In the past month I’ve talked about both the ill-advised twin bad calls by the Navy to both discard the Forrest Sherman-class destroyer USS Barry (DD-933), which has been a fixture at the Washington Navy Yard since 1983; while simultaneously discarding the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) which struck a Soviet-made M-08 naval mine in the central Persian Gulf in 1986 but survived to give another three decades of hard service. The mine blew a 15-foot hole in her, knocked her GE LM-2500 turbines off their mounts, and broke her keel.
Today, the story of the Roberts is taught throughout the Navy as a case study in how to prepare a ship for combat.
Now the ship is being prepared for retirement, and is eventually to be scrapped. The Navy, the D.C. government, and indeed the public should endeavor to save the Roberts once more time, and to ensure that a new generation can visit a warship on the Anacostia waterfront.
Feel free to call SECNAV’s office and your congressman. I have.
