USS Belknap (CG 26) - Unofficial US Navy Site

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General Characteristics Crew List Memorabilia Cruise Books Accidents aboard USS Belknap About the Ship's Name Ship's History Image Gallery to end of page USS Belknap (CG 26)- formerly DLG 26 -- decommissioned -- sunk as a target -

USS BELKNAP was the lead ship of the BELKNAP - class of guided missile cruisers and the first ship in the Navy to carry the SH-2 helicopter on deployment. In April 1986, BELKNAP relieved the USS CORONADO (AGF 11) as the Sixth Fleet Command Ship and was homeported in Gaeta, Italy. Later, the BELKNAP was relieved by the USS LA SALLE (AGF 3).In 1995, the BELKNAP was decommissioned and about 3 1/2 years later she became the "victim" of a Sinkex of the Navy. The BELKNAP was sunk on September 24, 1998, off the east coast of the United States. The exact location is 036° 31' 00.3" North, 071° 58' 00.5" West.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: May 18, 1961
	Keel laid: February 5, 1962
	Launched: July 20, 1963
	Commissioned: November 7, 1964
	Decommissioned: February 15, 1995
	Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine.
	Propulsion system:4 - 1200 psi boilers; 2 General Electric geared turbines
	Propellers: two
	Length: 548 feet (167 meters)
	Beam: 55 feet (16.8 meters)
	Draft: 28,5 feet (8.7 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 8,100 tons
	Speed: 30+ knots
	Aircraft: one SH-2 helicopter
	Armament: two Mk 141 Harpoon missile launchers, one Mk-42 5-inch/54 caliber gun, two 20mm Phalanx CIWS, one Mk-10 missile launcher for Standard missiles (ER) and ASROC, Mk 46 torpedoes from two Mk-32 triple mounts
	Crew: 27 officers and 450 enlisted + staff (accomodations for 64 officers and 546 enlisted)

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Crew List:This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS BELKNAP. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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• Click here to see which USS BELKNAP memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS BELKNAP Cruise Books:

• WestPac Cruise Book 1969-70
• Mediterranean Cruise Book 1971-72
• UNITAS Cruise Book 1974
• Sixth Fleet Flagship Cruise Book 1986-94

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Accidents aboard USS BELKNAP:

Date	Where	Events
November 21, 1975	Ionian Sea, 25 nauticalmiles off Italy	USS BELKNAP is involved in an oil spill during refueling with the USNS WACCAMAW (T-AO 109) in the Ionian Sea.
November 22, 1975	70 nautical mileseast off Sicily, Italy	USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) and USS BELKNAP collide in rough seas at night during air exercises east of Sicily. The overhanging flight deck of the carrier cuts into the superstructure of the cruiser setting off fires on the BELKNAP which are not controlled for two-and-one-half hours on account of frequent flarebacks. Because of the presence of nuclear weapons on board both ships the commander of Carrier Striking Forces for the Sixth Fleet sent a secret nuclear weapons accident message (a "Broken Arrow") to the Pentagon, warning of the "high probability that nuclear weapons aboard the BELKNAP (W45 Terrier missile warheads) were involved in fire and explosion but there were no direct communications with the BELKNAP at that time and no positive indications that explosions were directly related to nuclear weapons. An hour after the Broken Arrow message was sent the USS CLAUDE V. RICKETTS (DDG 5), alongside the BELKNAP fighting the fire, reported that BELKNAP personnel said "no radiation hazard exists aboard". Seven people aboard BELKNAP and one aboard the KENNEDY are killed. The sailor aboard the KENNEDY died from smoke inhalation when he entered a smoke filled compartment without an OBA. Both ships got assistance from other ships: BELKNAP had three other ships helping her and the JFK had one. The BELKNAP suffers serious damage, is put out of commission, and towed back to the US to effect repairs lasting four years. BELKNAP's destroyed superstructures were rebuilt at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from 1978-80. BELKNAP rejoind the fleet in 1980.Smaller fires and other damage aboard USS KENNEDY are quickly contained and the carrier continues operations. The seven sailors killed aboard USS BELKNAP are: MM1 James W. Cass MM2 Douglas S. Freeman EM2 Michael W. Kawola DS3 Gerald A. Ketcham STG3 Brent W. Lassen FA David A. Messmer DS2 Gordon T. St. Marie ( click to enlarge )

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About the Ship's Name: USS BELKNAP was named after Rear Admiral George Eugene Belknap and his son, Rear Admiral Reginald Rowe Belknap. George Eugene Belknap was born on January 22, 1832, in Newport, New Hampshire. He was appointed a midshipman on October 7, 1847. During 1856-1957, he served with the East India Squadron, taking a prominent part in engagements with the Barrier Forts, Canton River, China, in November of 1856. Admiral Belknap’s role in the Civil War was an outstanding one. He commanded a division of boats from USS ST. LOUIS, which reinforced Fort Pickens, Florida, in April 1861. He participated in the operations in Charleston Harbor and commanded the ironclad CANONICUS in attacks on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, on December 24-25, 1864 and on January 13-15, 1865, which occasioned its surrender. He “fired the last gun” against the Charleston defenses prior to their collapse. In 1867-1868, he commanded USS HARTFORD on Asiatic Station, and led the expedition against Formosa. During 1873-1874, he performed important work surveying in the Pacific, and from 1875 until the time of his retirement on January 1894 performed eminently in diverse positions at sea and ashore. During the latter period he was commissioned Rear Admiral, to date from February 12, 1889. Rear Admiral Belknap died at Key West, Florida, on April 7, 1903, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

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USS BELKNAP History: USS BELKNAP was constructed at Bath Iron Works during the early 1960s, launched in 1963, and commissioned as DLG 26 on November 7, 1964 at Boston. After trials and weapons qualifications (Terrier surface-to-air missile system, ASROC, and 5-inch gun calibrations) she joined the Atlantic Fleet from Norfolk and soon settled into a Mediterranean pattern typical of the Cold War: sixth-month Sixth Fleet deployments interleaved with East Coast training, refresher at Guantanamo Bay, and short shipyard availabilities in Boston and Norfolk. Early port calls reflected that routine: Naples and Gaeta (Italy), Piraeus (Greece), Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Toulon (France), and periodic logistics stops at Augusta Bay, Sicily. In the late 1960s her Med cruises coincided with recurring regional tensions (Arab-Israeli crises and Cyprus friction), and BELKNAP spent much of those periods in air-defense picket stations and exercise screens for the carrier task groups that formed the backbone of U.S. presence in the theater. Across the early 1970s, the cruiser (then still designated a guided-missile frigate, DLG) alternated Mediterranean tours with NATO exercises in the eastern Atlantic - Ocean Safari, National Week, and allied anti-submarine drills - plus short upkeep periods at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. On June 30, 1975 the Navy's fleet-wide redesignation moved BELKNAP from DLG 26 to CG 26. The change reflected her role as a guided-missile cruiser within carrier air-defense formations rather than an anti-submarine escort. That autumn, while operating with USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) during night flight operations in the Ionian Sea, BELKNAP suffered a catastrophic collision on November 22, 1975. Fire engulfed the aluminum superstructure and burned out large portions of the ship topside. Emergency efforts stabilized the hull. After interim work at Augusta Bay and Naples, BELKNAP returned to the United States for a long reconstruction. The rebuild became one of the era's most extensive surface-combatant restorations. Beginning in 1976, shipyard teams replaced large sections of the superstructure with steel, renewed combat systems and wiring, and - most significantly - added command-and-control spaces to convert the ship for flagship duty. BELKNAP recommissioned in 1980 and shortly thereafter was assigned as Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet flagship, forward-based at Gaeta, Italy. From that point the ship's operating profile changed: rather than a line air-defense unit, she functioned as a command ship with a four-star staff embarked, routinely mooring at Gaeta between underway periods and shifting for conferences, exercises, and crisis management across the Mediterranean. As Sixth Fleet flagship in the early 1980s, BELKNAP's schedule tracked a turbulent regional picture. During the Lebanon crisis she operated in the Eastern Mediterranean in 1982-1984, supporting fleet command of multinational presence and amphibious contingents off Beirut. Port calls in this period frequently clustered around Naples, Haifa, Alexandria, and Augusta Bay to support liaison work and logistics amid short-notice tasking. In 1985, Mediterranean terrorism (including the ACHILLE LAURO hijacking) kept the fleet at heightened alert. BELKNAP's role centered on coordination and information flow among allied navies and U.S. interagency partners as port visits continued in Toulon, Cagliari, and Barcelona. Rising tensions with Libya in 1986 - the Gulf of Sidra freedom-of-navigation operations (March) and El Dorado Canyon air strikes (April) - placed the flagship in the central Med for extended periods. While carriers and surface action groups executed operations to the south, BELKNAP's staff hub managed airspace deconfliction, maritime surveillance, and allied notifications. The ship rotated through brief resets at Naples and Augusta Bay between evolutions. In the late 1980s, BELKNAP continued as the fleet's planning and communications node during recurring NATO exercises (Display Determination, Dogfish, Dragon Hammer) and routine Cold-War presence. The end of the decade brought normalization initiatives - more frequent port engagements in Marseille, Trieste, Valletta, and Izmir - and growing attention to maritime embargo enforcement as the geopolitical map shifted. After August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the flagship's Mediterranean tasking linked to Desert Shield/Desert Storm by managing sea-lane control, amphibious readiness in the Med, and reinforcement flows into the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. BELKNAP's underway periods in 1990-1991 featured frequent logistics calls at Souda Bay, Crete, and coordination meetings in Naples, while the carriers transited to the war zone. Following the Gulf War, the ship's command role increasingly pointed north and east. As Yugoslavia broke apart, Sixth Fleet led maritime embargo and sanctions enforcement in the Adriatic. From 1992 onward, BELKNAP supported Maritime Monitor/Maritime Guard and, later, Sharp Guard, the NATO/WEU effort to interdict prohibited traffic bound for the Balkans. In practice, that meant extended staff planning blocks at sea in the southern Adriatic and central Med, with periodic port periods at Taranto, Brindisi, Trieste, and Split to coordinate with allied commanders and U.N. liaison teams. The flagship schedule also included recurring stops at Gaeta for maintenance and crew turnover, and at Naples for conferences with Italian Navy leadership and NATO commanders. Throughout her flagship years, BELKNAP cycled through maintenance that balanced forward-deployed demands with aging-hull realities. She completed pier-side and short dry-dock availabilities in Gaeta/Naples during the early 1980s and undertook deeper combat-system refresh work during back-to-back in-port periods in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, electronics and communications upgrades - satellite communications, flag plot improvements, and automated message handling - kept the ship viable as a modern command platform even as newer cruisers joined the fleet. With the post–Cold War drawdown and the arrival of purpose-built command ships and modernized amphibious flag platforms, BELKNAP's long Sixth Fleet tenure neared its end. She completed her Mediterranean flagship service in 1994, shifted back to the United States for inactivation preparations, and decommissioned at Philadelphia on February 15, 1995. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register soon after, the ship's disposal followed on September 24, 1998, when ex-BELKNAP was sunk as a target off the U.S. East Coast.

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USS BELKNAP Image Gallery:

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