naval Shipyard

The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling, and repairing the Navy's ships. It's the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy as well as the most...

 on 1 July 1952 for conversion to a radar picket destroyer and was classified as DDR-863. The work was completed on 28 February 1953 and shakedown at Guantanamo Bay followed. She made her first deployment to the 6th Fleet as a picket destroyer from 16 September to 3 February 1954. She also served with the 6th Fleet for portions of 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, and 1965. In 1964, the destroyer was converted under the FRAM program and given modern antisubmarine weapons and detection equipment. On 1 July of that year, she resumed the designation, DD-863.

Steinaker was in the 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 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...

 for two months in 1967 as a unit of the Middle East Force. On 26 March 1968, she stood out of Norfolk headed for her first tour in the western Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 on 31 March and—after calling briefly at San Diego

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, Midway

Midway Atoll

Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...

, Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

, and the Philippine Islands—arrived off 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 –...

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Steinaker was assigned to the 7th Fleet from 20 May through 1 October and participated in naval gunfire support operations off Binh Thuan and Phu Yen Provinces; "Sea Dragon" operations off the coast of North Vietnam

North Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...

 to interdict seaborne infiltration of Communist forces into South Vietnam

South Vietnam

South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...

; and antiaircraft picket duty off the demilitarized zone. She also operated with aircraft carriers conducting strikes against North Vietnam.

Steinaker returned to the east coast of the United States, via Subic Bay

Subic Bay

Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Yokosuka, and Okinawa. She arrived at Norfolk on 5 November 1968 and resumed Atlantic Fleet operations until 9 January 1970. At that time, she was assigned to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Standing Naval Force, Atlantic. This tour lasted until 23 July 1970. She made another voyage to the Mediterranean from 23 February to 23 July 1971 and returned to the North Atlantic from 10 July to 18 November 1972.

Steinaker was transferred to Destroyer Squadron 10, Naval Reserve Force, on 1 July 1973 and changed her home port to Baltimore. Into December 1974, she serves as a training ship for reserves.

Steinaker received two battle stars for service in Vietnam.

Steinaker was decommissioned and 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 24 February 1982, transferred to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and renamed Netzahualcoyotl

ARM Netzahualcóyotl (D-102)

ARM Netzahualcóyotl , a Quetzalcóatl-class destroyer, is one of two destroyers in the Mexican Navy. The Netzahualcóyotl was originally the USS Steinaker , a Gearing class destroyer. Mexico purchased the Steinaker from the United States Navy in 1982, and re-named it after the Acolhua polymath...

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External links

• Photo gallery at navsource.org