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USS ALBERT DAVID was the ninth ship in the GARCIA - class of frigates. Commissioned as a destroyer escort, the ALBERT DAVID was redesignated as FF 1050 on June 30, 1975. Decommissioned on September 18, 1989, the ALBERT DAVID was leased to Brazil the same day, and was recommissioned as PARÁ. Brazil officially purchased the ALBERT DAVID on January 24, 2001, and she was stricken from the Navy list the same day.
| General Characteristics: | Awarded: March 21, 1963 |
| Keel laid: April 29, 1964 | |
| Launched: December 19, 1964 | |
| Commissioned: October 1, 1968 | |
| Decommissioned: September 18, 1989 | |
| Builder: Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging, Seattle, Wash. | |
| Propulsion system: 2 Foster-Wheeler boilers; 1 Westinghouse geared turbine; 35,000shp; 1 shaft | |
| Length: 414.4 feet (126.3 meters) | |
| Beam: 44.3 feet (13.5 meters) | |
| Draft: 25.9 feet (7.9 meters) | |
| Displacement: approx. 3,500 tons full load | |
| Speed: 27 knots | |
| Armament: one Mk-16 missile launcher for ASROC missiles, two Mk-30 5-inch/38 caliber guns, | |
| Aircraft: none | |
| Crew: 16 officers, 231 enlisted |
Crew List:
This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS ALBERT DAVID. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.
USS ALBERT DAVID Cruise Books:
Accidents aboard USS ALBERT DAVID:
| Date | Where | Events |
|---|---|---|
| January 16, 1972 | Gulf of Tonkin | The USS ALBERT DAVID collides with a North Vietnamese junk and two people from the junk are lost. |
About the Ship's Name:
Albert Leroy David was born in Maryville, Missouri, on July 18, 1902. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on September 30, 1919, and served for more than two decades in a variety of assignments before being commissioned as an officer during World War II. His sea duty included service aboard USS ARKANSAS, USS ROCHESTER, USS PRESTON, USS DELAWARE, USS UTAH, USS TEXAS, USS TRENTON, USS CINCINNATI, USS SALT LAKE CITY and USS DOBBIN. After briefly transferring to the Fleet Reserve in 1939, he was recalled to active duty as international tensions increased.
During World War II, David advanced into the officer ranks and received specialized engineering training. He later joined the destroyer escort USS PILLSBURY (DE 133), which operated with the hunter-killer group centered on USS GUADALCANAL (CVE 60). The task group's mission was to locate and destroy German submarines in the Atlantic. On June 4, 1944, the group forced the German submarine U-505 to the surface off the coast of French West Africa. After the submarine's crew abandoned the damaged boat, David led a nine-man boarding party from PILLSBURY onto U-505. Despite the possibility that the submarine might sink or contain demolition charges, David entered the boat and directed the initial efforts to stop the flooding and prevent its loss.
Additional salvage teams subsequently secured U-505 and took her in tow. The submarine contained valuable German codebooks, an Enigma cipher machine, communications material and technical documents. Because the Allies did not want Germany to learn that the submarine had been captured intact, the operation remained secret for the rest of the war. U-505 reached Bermuda on June 19, 1944, becoming the first enemy warship captured on the high seas by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812 era.
For his actions during the capture, David was awarded the Medal of Honor and became the only U.S. Navy serviceman to receive that decoration for action in the Atlantic Theater during World War II. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1944.
Albert Leroy David died of a heart attack at Norfolk, Virginia, on September 17, 1945, at the age of 43. He did not live to receive the Medal of Honor personally. President Harry S. Truman presented the decoration posthumously to David's widow, Lynda Mae David, at the White House on October 5, 1945.
USS ALBERT DAVID History:
USS ALBERT DAVID was laid down by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company at Seattle, Washington, on April 28, 1964. She was launched on December 19, 1964, sponsored by the namesake's widow Lynda Mae David. She belonged to the GARCIA-class of ocean escorts developed during the Cold War primarily for anti-submarine warfare and the protection of carrier groups and other naval formations against the growing Soviet submarine force. USS ALBERT DAVID was commissioned at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on October 19, 1968, with Roy S. Reynolds in command. During the remainder of 1968, she remained in the Bremerton, Washington, area completing fitting-out work and the trials, tests and inspections required before operational service. These activities continued into 1969. In March, she made a voyage to Hawaii and subsequently proceeded to Southern California. Early in April, she began approximately five weeks of refresher training from San Diego, during which her crew worked through engineering, navigation, weapons and anti-submarine exercises intended to prepare the new destroyer escort for fleet operations.
Long Beach, California, became USS ALBERT DAVID's home port on May 1, 1969. She completed refresher training on May 9 and arrived at Long Beach on May 10. Two days later, on May 12, she departed for Bremerton and an approximately eight-week post-shakedown availability at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The yard period allowed deficiencies discovered during the ship's initial operations to be corrected and required alterations to be completed. USS ALBERT DAVID returned to sea on July 7 and headed back toward Southern California. After several days of operations from San Diego she returned to Long Beach on July 18 and spent the following months conducting First Fleet training and preparations for her first overseas deployment.
USS ALBERT DAVID departed Long Beach on October 8, 1969, for her first Western Pacific deployment. The Vietnam War was still requiring a substantial U.S. naval presence in Southeast Asia. Although the ship had been designed principally for anti-submarine warfare, her 5-inch guns allowed her to undertake naval gunfire-support missions, while her sensors and endurance made her suitable for carrier screening, air-sea rescue support, patrol and surveillance duties. She crossed the Pacific by way of Pearl Harbor and Midway Island and arrived at Yokosuka, Japan, on October 31. Following the Yokosuka visit, USS ALBERT DAVID spent approximately two weeks on Taiwan Strait patrol. The mission formed part of the continuing American naval presence between Taiwan and mainland China at a time when political and military relations between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China remained hostile. After completing the patrol, USS ALBERT DAVID visited Subic Bay in the Philippines, the principal U.S. Navy logistics and repair facility supporting Seventh Fleet operations in Southeast Asia.
On November 24, 1969, USS ALBERT DAVID reported at Da Nang, South Vietnam, and began naval gunfire-support duty. She remained on this assignment until December 10, using her 5-inch guns in support of operations ashore. After a brief stop at Da Nang, she moved into the Gulf of Tonkin. From December 11 through December 18 she operated on the southern air-sea rescue station maintained in support of aircraft conducting missions over Southeast Asia. On December 16, she joined USS HANCOCK (CVA 19) and spent two days serving as plane guard for the carrier, maintaining a position from which she could respond rapidly to aircraft or personnel entering the sea during flight operations.
USS ALBERT DAVID left the Gulf of Tonkin on December 18 and proceeded to Bangkok, Thailand, for a five-day port visit. She subsequently returned toward the operational area and on December 30 rendezvoused with USS CORAL SEA (CVA 43). She then began approximately five weeks of plane-guard duty with aircraft carriers of Task Force 77, the Seventh Fleet organization conducting carrier air operations from the Gulf of Tonkin. Early in February 1970, USS ALBERT DAVID departed the Gulf of Tonkin and visited Subic Bay and Hong Kong. On the subsequent passage back toward the operational area, she called at Okinawa. During the Okinawa visit she received orders to return to sea to investigate a Soviet trawler that had been lingering in the area. Soviet intelligence-collection vessels and other Soviet ships regularly observed American bases, exercises and carrier operations during the Cold War, and identification and surveillance of such vessels formed a recurring task for U.S. surface combatants.
USS ALBERT DAVID returned to Da Nang on February 27, 1970, and resumed naval gunfire support. At the beginning of the second week of March she left the gunline and returned to the Gulf of Tonkin to operate with Task Force 77 carriers. Eight days later, she entered Subic Bay to prepare for the return voyage to the United States. USS ALBERT DAVID departed Subic Bay on March 21 and crossed the Pacific by way of Guam, Midway Island and Pearl Harbor, arriving at Long Beach on April 9.
Following post-deployment leave and upkeep, USS ALBERT DAVID resumed First Fleet training, qualifications and inspections along the West Coast. On September 15, 1970, USS KITTY HAWK (CVA 63) transferred aviation fuel to USS ALBERT DAVID during an underway replenishment. The evolution was recorded as the carrier's first underway transfer of that type of aviation fuel to a destroyer-type ship.
At the beginning of November 1970, USS ALBERT DAVID entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard for her first regular overhaul. The yard period lasted more than eight months, occupying the remainder of 1970 and the first half of 1971. Machinery, weapons, electronics and other shipboard systems underwent maintenance and repair following the ship's initial period of fleet service and her first Southeast Asian deployment. USS ALBERT DAVID returned to sea on July 1, 1971, for post-overhaul trials and exercises. These continued through the remainder of July. During August, she underwent refresher training from San Diego, and in September she resumed regular First Fleet operations from Long Beach.
USS ALBERT DAVID departed Long Beach on November 12, 1971, for her second Western Pacific deployment. She spent more than a week in Hawaiian waters during the westward transit before continuing toward the Philippines. She arrived at Subic Bay on December 9 and remained there for almost a week. USS ALBERT DAVID departed on December 15 and reached the Gulf of Tonkin on December 17, beginning another extended period of naval gunfire-support operations off Vietnam. On January 16, 1972, while operating in the Gulf of Tonkin, USS ALBERT DAVID collided with a North Vietnamese junk. Seven occupants of the junk were recovered by the American ship, treated for minor injuries and later returned to another junk in the area. Two other people could not be found. The incident occurred while USS ALBERT DAVID remained engaged in the prolonged gunfire-support period that had begun the previous month.
At the end of January 1972, after approximately six weeks on the gunline, USS ALBERT DAVID returned to Subic Bay for replenishment and upkeep. On February 6, she returned to the combat zone, this time operating in the Gulf of Siam off South Vietnam's Military Region IV, where she again provided naval gunfire support for forces ashore. USS ALBERT DAVID departed the Gulf of Siam on February 24 and headed for the Gulf of Tonkin. On February 29, she rendezvoused with USS CONSTELLATION (CVA 64). She escorted the carrier during two days of operations in the Gulf of Tonkin and continued with her during the subsequent passage to Subic Bay. Following ten days of upkeep and repairs in the Philippines, USS ALBERT DAVID departed Subic Bay on March 14 for Hong Kong, where she remained from March 16 through March 22.
On March 22, USS ALBERT DAVID headed north by way of Okinawa toward the Sea of Japan. From March 26 through March 29, she conducted anti-submarine warfare exercises before entering Yokosuka on March 30. She remained there until April 5. The ship's schedule initially called for her to begin the return voyage to the United States, but the strategic situation in Vietnam had changed dramatically. On March 30, North Vietnam had opened the major conventional offensive generally known as the Easter Offensive, prompting a rapid increase in American naval and air operations.
USS ALBERT DAVID began the voyage home on April 5, 1972, but returned to Japan to reload equipment needed for renewed operations and then headed back toward Vietnam that same day. On April 10, she reported for naval gunfire support off the Demilitarized Zone. On April 11 and April 12, the ship operated while exposed to hostile enemy fire. After four days of gunfire-support missions, USS ALBERT DAVID joined USS LONG BEACH (CGN 9) for approximately ten days of escort duty on a picket station. LONG BEACH's long-range radar and missile systems provided an important air-surveillance capability, while the accompanying escort contributed anti-submarine and surface protection.
USS ALBERT DAVID subsequently returned to the gunline. On April 28, 1972, the ship earned Combat Action Ribbon eligibility. From April 28 through May 12, she continued conducting naval gunfire-support missions during the intensified American naval response to the North Vietnamese offensive. The maritime situation off North Vietnam changed further in May. Beginning on May 8, 1972, U.S. forces mined the approaches to Haiphong and other North Vietnamese ports during Operation Pocket Money in an effort to restrict the seaborne flow of supplies into North Vietnam. USS ALBERT DAVID did not participate in laying the mines. After completing her gunfire-support assignment, she instead spent four days operating with USS DENVER (LPD 9) on the notification line established to warn merchant shipping of the newly mined areas.
On May 17, USS ALBERT DAVID left the combat zone in company with CONSTELLATION. They reached Subic Bay on May 19 and remained there until May 22, when they departed for Singapore. Following a four-day visit to Singapore, the ships returned to sea on May 30 and headed again toward Vietnam. USS ALBERT DAVID detached from CONSTELLATION on June 2 and resumed naval gunfire support for forces operating in South Vietnam's Military Regions I and II.
After ten days on the gunline, USS ALBERT DAVID rejoined CONSTELLATION on June 12. The ships stopped briefly at Subic Bay on June 15 before returning to sea. They reached Yokosuka on June 20 for a two-day visit and departed on June 22 for the United States. USS ALBERT DAVID remained with CONSTELLATION during the eastward transit until June 30, when she was detached to proceed independently. She arrived at Long Beach on July 1.
After a month of post-deployment leave and upkeep, USS ALBERT DAVID resumed First Fleet operations on August 3, 1972, initially serving as plane guard for USS RANGER (CVA 61) in Southern California waters. On August 26, she departed Long Beach for Hawaii to participate in Rim of the Pacific 1972. The multinational exercise brought together naval forces from the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and emphasized coordinated maritime operations, including anti-submarine warfare. USS ALBERT DAVID returned to Long Beach on September 19 and remained in port for approximately three weeks before resuming operations along the California coast.
USS ALBERT DAVID remained in the Long Beach area through the closing months of 1972 and departed on January 5, 1973, for another Western Pacific deployment. She crossed the Pacific in company with CONSTELLATION and reached Subic Bay on January 22. Four days later, the ships departed for the Gulf of Tonkin. For approximately three weeks, USS ALBERT DAVID provided plane-guard and anti-submarine protection for Task Force 77 carriers during what became her final Gulf of Tonkin assignment associated directly with the Vietnam War.
The political and military situation changed rapidly after the Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973, and the ceasefire took effect the following day. Although direct U.S. combat operations in Vietnam were ending, American naval forces remained in the region to carry out provisions of the agreement. USS ALBERT DAVID left the Gulf of Tonkin and returned to Subic Bay on February 14, spending the following three weeks undergoing minor repairs and conducting training in Philippine waters.
On March 6, 1973, USS ALBERT DAVID departed Iloilo on the island of Panay for Vietnamese waters in connection with Operation End Sweep. Under the Paris Peace Accords, the United States was required to remove or neutralize the mines it had laid in North Vietnamese waters during 1972. Operation End Sweep employed minesweepers, helicopters, amphibious ships and supporting surface vessels to clear the approaches to Haiphong and other areas. USS ALBERT DAVID supported the operation until the second week of June. Her participation was interrupted by port calls at Sasebo, Subic Bay and Hong Kong, but support of the mine-clearance effort remained the principal operational purpose of this phase of the deployment.
USS ALBERT DAVID cleared Vietnamese waters on June 9, 1973. She visited Keelung, Taiwan, on June 12 and June 13 and reached Yokosuka on June 17. She departed Japan on June 19 for the United States, making brief fueling stops at Midway Island and Pearl Harbor before arriving at Long Beach on July 3. A post-deployment standdown was followed by a lengthy restricted availability at Todd Shipyard in San Pedro. While this work was underway, San Diego was designated as USS ALBERT DAVID's new home port on August 20, 1973. The restricted availability continued until late November. She returned to Long Beach on November 21 to prepare for the move and formally shifted her home port to San Diego on December 1. Local operations from San Diego began on December 7.
During the middle years of the 1970s, USS ALBERT DAVID acquired an increasingly important role in the development and operational evaluation of long-range passive anti-submarine detection equipment. By the mid-1970s, she was equipped with the SQR-15 Towed Array Sonar System. Unlike a sonar mounted in the ship's hull, the passive array was streamed astern, allowing it to listen for submarine-generated noise at considerable distances while reducing interference from the ship itself. USS ALBERT DAVID consequently became one of the surface ships used to develop tactics and operating procedures for towed-array sonar, and this specialized anti-submarine role became a significant element of her peacetime Cold War service.
USS ALBERT DAVID conducted local operations during the first four months of 1974. On April 23, she departed San Diego for the Western Pacific in company with USS LEONARD F. MASON (DD 852) and USS WADDELL (DDG 24). The ships made fueling stops at Pearl Harbor and Midway Island before reaching Yokosuka on May 14. On May 25, USS ALBERT DAVID departed with a task group centered on USS MIDWAY (CVA 41) for operations off Honshu.
The 1974 deployment differed fundamentally from her preceding Western Pacific cruises because Vietnam combat duty was no longer part of her schedule. The direct American combat role there had ended, and USS ALBERT DAVID's work returned principally to the broader Cold War missions for which she had originally been designed: anti-submarine warfare, carrier escort, surveillance and fleet exercises. During the deployment, she alternated periods at sea with port calls at Yokosuka, Hong Kong, Guam and Subic Bay. She returned to San Diego on October 22.
The conclusion of the 1974 deployment began an interval of almost three and a half years during which USS ALBERT DAVID did not make another full Western Pacific deployment. During this period, she concentrated heavily on training and anti-submarine development. From January 5 through January 11, 1975, she participated with USS BRONSTEIN (DE 1037) and USS DARTER (SS 576) in a Towed Array Sonar System exercise off Southern California. USS ALBERT DAVID and BRONSTEIN were being used to develop operational techniques for the long passive sonar array, while DARTER provided a submarine target against which tracking procedures could be evaluated.
During March and April 1975, USS ALBERT DAVID operated in Hawaiian waters as part of the Rim of the Pacific 1-75 exercise program. The multinational training again involved Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and American naval forces. Towed-array operations formed part of the frigate's activities in Hawaiian waters. On April 7, while operating during the exercise period, USS ALBERT DAVID attempted an underway refueling from KITTY HAWK in heavy seas. She returned to the West Coast during the middle of April and resumed local operations. On June 30, 1975, a Navy-wide revision of surface-ship classifications changed USS ALBERT DAVID's designation from destroyer escort DE 1050 to frigate FF 1050. In September she made another voyage to Hawaii, where she spent approximately four weeks conducting exercises before returning to San Diego early in November. Local operations, including continued work associated with towed-array sonar, occupied the following months.
On April 22, 1976, USS ALBERT DAVID began an eleven-month regular overhaul at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. The overhaul extended through the remainder of 1976 and into 1977. She completed the repair period on March 17, 1977, and returned to San Diego on March 26. The following months were devoted to trials, inspections, refresher work and restoration of operational proficiency. At the beginning of August, she again headed to Hawaii for training and returned to San Diego on August 29. She spent the remainder of 1977 in the normal West Coast readiness cycle.
USS ALBERT DAVID's long interval without a Western Pacific deployment ended on April 4, 1978, when she departed San Diego and headed toward Hawaii. During the westward passage she participated in Rim of the Pacific 1-78. She called at Pearl Harbor on April 23 and April 24 and resumed the westward voyage on April 25. USS ALBERT DAVID reached Subic Bay on May 16. For the next five months, she operated with Seventh Fleet units throughout the western Pacific. Among the major exercises was Sharkhunt XXVII, a bilateral anti-submarine exercise involving U.S. and Republic of China naval forces from September 4 through September 6. The exercise occurred during a period of changing American diplomatic relations in East Asia but continuing military cooperation with Taiwan. USS ALBERT DAVID also visited ports in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan during the deployment and completed further readiness and special operations before beginning the voyage home. USS ALBERT DAVID called at Guam from October 11 through October 14, 1978, and subsequently continued toward the United States. She arrived at San Diego on October 29. Apart from a brief local underway period, she spent the remainder of the year in port.
On January 12, 1979, USS ALBERT DAVID resumed the normal sequence of training operations, trials and inspections from San Diego. This schedule occupied most of the first ten months of the year. On November 13, she departed for another Western Pacific deployment. She made a brief stop at Pearl Harbor on November 21 and continued west the same day, reaching Subic Bay on December 9. USS ALBERT DAVID remained there through the end of 1979. During January and the first part of February 1980, the frigate operated principally in waters around Luzon, alternating exercises at sea with periods in Philippine ports. During the second week of February, she departed on a planned voyage to Singapore in company with LONG BEACH, USS WORDEN (CG 18) and BRONSTEIN. The passage was interrupted when USS ALBERT DAVID suffered a main-engine casualty. Because her single-shaft propulsion arrangement left her without normal propulsion, she required towing assistance back toward Subic Bay. LONG BEACH initially took her in tow, after which the ocean tug USNS UTE (T-ATF 76) assumed the towing assignment. USS ALBERT DAVID remained at Subic Bay from February 12 through the end of the month while repairs were carried out.
The frigate returned to sea on March 1, 1980, and spent approximately two weeks exercising before making a port visit at Buckner Bay, Okinawa. Following another anti-submarine warfare exercise and a further stop at Buckner Bay, she set course for Pusan, South Korea, on March 23. USS ALBERT DAVID spent the final week of March at Pusan and then proceeded to Sasebo, Japan, for repair and upkeep work in preparation for the voyage home. USS ALBERT DAVID departed Sasebo on April 9, 1980. Her homeward route included Guam, Kwajalein and Pearl Harbor before she arrived at San Diego on May 2. The remainder of May was devoted to post-deployment standdown. She resumed local operations during June and July and visited Alaskan waters early in August.
In the middle of August 1980 USS ALBERT DAVID entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for another regular overhaul. This substantial maintenance period occupied the remainder of 1980 and the first nine months of 1981. She returned to operational service early in October 1981 and resumed local operations from San Diego.
USS ALBERT DAVID spent the first months of 1982 training from her home port. On May 29, she departed for another deployment, crossing the Pacific by way of Pearl Harbor. She arrived at Subic Bay on July 2 and remained in the Philippines for almost three weeks before proceeding north. From July 26 through August 12 she was at Sasebo. She returned to Subic Bay on August 17 but remained there only four days. On August 21, 1982, USS ALBERT DAVID departed the Philippines in company with USS JOHN YOUNG (DD 973) and USS SAN JOSE (AFS 7), bound for the Arabian Sea and duty with the Middle East Force. The deployment reflected the growing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf region. The Soviet Union had occupied Afghanistan since December 1979, while Iran and Iraq had been at war since September 1980. The United States maintained a continuing naval presence in and around the Arabian Sea to monitor regional military activity, protect American interests and retain forces capable of responding to crises.
USS ALBERT DAVID carried out surveillance duties in the Arabian Sea from September 7 through October 18, 1982. The assignment represented a considerable geographical departure from the western Pacific deployments that had dominated much of her earlier career and demonstrated the continued usefulness of the frigate for independent surveillance, escort and anti-submarine duties. She began the long return voyage on October 19 and arrived at San Diego on November 30. Post-deployment leave and upkeep occupied the remainder of 1982.
The standdown continued into January 1983. On January 20, USS ALBERT DAVID resumed local operations with a three-day readiness exercise. Training in Southern California waters continued through the following nine months. On October 4, she departed San Diego for another Western Pacific deployment. After a five-day stop at Pearl Harbor, the frigate conducted a battle problem in the Mariana Islands before arriving at Subic Bay during the beginning of the second week of November. In the middle of November 1983, USS ALBERT DAVID departed Subic Bay for a series of bilateral exercises with allied and friendly Asian navies. She trained with units of the Royal Malaysian Navy, the Republic of Singapore Navy and the Republic of Korea Navy. The exercise periods were interspersed with goodwill and liberty visits to Lumut, Malaysia; Singapore; Chinhae, South Korea; and Hong Kong. USS ALBERT DAVID returned to the Philippines at Manila on December 28, 1983, and remained there over the New Year. Her deployment continued in January 1984 with a visit to Cebu City, followed by a brief return to Subic Bay and a bilateral exercise with the Royal Thai Navy. Further Seventh Fleet exercises followed before she moved north to Japan at the end of January for upkeep and repair work at Yokosuka.
After completing the Yokosuka maintenance period, USS ALBERT DAVID returned to sea during February 1984 for combined anti-submarine warfare training with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. A major combined exercise off Japan from February 17 through February 26 was intended to improve American and Japanese interoperability in anti-submarine, anti-air and surface warfare, as well as electronic warfare and communications. U.S. participants included USS OUELLET (FF 1077), DARTER and USNS PASSUMPSIC (T-AO 107) in addition to USS ALBERT DAVID, while the Japanese force included destroyers, a submarine and an oiler.
At the end of February and beginning of March, USS ALBERT DAVID visited Sasebo and Fukuoka. During the middle of March, she again operated with Republic of Korea naval forces and subsequently called at Chinhae and Pusan as well as Sasebo. She departed Sasebo on April 3 for the United States. During the eastward transit she paused in the Mariana Islands for another battle problem and subsequently called at Pearl Harbor on April 21 and April 22. USS ALBERT DAVID arrived at San Diego on April 30.
Post-deployment leave and upkeep occupied May 1984. The frigate resumed operations along the California coast during the summer and early autumn. At the beginning of November, she entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard for a restricted availability. The repair period extended into 1985. She was back at San Diego by January 5, 1985, and returned to local operations before the end of the month.
Throughout 1985 and much of 1986, USS ALBERT DAVID followed an intensive schedule of exercises and training along the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada. During May and June 1986, she was among the surface combatants participating in Antisubmarine Warfare Operations 86-4 in the eastern Pacific. USS KANSAS CITY (AOR 3) provided underway logistics support to ships participating in the exercise between May 19 and June 3. The training continued USS ALBERT DAVID's longstanding concentration on anti-submarine warfare.
On September 29, 1986, USS ALBERT DAVID entered National Steel and Shipbuilding Company at San Diego for a regular overhaul. The Navy contract for the work was valued at approximately $14.6 million and provided for completion by September 11, 1987. The yard period involved the extensive machinery, structural, electrical, weapons and electronics work necessary to maintain a steam-powered frigate that had already been in commission for almost eighteen years. Following the overhaul, USS ALBERT DAVID returned to fleet service and conducted further anti-submarine warfare and specialized test-platform operations in the North Pacific and central Pacific while assigned to Destroyer Squadron 31.
USS ALBERT DAVID remained active into 1989. In June, she was one of the ships participating in the annual Portland Rose Festival visit at Portland, Oregon. The ships participated in the Rose Festival visit from June 8 through June 13. This became one of the final specifically documented public deployments of USS ALBERT DAVID under the U.S. flag. By that time, arrangements were underway to transfer several former GARCIA-class frigates to Brazil. Brazilian personnel began a familiarization period aboard USS ALBERT DAVID on September 3, 1989. In preparation for transfer, the SQR-15 Towed Array Sonar System occupying the after portion of the ship was removed. The removal of equipment that was not being transferred to Brazil also opened the way for later Brazilian modifications to the stern and aviation facilities.
On September 18, 1989, the ship was decommissioned and leased to Brazil. She entered Brazilian Navy service as PARÁ (D 27). The transfer concluded approximately twenty-one years of US Navy service. The former USS ALBERT DAVID entered Brazilian service during a joint ceremony at Naval Base San Diego on September 18, 1989, with Captain José Antônio de Castro Leal as her first Brazilian commanding officer. Although initially obtained on lease rather than by outright purchase, the transfer began an additional active career of more than nineteen years. By 2008, the former USS ALBERT DAVID had been afloat for almost forty-four years and had accumulated approximately four decades of active service in two navies. The Brazilian Navy decommissioned PARÁ on November 12, 2008, during a ceremony at the Rio de Janeiro Naval Base in the Ilha de Mocanguê naval complex.
USS ALBERT DAVID Image Gallery:
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