USS Bigelow

USS Bigelow (DD-942) was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer in the United States Navy. The ship was named for Watertender Second Class Elmer Charles Bigelow (1920-1945), who was killed in action extinguishing a magazine fire while serving on board Fletcher during action against enemy Japanese forces off Corregidor in the Philippines on 14 February 1945. Bigelow was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.[1]

USS Bigelow (DD-942) at sea in January 1967
History
United States
NameUSS Bigelow
NamesakeElmer Charles Bigelow
Ordered30 July 1954
BuilderBath Iron Works
Laid down6 July 1955
Launched2 February 1957
Acquired1 November 1957
Commissioned8 November 1957
Decommissioned5 November 1982
Stricken1 June 1990
MottoConcorditer Pugnamus
FateSunk as target, 2 April 2003
General characteristics
Class and typeForrest Sherman-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 2,800 tons standard
  • 4,050 tons full load
Length407 ft (124 m) waterline, 418 ft (127 m) overall.
Beam45 ft (14 m)
Draft22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion4 x 1,200 psi (8.3 MPa) Foster Wheeler boilers, Westinghouse steam turbines; 70,000 shp (52,000 kW); 2 x shafts.
Speed32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement15 officers, 218 enlisted.
Armament

Bigelow was built by the Bath Iron Works Corporation at Bath in Maine. The ship was launched by Mrs. Verna B. Perry, mother of Elmer C. Bigelow.[1]

Bigelow was part of Combined Task Group CTG 136.1.1 tasked with blockading Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.[2] Bigelow received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for participating from 24 October 1962 to 21 November 1962.[3]

Bigelow saw extensive service in the Vietnam War and also served as a NASA recovery ship for the Mercury and Gemini III programs.

While operating off Vietnam on 20 April 1967, an explosion in a gun mount injured six sailors, 1 killed.

Bigelow served as a test platform for Phalanx CIWS in 1977. The mount was installed just aft of the aft radar gun director.[4][5][6]

Glenn R. Brindel, commanding officer of USS Stark during the 1987 missile attack, was executive officer of Bigelow from 1978 to 1980.[7]

Fate
Left to Right: Ainsworth, Bigelow, and Coronado pier-side in Mina Salman, Bahrain in the summer of 1981. Coronado, the flagship of the U.S. Middle East Forces at the time, was painted white as is tradition for flagships since the Great White Fleet.

Bigelow decommissioned 5 November 1982.

She was sold for scrap to the Fore River Shipyard and Iron Works at Quincy, Massachusetts, on 11 December 1992. When the Fore River Shipyard went bankrupt she was resold to N. R. Acquisition Incorporated of New York City by the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court. She was re-acquired by the Navy for disposition as a target ship, stricken 1 June 1990 and was "Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise" (presumably sunk as a gunnery target) on or before 2 April 2003.[8]

References
  1. "Bigelow". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command.
  2. Naval Historical Center. The Naval Quarantine of Cuba, 1962: Quarantine, 22 -26 October Archived 30 November 2001 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. Naval Historical Center. U.S. Navy Ships and Units Which Received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for Participating in the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962.
  4. Navweaps.com 20 mm Phalanx Close-in Weapon System (CIWS).
  5. All Hands Magazine January 2001 Archived 20 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. NavSource.org contains an image of the CIWS mount.
  7. Skipper is veteran of Vietnam; The Patriot - News. Harrisburg, Pa.: 19 May 1987. pg. A.2
  8. N.V.R. indicates that the ship was disposed of on 2 April 2003. That date may be merely the date on which the N.V.R. updated its records; it is not indicated that the ship was sunk on that date.
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