Эсминец «Лири» (DD/DDR 879): История службы

Gearing class destroyer

USS Leary (DD/DDR 879) (radio call sign: "Home Run"), one of the longest lasting s, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Clarence F. Leary USNRF (1894–1918), who lost his life in the line of duty. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

Learys keel was laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corporation at Orange, Texas on 11 August 1944. The ship was launched on 20 January 1945 and was christened by Mrs. Theodore S. Wilkinson, wife of Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson. Leary was commissioned by the United States Navy on 7 May 1945. On 23 June 1945 Leary completed her shakedown off the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and proceeded to her home port of Norfolk, Virginia. In 1945 the Navy began converting 24 out of the 98 Gearings to radar picket ships (designated DDR in 1949) that could provide early warning of massed attack without overwhelming their Combat Information Centers. Leary was overhauled to upgrade her to a radar picket destroyer, which included installing the most advanced radar systems at the time. She then departed for Boston, Massachusetts where some fire control work was done. This work was interrupted by V J Day celebrations. Later, the ship steamed to Casco Bay, Maine where she operated with a task force to assigned to develop defenses against kamikaze attacks. Upon completion, the destroyer returned to Boston Navy Yard again where the ship was painted to participate in a Presidential Review of the Fleet in New York City on Navy Day 1945. After the Presidential review, she returned to Norfolk and joined DESRON 1. While there, she picked up some army troops. The squadron proceeded through the Panama Canal and docked at San Diego, where the army troops disembarked. Soon after, she proceeded to Pearl Harbor, then on to Yokosuka.

The ship underwent an extensive Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization I (FRAM I) overhaul between April 1964 and January 1965. This removed her DDR radars, and Leary was redesignated as DD 879 again on 1 July 1964. Between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, she served on a peacekeeping mission off Santo Domingo as American troops were landed to prevent political chaos and subversion. Leary saw active combat duty during the war in the Vietnam War. The standard rotation for destroyers was a few months combat tour of duty at sea, usually around five months. At the conclusion of her tour of duty, the destroyer would return to port for maintenance, usually her home port. While in port the crew would receive leave and go ashore. When maintenance was complete, the crew would return from leave and the ship would spend a period of time undergoing tests or exercises near port. When exercises were finished, the ship would receive their orders and then return to sea for a new tour of duty. This was Learys routine for her entire operational life. She was among the destroyers that protected aircraft from the carriers on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf. During periods of sustained air operations against North Vietnam Leary, along with the other destroyers on patrol, were responsible for providing protective cover for as many as three aircraft carriers at once. This included firing her guns and destroying missile placements in North Vietnam that were firing at the fleet. Her guns were often fired during naval gunfire support missions. Leary was also regularly called upon to provide emergency search and rescue duties, and was responsible for saving the lives of many who would otherwise have been lost at sea. Leary was rotated out of combat in late 1965, and at the conclusion of her tour of duty, returned to her home port in Norfolk for routine maintenance. Afterwards, the destroyer participated in extensive antisubmarine warfare exercises off the coast of North Carolina and Puerto Rico. She then returned to Norfolk on 16 December 1965. Following another month of operations, she once again readied for deployment. Leary departed Norfolk on 4 March 1966 for a five month tour of duty in the Mediterranean on patrol with the 6th Fleet. Afterwards, Leary returned to Norfolk on 12 August 1966 for a month of leave and regular maintenance. The remainder of the year was spent conducting local exercises, including an extensive evaluation of her two advanced QH 50 DASH helicopter drones. From 3 to 17 March 1967, Leary briefly served as a Sonar School Ship at Key West, Florida. On 5 July Leary once again passed through the Panama Canal and was quickly en route to an extended tour of duty off the coast of Vietnam. She was accompanied by the destroyers Cony, Waldron, and Damato. On arrival, she was immediately assigned to provide needed gunfire support off the Vietnamese coast as she alternated duty with the carriers on Yankee Station. Periodically, Leary reinforced the 7th Fleet cruisers and she provided naval gunfire support to allied forces in South Vietnam. On 9 October Leary operated on Baie de Ganh Rai of the Mekong River Delta in South Vietnam. In 1967 Leary was active in Operation Sea Dragon and was responsible for using her guns to destroy land targets, as well as interdict sea lines of communication between North and South Vietnam. Steaming generally in pairs, the two to four American and Australian destroyers and one cruiser worked with carrier based spotter planes, such as the Douglas A 1 Skyraider and Grumman S 2 Tracker, to find, identify, and destroy infiltrating vessels and shore targets. The destroyers took heavy fire from North Vietnamese coastal batteries, and Leary would immediately return fire. Although it was reported that life aboard Sea Dragon destroyers proved stressful and tiring, morale consistently remained high because of the operation's effectiveness. While several ships were hit, no U. S. or Australian vessel was sunk during the two year long Sea Dragon operation and Leary remained undamaged. Leary remained active in Sea Dragon until the end of October 1968. Then in January 1969 Leary again passed through the Panama Canal and was deployed for duty with the 7th Fleet providing gunfire support to U. S. operations in Vietnam until October 1969, after which she returned to her home port in Norfolk.

From January through October 1969 Leary made a Western Pacific cruise for extended deployment with the 7th Fleet providing gun fire support to US operations in Vietnam. On 5 November, the 632 feet (193 m) Liberian tanker Keo broke in half about 30 mile (48 km) east of Cape May, New Jersey. First reports were that 36 crewmen were safe on the stern section of the ship. Leary was immediately dispatched to the scene, along with two United States Coast Guard cutters, two C 130 aircraft, the destroyer Hugh Purvis, and the cruiser Fox. However, before any of the ships or the aircraft arrived, the stern quickly sank, and all 36 crewmen were lost. From May through October 1970 Leary performed a Mediterranean cruise and from December 1971 to June 1972 the destroyer made another Mediterranean cruise which would be her final major cruise before conducting operations off the East Coast, which continued to her decommissioning on 31 October 1973. Leary returned one last time to Norfolk, and on 31 October 1973, stood to for her decommissioning ceremony as she was recognized for her 28 years of distinguished and honorable service to the United States Navy. USS Leary DD/DDR 879 was recognized as one of the longest serving Gearing class destroyers in the Navy. Leary was carefully examined for weapons effects testing, and provided vital information on structural integrity and survivability which assisted in the design and planning of later destroyers. After the tests were completed, she was transferred to the inactive fleet and stricken from the U. S. Naval Vessel Register on 2 June 1975.

In 1978 Spain ratified a new constitution, and was now a newly free democratic state. The United States had pledged the new government their support. On 17 May 1978, Leary once again took to the sea and was loaned to Spain to aid in the transition of the new Spanish democracy. She was renamed Langara (D64) in the Spanish Navy. She was part of Spain's battle to suppress piracy and smuggling, which were very serious threats from opponents of the new free Spanish government. After Spain joined NATO, the destroyer found herself once again serving alongside other United States naval vessels. Langara spent the next fourteen years serving with NATO and insuring the survival of the new Spanish democracy until the effects of age overcame the ship. In 1992, she was stricken and broken up for scrap by Spain after a marathon 47 years of service on the Earth's oceans, having protected two democracies and visited every sea at least once.