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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive



Ship's Patches courtesy of Mike Smolinski

USS Bridget (DE 1024)


Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign:
N - P - W - X
Tactical Voice Radio Call: "Abington"
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: National Defense Service Medal
Second Row: Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal w/ 1 star - Vietnam Service Medal w/ 2 stars - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
"Submersa Cavete"
(Submarines Beware)
Specifications:
Class: Courtney
Type: SCB No. 72 / 1954 - 55
Number in Class: 10
Displacement: 1,314 tons (light), 1,877 tons (full)
Length: 308' (wl), 314' 6" (oa)
Beam: 36' 9" (extreme)
Draft: 19' 6" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 2 Foster-Wheeler boilers; 1 De Laval geared turbine; 20,000 shp; 1 shaft
Speed: 26 kts
Range: 6,000 nm @ 12 knots
Complement: 12 / 161
Guns: 4 - 3"/50 (76mm) Mk33 Guns (2x2)
ASW Weapons: 1 Mk 108 ASW rocket launcher, 6 - 12.75" (324mm) Mk 32 torpedo tubes (2x3) / Mk 46 torpedos
Radars: AN/SPS-5 (surface), AN/SPS-6C (air)
Sonars: AN/SQS-4
Fire Control Systems: Mk63 Gun FCS, Mk105 Underwater Battery FCS
Bridget (DE 1024) Building and Operational Data:
  • 19 September 1955: Keel laid at the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Co., Seattle, Wash.
  • 25 April 1956: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mr. Francis J. Bridget, widow of Captain Bridget
  • 24 October 1957: Commissioned, Lcdr J. B. Haines in command, assigned to the U.S. Pacific Fleet Cruiser-Destroyer Force as a unit of Escort Squadron 3 at San Diego, Cal.
  • 1 February 1968: CortRon 3 disestablished, transferrred to DesRon 33 (CruDesFlot 11)
  • 28 September 1968: Assigned to the Naval Reserve Force (NRF) as a unit of ResDesDiv 273 at Seattle, Wash., relieved USS Whitehurst (DE 634)
  • 7 July 1971: Transferred to DesRon 37 (NRF) as flagship
  • 10 September 1973: Relieved of NRF duties by USS Epperson (DD 719)
  • 12 November 1973: Decommissioned, Struck from the NVR
  • 1 September 1974: Sold for scrapping
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Bridget 101k Artist's conception of Bridget (post-FRAM) by the renowned graphic illustrator John Barrett, with the text written by naval author and historian Robert F. Sumrall. Their company, Navy Yard Associates, offers prints of most destroyers, submarines and aircraft carriers in various configurations during the ship's lifetime. ALL destroyer escorts are available. The prints can be customized with ship's patches, your photograph, your bio, etc. When you purchase artwork from them, please indicate that you heard about their work from Navsource. Navy Yard Associates
    Bridget 72k undated image Jerry J. Hagan, MMCM
    USN, Ret. (1959-1980)
    Bridget 99k line abreast, in hull number order
    Bridget 159k September 1957: San Francisco Bay (© Allied Photographers, San Francisco, Cal.) Robert M. Cieri
    Bridget 78k Fall 1959: Yokosuka, Japan - USS Orleck (DD 886), Bridget, and USCG Winnebago (W-40) Derick Hartshorn
    Coxswain, Port Services
    NavSta Yokosuka, Japan
    Bridget 90k Fall 1959: Yokosuka, Japan - stern view of Orleck and Bridget.
    ***Evans / Bridget*** 89k 4 March 1961: San Diego, Cal. - "Enemy Sub Killers" Nestled alongside USS Kearsarge (CVS 33) at San Diego, are three modern destroyer escorts and three destroyers of the ComCruDesPac force. The carrier and her group of 'greyhounds' make up a Navy Hunter-Killer Group now operating in the Pacific. Included are (outboard in) Bridget, USS Evans (DE 1023), USS Hooper (DE 1026) all of CortRon Three; USS Lofberg (DD 759), USS Taussig (DD7 46) and USS John A. Bole (DD 755), all of DesDiv 72." (Official U.S. Navy Photograph from the Hoyt "Bud" Colburn Collection)

    NOTE: Carol is the author of Radioman: An Eyewitness Account of Pearl Harbor & World War II in the Pacific (Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martins Press, 2008); ISBN-10 031238694X and ISBN-13 978-0312386948. Check on www.carolhipperson.com for availability.    		 Carol Edgemon Hipperson
    www.carolhipperson.com
    Bridget 88k November 1963: location unknown Robert Hurst
    Bridget 185k April 1967: Yokosuka, Japan - Bridget arriving in port. Darryl Baker
    Bridget 80k October 1967: Yokosuka, Japan - Bridget arriving in port.
    Bridget Memorabilia
    Bridget
    Plaque
    Bridget
    Navsource    		 Ship's
    Mug
    Bridget
    Navsource
    View the USS Bridget (DE 1024) DANFS history entry
    located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    View the Bridget Supplemental History
     from Tom Lawson
    Bridget's Commanding Officers
    Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves
    Dates of Command Commanding Officers
    1.)  24 Oct 1957 - 07 Jul 1958Lcdr. John B. Haines
    2.)  07 Jul 1958 - 31 May Lcdr. Worth Harrington Bagley (ret. as Adm., Vice CNO)
    3.)  31 May 1960 - 27 Dec 1961 Lcdr. Paul Boland
    4.)  27 Dec 1961 - 11 Feb 1963 Lcdr. Martin E. Soper
    5.)  11 Feb 1963 - 30 Mar 1964 Lcdr. Eugene Joseph Reiher
    6.)  30 Mar 1964 - 22 Oct 1965 Lcdr. McCafferty
    7.)  22 Oct 1965 - 21 Aug 1967 Lcdr. Conrad Jonathan Rorie (ret. as Radm.)
    8.)  21 Aug 1967 - 30 Jul 1968 Lcdr. Gerald Michael Carter, Jr.
    9.)  30 Jul 1968 - 28 Jan 1970 Lcdr. James Albert Hodges
    10.) 28 Jan 1970 - 09 Sep 1971Lcdr. James Doran Korthe
    11.) 09 Sept 1971 - 12 Nov1973 Lcdr. Fred Wilkin Bailey
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Escort Squadron (CortRon) 3 Association
    (and all ships that belonged to the squadron from WWII onward)
    5 - 9 April 2011 at the Riverview Renaissance Hotel, Mobile, Ala.
    Reunion Contact Name: Carol Peterson, Bay City Convention & Tours, Inc.
    Address: PO Box 304 / Mobile AL 36601-0304
    Phone: (251) 479-9970 or (800) 338-5597
    E-mail: Bay City Conventions
    Or
    Association Contact Name: Stan Virden
    Phone: (H) 251-967-4287 or (C) 251-209-1984
    E-mail: Stan Virden
    Note About Contacts

    Contact information is compiled from various sources over a period of time and may, or may not, be correct. Every effort has been
    made to list the newest contact. However, our entry is only as good as the latest information that's been sent to us. We list only
    a contact for the ship if one has been sent to us. We do NOT have crew lists or rosters available. Please see the Frequently Asked
    Questions section on Navsource's Main Page for that information.

    Additional Resources
    Tom Lawson's USS Bridget Web Site
    Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
    The Destroyer History Foundation
    Tin Can Sailors Shipmate Registry - USS Bridget
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    This Page Created And Maintained by Mike Smolinski
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated 18 January 2012