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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Puget Sound (AD-38)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Echo - Sierra - Papa
 NESP
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation
Second Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (4) - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (5) - Navy Expeditionary Medal (3-Lebanon)
Third Row - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Lebanon, 2-Libya) - Southwest Asia Service Medal (2)
Fourth Row - Sea Service Deployment Ribbon - Kuwait Liberation (Saudi Arabia) - Kuwait Liberation (Kuwait)
Samuel Gompers Class Destroyer Tender:
  • Laid down, 15 February 1965, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA.
  • Launched, 16 September 1966
  • Commissioned USS Puget Sound (AD-38), 27 April 1968, CAPT. R. B. Jacobs USN in command
  • Decommissioned, 27 January 1996
  • Laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Philadelphia, PA., maintenance category B
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 13 December 2007
  • Final Disposition, contract awarded, 11 January 2008 to ESCO Marine, Brownsville, TX. to dismantle ex-USS Puget Sound
    Specifications:
    Displacement 13,458 t.(lt) 20,132 t. (fl)
    Length 643'
    Beam 85'
    Draft 30' (limiting)
    Speed 20+ kts.
    Complement 1,806
    Armament one single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount
    Propulsion two 600 lb Steam boilers, 20,000 Shaft horsepower, single propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Puget Sound 632k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) under way in the Straits of Juan De Fuca during her initial shakedown cruise in March 1968. Paul Klump USS Puget Sound
    Puget Sound 62k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) under way in 1968, location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Robert Hurst
    Puget Sound 73k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) moored pierside at Naval Station Newport, R.I., November 1968. Photo taken from USS Hugh Purvis (DD-709) © Richard Leonhardt
    Puget Sound 39k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) moored pierside, circa 1972, location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, December 1972 issue.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Puget Sound 91k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) tending destroyers at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1972-73.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, September 1973.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Puget Sound 116k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) moored pierside at D&S piers NavSta Norfolk, VA. with USS King (DDG-41) and possibly USS Scott (DDG-995) opposite side of the pier, circa late 1980's. .
    Puget Sound 153k Sixth Fleet Flagship USS Puget Sound (AD-38) fires a salute during change of command ceremonies at Gaeta, Italy, 5 June 1981.
    US Navy photo by PH1 Robert Atkinson, from "All Hands" magazine, October 1981 issue.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Moinester 132k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) at Trieste, 1 December 1981. Ships alongside are USS Moinester (FF-1097) and USS Coontz (DDG-40).
    US Navy photo, DNSN8207028, by PH1 Douglas Tesner.    		 Defense Visual Information Center
    Puget Sound 186k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) receives supplies from a CH-46 helicopter belonging to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 6 (HC-6) assigned to the USS Concord (AFS-5) by vertrep at Gaeta, Italy, circa 1981.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1982 issue.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Puget Sound 105k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) receives supplies from a CH-46 helicopter belonging to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 6 (HC-6) assigned to the USS Concord (AFS-5) by vertrep at Gaeta, Italy, circa 1981. Note the destroyer USS John Rodgers (DD-983) alongside to port.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1982 issue.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Puget Sound 120k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) secured to her moorings at Gaeta, Italy, circa 1981.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1982 issue.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Puget Sound 76k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) moored pierside at Barcelona, Spain, 19 September 1982. Puget Sound was the flagship for ComSixthFlt, from 1980 to 1985. Note; USS Sylvania (AFS 2) outboard port side. Photo by Fabio Peña
    Puget Sound 141k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) with USS Connole (FF-1056) and USS La Moure County (LST-1194) alongside, at Beirut Lebanon, circa 1983 Photos by Michael Brown USS Puget Sound
    Puget Sound 404k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) moored pierside at Trieste, Italy, circa 1983 with two destroyers and an auxiliary alongside. The inboard destroyer appears to be USS John Rogers (DD-983). Photos by Michael Brown USS Puget Sound
    Puget Sound 499k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) conducting a refueling at sea with USNS Truckee (T-AO-147), circa 1983, while underway in the Mediterranean Sea. Photos by Michael Brown USS Puget Sound
    Puget Sound 512k
    Puget Sound 506k
    Puget Sound 316k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) moored at Gaeta, Italy , circa 1983 with two destroyers alongside. The outboard destroyer is USS Thorn (DD-988). Photos by Michael Brown USS Puget Sound
    Puget Sound 113k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) nests off Athens, Greece with (from outboard to inboard) USS Virginia (CGN-38), USS McCandless (FF-1084) and USS South Carolina (CGN-37) .
    US Navy photo by PH2 Dorothy J. Affeldt, from "All Hands" magazine, November 1983 issue.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Puget Sound 68k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) at Santa Semana, Malaga, Spain, April 1984. Photo by
    Ignacio Lopez
    ex member Armada Espanola
    Puget Sound 122k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) moored pierside at Marseille, France, circa 1987-88, with units of the Sixth Fleet alongside. Photo by Philippe Gonzales
    Puget Sound 173k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) and USS Comte de Grasse (DD-974) moored pierside, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo by PH3 Joan Zoft, from "All Hands" magazine, January 1988 issue.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Puget Sound 66k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) underway, date and location unknown.
    ©Atlantic Fleet Sales, Norfolk, VA.    		 Mike Smolinski
    Puget Sound 59k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Tom Langford
    Puget Sound 228k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) moored pierside D&S Piers, Naval Station Norfolk, VA., spring of 1991, Across the pier is either USS Scott (DD-995) or USS Kidd (DDG-993), Dave Spence
    Puget Sound 67k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) underway, date and location unknown. Derrick S. Hartshorn
    Puget Sound
    09033874    		 319k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) underway off Norfolk, vA., date unknown.
    ©Nobe Smith    		 Nicholas Tiberio
    Puget Sound 275k View of Naval Station Norfolk from the waterside. Stern view of USS Puget Sound (AD-38), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) moored at the carrier pier and various other US and foreign Navy ships, circa 1994. Photos by Cody Shaffer
    Puget Sound 188k
    Puget Sound 159k
    Puget Sound
    09033875    		 161k USS Puget Sound (AD-38) underway off Norfolk, VA., date unknown.
    ©Nobe Smith    		 Nicholas Tiberio
    Puget Sound 212k Ex-USS Puget Sound (AD-38) laid up at the Philadelphia Naval Ship Inactive Maintenance Facility (NISMF), 20 October 29, 2007.
    Photo ©Marc Piché, Vercheres, Quebec, Canada.    		 TJ Tropea RM1 USN Ret., Courtesy Marc Piché.

    For more photos and information about USS Puget Sound, see;
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
  • Commissioning Program
  • Welcome Aboard Pamphlet, 1977
  • Decommissioning Program
    • Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Jacobs, Richard Brent, USN27 April 1968 - 26 September 1969
    02CAPT. Hamm Jr., Warren Clement, USN :RADM26 September 1969 - 7 August 1970
    03CAPT. Aikler Jr., William Joseph, USN (USNA 1947)7 August 1970 - 2 September 1971
    04CAPT. Hallam, Orval Keith, USN2 September 1971 - 13 August 1973
    05CAPT. Angleman, Cornell Carpenter, USN (USNA 1945)13 August 1973 - 16 August 1975
    06CAPT. Horne III, Charles Francis, USN (USNA 1952) :RADM16 August 1975 - 26 August 1977
    07CAPT. Kerrigan, Robert Joseph, USN26 August 1977 - 24 August 1979
    08CAPT. Stewart, George Wallace, USN24 August 1979 - 21 August 1981
    09CAPT. Blesch, Jerry Morgan, USN (USNA 1962) (Biography)21 August 1981 - 15 July 1983
    10CAPT. Dachos, John, USN15 July 1983 - 28 June 1985
    11CAPT. McCarton, Joseph Francis, USN28 June 1985 - 19 June 1987
    12CAPT. Colavito, Thomas Joseph, USN19 June 1987 - 25 August 1989
    13CAPT. Maloit Jr., Robert James, USN 25 August 1989 - 23 August 1991
    14CAPT. Secrest III, David Emmett Heaume, USN (USNA 1965)23 August 1991 - 30 July 1993
    15CAPT. Kline, Howard Keith, USN (USNA 1969)30 July 1993 - 17 March 1995
    16CAPT. Lohrmann, Walter Richard, USN (USNA 1970)17 March 1995 - 27 January 1996
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    Last Updated 16 February 2024