USS Dale (CG 19) - Unofficial US Navy Site

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General Characteristics Crew List Memorabilia Cruise Books Accidents aboard the Ship History Patch Gallery Image Gallery to end of page USS Dale (CG 19)- formerly DLG 19 -- decommissioned -- sunk as target -

USS DALE was the fourth ship in the LEAHY - class of "double-end" guided missile cruisers and the fifth ship in the Navy named for Commodore Richard Dale, who earned distinction as a naval leader during the American Revolution. On April 6, 2000, the DALE became the victim of a SINKEX of the Navy in the Atlantic. DALE was last homeported in Mayport, Fla., and has won the Atlantic Fleet Battle Efficiency E Award for 1977 and 1980.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: November 7, 1958
	Keel laid: September 6, 1960
	Launched: July 28, 1962
	Commissioned: November 23, 1963
	Decommissioned: September 27, 1994
	Builder: New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.
	Propulsion system:4 - 1200 psi boilers; 2 General Electric geared turbines
	Propellers: two
	Length: 535 feet (163 meters)
	Beam: 53 feet (16.1 meters)
	Draft: 26 feet (7.9 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 7,800 tons
	Speed: 30+ knots
	Aircraft: none
	Armament: two Mk 141 Harpoon missile launchers, two 20mm Phalanx CIWS, two Mk-10 missile launchers for Standard missiles (ER), Mk 46 torpedoes from two Mk-32 triple mounts, one Mk 16 ASROC missile launcher
	Crew: 27 officers and 413 enlisted

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Crew List:This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS DALE. 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 DALE memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS DALE Cruise Books:

• Mediterranean and North Atlantic Cruise Book 1973
• Mediterranean Cruise Book 1978-79
• Mediterranean Cruise Book 1984

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Accidents aboard USS DALE:

Date	Where	Events
April 1983	Indian Ocean	USS DALE collides with the Royal Navy frigate HMS AMBASCADE. The AMBASCADE is laid up in Bombay, India, during May while work on "new bow material" is carried out.More information including photos of the HMS AMBASCADE can be found here.

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USS DALE History: Built at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, DALE was commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 23 November 1963. Upon entering service she was assigned to the Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force U.S. Pacific Fleet. As a unit of the Pacific Fleet, DALE made five deployments to the far-east for duty with the U.S. Seventh Fleet. During these deployments, she operated in support of U.S. military operations in South Vietnam. DALE was decommissioned on 10 November 1970 for modernization to increase flexibility in combat systems. A major portion of the modernization was the installation of the Naval Tactical Data Systems (NTDS) which provides real time communications and information displays to ship and force commanders. Upon recommissioning on 11 December 1971, DALE was assigned to Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and homeported in Newport, Rhode Island. DALE began her first Mediterranean Deployment in June 1973, participated in the multinational exercise "Swift Move" in northern European waters, and helped augment the Sixth Fleet during the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War. In February 1974, DALE moved to her new homeport in Mayport, Florida. During 1974, DALE was selected as the operational platform for the newly deployed AN/SPS-49 two-dimensional air search radar, which took DALE to the Caribbean several times during 1974 and early 1975. In October 1975, DALE deployed again to the Mediterranean, participating successfully in several national and multinational exercises and earning praise from Commander, Sixth Fleet and Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe on her departure for home. Returning to Mayport in May 1976, DALE participated in the international Naval Review in New York Harbor celebrating the Nation's Bicentennial on July 4, 1976. Then DALE began a regular twelve-month overhaul at Charleston Naval Shipyard which upgraded DALE'S NTDS and Missile Fire Control Systems. Upon completion of the overhaul, DALE returned to Mayport and made preparations for another Mediterranean deployment in June 1978. DALE again had a very successful deployment and returned to Mayport in February 1979 with many commendations from both military and civilian authorities. In September 1979, DALE deployed to the North Atlantic for two months to serve as the flagship for the Commander Striking Force Atlantic Fleet for the NATO exercise "Ocean Safari." In January and February 1980 DALE participated in the Atlantic Fleet Readiness Exercise "READEX 1-80". DALE deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in March 1980 and, as a unit of the Sixth Fleet, served as flag ship for Commander-Destroyer Group Eight. A highlight of this deployment was a visit to the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania. DALE returned to Mayport in August 1980. The remainder of the year included two trips to the Caribbean for carrier support operations and participations in "COMPUTEX/ASWEX 1-81". DALE entered Charleston Naval Shipyard in March 1981 to begin a Baseline Overhaul to update the ship's combat weapons systems and overhaul major engineering equipment. During the overhaul, which DALE completed a month early in February 1982, the 3"/50 caliber gun mounts were replaced with Harpoon missile systems, and the Phalanx Close-in Weapons Systems were added to the port and starboard sides. After completing the overhaul in February 1982 and finishing refresher training in June 1982, the ship prepared for extended forward operations. DALE sailed in December 1982 for a Mediterranean-Indian Ocean deployment that captured the strategic shift of the era from NATO's southern flank into the Arabian Sea. Early liberty and logistics stops included Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, and Athens, Greece. DALE also saw Lebanon duty in January 1983, when Sixth Fleet units maintained crisis presence off Beirut, before she transited the Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean. In theater she made port calls at Karachi, Pakistan; Trincomalee, Sri Lanka; and Mombasa, Kenya, supporting presence missions and coalition exercises tied to sea-lane security as the Iran-Iraq War affected Gulf traffic. She crossed the equator on February 26, 1983 and again on April 12, 1983, then on April 27, 1983 collided during maneuvering with HMS AMBUSCADE which suffered major bow damage, while DALE sustained lesser structural harm that would require dry-dock work on return. After a final stop at Malaga, Spain, she arrived back stateside in June 1983 and entered repairs in Florida. A follow-on Mediterranean cruise in 1984 kept DALE on allied exercises and air-defense screen duties - typical Sixth Fleet work with periodic resets at hubs such as Naples, Souda Bay, and Augusta Bay - as NATO concentrated on interoperability during a year of lower but persistent Eastern Mediterranean tension. Back home she cycled through inspections and workups to maintain missile and combat-direction readiness. The tempo quickened with the Libya confrontations of 1986. During March-April, 1986, DALE operated with carrier groups south of the "Line of Death" in the Gulf of Sidra, providing long-range air-defense and surveillance during Attain Document/freedom-of-navigation operations and the subsequent strike episode that spring. For this period (March 23-April 17, 1986) she received a Navy Unit Commendation and expeditionary recognition for the Libya contingency. To extend her service life and keep pace with evolving threats, DALE entered Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for the New Threat Upgrade (NTU) - a deep modernization of sensors, weapons control, and combat-systems integration - January 1987 through June 1988. NTU significantly improved her ability to manage dense air pictures and coordinate Standard-missile engagements in a carrier screen. Returning to sea, the cruiser deployed on May 11, 1989, for the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf, steaming through the summer into the post–Tanker War environment and earning an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for Persian Gulf (June-December 1989). The itinerary blended maritime security presence with coalition exercises and routine logistics pauses at regional support hubs before DALE moored at Mayport on November 10, 1989. Shortly thereafter she conducted counter-narcotics operations alongside a Coast Guard law-enforcement detachment (January 19-February 24, 1990), a mission set reflecting the Navy's growing peacetime support to interagency efforts in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. With Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, DALE supported early Desert Shield posture and joint coordination, for which her command was recognized with a Joint Meritorious Unit Award (August 15-October 12, 1990). As the war ended and sanctions enforcement began, she shifted to the Red Sea and Gulf for maritime interception operations under U.N. authority, earning the Southwest Asia Service Medal (June 12-July 25, 1991) and Meritorious Unit Commendation (July 24-November 2, 1991) tied to the post-conflict phase. These patrols typically alternated short at-sea enforcement periods with logistics stops at established Mediterranean and Red Sea nodes such as Souda Bay. In 1992 DALE again supported a JMUA-recognized joint evolution (March 9-April 7, 1992), then split the early 1990s between Atlantic training and Sixth Fleet commitments as Europe's security landscape shifted from superpower rivalry to crisis management. By late 1993, she joined NATO's Adriatic embargo effort against the former Yugoslavia - first under Maritime Guard and then Operation Sharp Guard - conducting surface-picture compilation, identification and query of merchant traffic, and coordination with allied intercept units. She crossed the equator during a summer 1993 patrol (July 4, 1993), a datum reflecting an interwoven schedule that year of counternarcotics duty in the Eastern Pacific and subsequent swing back toward the Med. DALE's Sharp Guard stretch ran November 1993-May 1994, with brief in-port resets at theater logistics hubs between patrol boxes in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. After three decades of service, DALE's career closed at her long-time Atlantic home. A public "open base" day in Mayport (June 25, 1990) had already marked her as a familiar community presence. The ship formally decommissioned on September 27, 1994, with a ceremony earlier that month. Following several years in inactive status, she was used for weapons-effects testing and ultimately sunk as a target on April 6, 2000, in deep Atlantic water off the U.S. East Coast.

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USS DALE Patch Gallery:

contributed by Anthony Schneider

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USS DALE Image Gallery:

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