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USS Shrike (MHC 62)

USS SHRIKE was the 12^th and final ship in the OSPREY - class of coastal mine hunters. Delivered to the Navy on January 11, 1999, and commissioned on May 31, 1999, the SHRIKE transfered to the Naval Reserve Force on January 11, 2000, and was subsequently used to train naval reservists. Decommissioned on December 1, 2007, SHRIKE was subsequently laid-up at Beaumont, Tx. SHRIKE was sold for scrapping on May 8, 2014, and her custody within the Beaumont Reserve Fleet formally ended on August 22, 2014.

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Crew List:

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

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USS SHRIKE History:

The construction contract for USS SHRIKE was awarded on March 31, 1993, and her keel was laid at Intermarine USA in Savannah, Georgia, on September 12, 1995. SHRIKE was launched and christened at Savannah on May 24, 1997. Georgia Senator Max Cleland was the principal speaker at the ceremony, while Janet Gehman, wife of Admiral Harold W. Gehman Jr., then Vice Chief of Naval Operations, served as the ship's sponsor. Fitting-out, equipment installation and testing continued at Intermarine USA before the Navy formally accepted delivery of SHRIKE on January 11, 1999. Lieutenant Commander Henry D. Derbes II was in command of the prospective commissioning crew.

The period immediately following delivery was dominated by post-delivery work, tests and certifications. SHRIKE remained at the Intermarine yard in Savannah during a Post Delivery Availability from January 11 through March 28, 1999. Engineering Operational Sequencing System hot checks were carried out from January 11 through January 14. A metrology visit followed from January 18 through January 22, during the same period in which communications-security hardware and Gateguard hardware and software were installed. The ship underwent a magazine and magazine-sprinkler inspection from January 25 through January 27, while the first phase of crew certification ran from January 25 through January 29.

Further technical and training activity followed in February. Identification Friend or Foe certification and an engineering training event were conducted from February 1 through February 5. From February 8 through February 12, the crew underwent personnel and administrative assistance and maintenance-related assessments, while installation of the Navy Orderwire System continued from February 8 through February 19. Further engineering training was conducted from February 22 through February 26. Installation of MICROSNAP equipment took place from March 1 through March 12, overlapping with the second phase of crew certification from March 8 through March 12. A Light Off Assessment followed from March 15 through March 18, and SHRIKE conducted sea trials on March 19.

A number of engineering and electronics changes accompanied the post-delivery work. Modifications were made to the AN/SPA-25G radar indicator in the Combat Information Center, including measures intended to improve cooling and displayed radar imagery. Communications equipment installed during this period included an AN/SYQ-7(V)2 NAVMACS system and an AN/SSR-1 satellite receiving set. The AN/UQN-4A fathometer was modified to provide improved keel-depth compensation, and changes were also made to the AN/SQQ-32(V)2 minehunting sonar. These activities were part of the process of bringing the newly delivered ship and her specialized mine-warfare equipment to operational status.

On March 26, 1999, SHRIKE departed the Intermarine USA yard at Savannah and began her transit toward her eventual homeport. She reached the Mayport, Florida, area and conducted local operations from March 29 through March 31. During this period, antenna radiation-pattern measurements were carried out at the Shipboard Electronic Systems Evaluation Facility at Mayport. SHRIKE then proceeded south for acoustic trials off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which lasted from April 1 through April 15. Because minehunters were designed to operate in waters where acoustic influence mines might be present, measuring and controlling the ship's acoustic characteristics formed an important part of her acceptance and qualification process. While at Fort Lauderdale, members of the Broward County Navy League hosted a reception for SHRIKE and her crew on April 3.

SHRIKE arrived at Naval Station Ingleside, Texas, on April 24, 1999. She was the final ship to arrive for permanent homeporting at Ingleside as part of the Navy's concentration of its dedicated mine-warfare forces there. The crew began a two-week stand-down after the extended delivery, testing and transit period.

SHRIKE departed Ingleside again in May and made a port visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, from May 21 through May 24, where the ship was opened for public tours. She continued up the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge on May 25 and remained there through June 2 for activities associated with her commissioning. Public tours and receptions were held during the week-long visit. On May 25, while SHRIKE was moored at Baton Rouge, a woman fell from the city dock into the Mississippi River. Two members of SHRIKE's crew entered the river and rescued her. Both sailors subsequently received Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals for their actions.

USS SHRIKE was formally commissioned at Baton Rouge on May 31, 1999. Rear Admiral Jose Betancourt served as commissioning officer, while Vice Admiral Henry C. Giffin III, Commander Naval Surface Forces, was the principal speaker. Janet Gehman, the ship's sponsor, gave the traditional order to man the ship. Thirteen former crewmembers of the earlier USS SHRIKE (MSC 201) attended the ceremony. On the same day, SHRIKE's immediate superior in command changed from Commander Naval Surface Forces Atlantic Fleet to Commander Mine Warfare Command.

The new ship then resumed her qualification program. The first phase of Combat Systems Ship Qualification Tests and Trials was conducted from June 14 through June 18, 1999. Additional evaluation and assistance periods followed between June 28 and July 2 and from July 12 through July 16. On July 31, SHRIKE was transferred administratively from Mine Warfare Command to Commander Mine Countermeasures Squadron Three.

Hurricane Bret interrupted the normal training schedule in August 1999. As the hurricane developed in the Gulf of Mexico and approached the Texas coast, SHRIKE and other mine-countermeasures ships present at Naval Station Ingleside shifted from their normal piers to heavy-weather moorings in the protected Ingleside basin from August 22 through August 24. Bret made landfall on the Texas coast south of Corpus Christi on August 22. After the threat had passed, SHRIKE resumed her qualification program, conducting the second phase of her Combat Systems Ship Qualification Tests and Trials from August 25 through September 3. Engineering certification followed on September 30.

On October 7, 1999, SHRIKE began the third phase of her combat-system qualification program at Panama City, Florida. The Panama City area was particularly important to the Navy's mine-warfare community because of the test, evaluation and research facilities located there. This phase continued through November 19. On November 20, the ship completed establishment of operational down limits for the AN/SQQ-32 minehunting sonar, further defining the operating parameters of one of her principal mine-detection systems.

Late in November 1999, SHRIKE experienced machinery difficulties while operating in the Gulf of Mexico and was unable to return to Ingleside under normal power. USS GLADIATOR (MCM 11) was dispatched from Ingleside and took the coastal minehunter under tow. The tow was conducted in difficult sea conditions and SHRIKE was returned to her homeport. The incident did not prevent the ship from completing her Final Contract Trials from December 1 through December 15. A Christmas and New Year holiday stand-down began on December 17 and continued through the end of the year.

On January 11, 2000, one year after her delivery to the Navy, SHRIKE was transferred to the Naval Reserve Force. The arrangement reflected the Navy's increasing use of reserve personnel within the coastal minehunter force. The ship remained homeported at Ingleside and continued to be maintained as an operational mine-countermeasures platform while also providing training opportunities for Naval Reserve personnel. Lieutenant Commander Henry D. Derbes II remained in command until September 25, 2000, when Lieutenant Commander Rinda Kay Ranch relieved him.

SHRIKE continued through 2000 and into 2001 with readiness training, inspections and mine-warfare exercises associated with the Ingleside force. Early in 2001, preparations began for Squadron Exercise 01-2, also referred to as RonEx 01-2, which brought several surface mine-countermeasures units together for coordinated training. SHRIKE departed Ingleside on February 17, 2001. Other participating ships included USS WARRIOR (MCM 10), USS GLADIATOR and USS CORMORANT (MHC 57).

During the eastbound movement, SHRIKE and USS CORMORANT proceeded to Mobile, Alabama, arriving on February 21 for an extended port visit during the city's Mardi Gras period. They remained there through February 28 before continuing toward the Florida Panhandle. Squadron Exercise 01-2 was conducted in the Panama City operating area in early March, with the participating vessels practicing coordinated minehunting, minesweeping and mine-neutralization procedures. The exercise provided a means of integrating several specialized surface mine-countermeasures ships with explosive-ordnance-disposal and mine-warfare command elements. SHRIKE subsequently returned to Ingleside later in March.

A larger mine-warfare training cycle followed in June 2001. From June 11 through June 22, Mine Warfare Readiness Group Four conducted Gulf of Mexico Exercise 01-2 in conjunction with Mine Warfare Readiness and Effectiveness Measurement 17. Approximately 400 sailors were involved in the combined events. The participating surface ships included SHRIKE, USS ORIOLE (MHC 55), USS CORMORANT, USS PIONEER (MCM 9), USS WARRIOR and USS GLADIATOR. Airborne mine-countermeasures helicopters and explosive-ordnance-disposal, diving, salvage, coastal-surveillance and mine-assembly elements were also involved.

Gulf of Mexico Exercise 01-2 was intended to integrate the different components of the mine-countermeasures force and marked the transition of Mine Warfare Readiness Group Four from its training cycle to ready-to-deploy status. During the exercise, the surface ships searched for, identified, neutralized and recovered exercise mines while practicing minehunting and mechanical and influence minesweeping techniques. Mine Warfare Readiness and Effectiveness Measurement 17 ran concurrently and was intended to gather data on the effectiveness and readiness of mine-warfare systems and tactics. The exercise also prepared the readiness group for subsequent operations away from the Gulf Coast.

The strategic environment for the U.S. Navy changed after the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, and the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom on October 7. SHRIKE's subsequent assignment took her to the U.S. East Coast, where the mine-countermeasures force participated in major fleet training associated with units preparing for overseas deployment. SHRIKE departed Ingleside on December 27, 2001, for an approximately two-month deployment to the U.S. East Coast as part of Mine Warfare Readiness Group Four. The deployment included ten Full Time Support reservists serving aboard SHRIKE.

During January 2002, SHRIKE participated in Joint Task Force Exercise 02-1 with forces associated with the battle group centered on USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) and the Amphibious Ready Group centered on USS WASP (LHD 1). The exercise formed part of the final integrated training cycle for forces preparing for deployment and included a wide range of naval warfare disciplines. SHRIKE and the other mine-countermeasures units provided the specialized capability needed to incorporate a simulated mine threat into the larger fleet exercise. The deployment took place as U.S. naval forces were conducting intensive pre-deployment training in support of continuing operations following the September 11 attacks, although SHRIKE herself remained in U.S. Atlantic waters.

SHRIKE returned to Naval Station Ingleside on February 14, 2002, completing the two-month East Coast deployment. On June 5, Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England visited SHRIKE during a visit to Naval Station Ingleside. Lieutenant Commander Rinda Kay Ranch remained commanding officer until June 19, when Lieutenant Commander Barry Bakos assumed command.

SHRIKE undertook another significant deployment in 2003. On August 18, Mine Warfare Readiness Group Four departed Ingleside for an extended deployment to the U.S. West Coast. The force included SHRIKE, USS ORIOLE, USS CORMORANT, USS WARRIOR and USS GLADIATOR. The deployment represented the first extended deployment of OSPREY-class coastal minehunters to the West Coast and was intended to expose Pacific Fleet units to the capabilities of the dedicated mine-countermeasures force, conduct mine-warfare training and enable the Gulf Coast-based ships to participate in exercises with major Pacific Fleet formations.

The group moved from the Gulf of Mexico into the eastern Pacific by way of the Panama Canal. Contemporary Naval Reserve reporting later noted that SHRIKE, under Commander Barry Bakos, became the first minehunter to transit the Panama Canal. By the autumn of 2003, SHRIKE was operating from Southern California as part of the mine-warfare component supporting Pacific Fleet training. On November 1, USS CORMORANT departed San Diego together with SHRIKE and USS ORIOLE to participate in Composite Training Unit Exercise 04-1 for the carrier strike group centered on USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74). The coastal minehunters operated in waters around San Clemente Island and used the Kingfisher mine ranges to practice detection and neutralization of mine-like objects.

On November 7, 2003, aircraft associated with USS JOHN C. STENNIS laid six Mk 62 Quickstrike exercise mines for the mine-countermeasures scenario. SHRIKE, USS ORIOLE and USS CORMORANT subsequently searched the designated mine-threat area. In the exercise, the three coastal minehunters collectively located nine of twelve possible Mk 62 targets. Their searches also encountered other underwater objects and ordnance, including Mk 82 general-purpose bomb bodies and a 16-inch projectile casing. The operation demonstrated the difficulty of distinguishing mines from unrelated bottom objects in a cluttered environment and allowed the carrier strike group to incorporate mine warfare into its pre-deployment training.

The West Coast deployment extended into the 2003-2004 period. SHRIKE subsequently returned to the Gulf Coast and resumed the maintenance and training cycle at Ingleside.

On February 10, 2004, Southwest Marine received a Navy contract covering pre-production planning, repair, alteration and drydocking work for SHRIKE. The work was scheduled to take place at Ingleside from May 26 through August 20. On August 6, command of SHRIKE changed when Commander Barry Bakos was relieved by Lieutenant Commander Brian P. Dulla. Bakos subsequently continued to serve at Naval Station Ingleside as chief staff officer of Mine Countermeasures Squadron One.

The coastal minehunter force was increasingly operated under a rotational-crewing concept during this period. Individual minehunter crews could serve aboard different OSPREY-class ships according to deployment, training and maintenance requirements. This distinction became particularly important in the later histories of the class because deployments made by a named crew do not necessarily establish that the hull on which that crew had previously served accompanied it.

Lieutenant Commander Brian P. Dulla remained in command until February 15, 2005, when Lieutenant Commander Derek Andrew Trinque relieved him. SHRIKE continued to operate within the Ingleside mine-warfare community while the Navy began progressively reducing the OSPREY-class force. Several sister ships were withdrawn during 2006 and 2007 as the service moved toward a smaller surface mine-countermeasures fleet based primarily around the larger AVENGER-class ships and airborne and expeditionary mine-warfare assets.

One of SHRIKE's most significant documented operations during her later career was Panamax 2006, a multinational exercise centered on the defense of the Panama Canal. The canal represented a major strategic maritime chokepoint linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and carrying a substantial volume of international commercial traffic. Panamax therefore concentrated on multinational command and control, maritime security, mine countermeasures and the protection of canal approaches and infrastructure against terrorism and other asymmetric threats. The exercise was conducted under U.S. Southern Command authority at the request of the Government of Panama.

Nineteen nations participated in Panamax 2006: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay. Combined Joint Task Force 138 was organized to conduct the exercise, with Rear Admiral James W. Stevenson Jr., Commander U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, in command of the multinational force.

The U.S. maritime force included SHRIKE, USS KEARSARGE (LHD 3), USS CARNEY (DDG 64), USS HALYBURTON (FFG 40), USS BLACK HAWK (MHC 58), USS WARRIOR and USS HERON (MHC 52), together with the Coast Guard cutter USCGC MOHAWK (WMEC 913). Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadrons 14 and 15 provided airborne mine-countermeasures capabilities. USS KEARSARGE served as an important command-and-control platform for the multinational force. The principal exercise phase took place from August 24 through August 30, 2006. SHRIKE's participation placed the coastal minehunter within the mine-countermeasures element supporting the wider canal-defense scenario.

The gradual retirement of the OSPREY-class accelerated after Panamax. By 2007, SHRIKE was one of only a small number of ships of the class remaining in U.S. service. A photograph dating from approximately May 2007 documents SHRIKE at Naval Support Activity Panama City, Florida, indicating that she continued to visit the Navy's principal mine-warfare research, testing and training center during her final year of service.

SHRIKE's commissioned career ended on December 1, 2007. On that date, she was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register. The same ceremony at Naval Station Ingleside also marked the retirement of USS KINGFISHER (MHC 56), USS CORMORANT and USS BLACK HAWK. With the removal of these final four ships, the OSPREY-class disappeared from active U.S. Navy service. SHRIKE had served for slightly more than eight and a half years from her commissioning on May 31, 1999.

Following decommissioning, SHRIKE remained in Navy ownership while being prepared for transfer to the Maritime Administration's Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Texas. She was towed from Ingleside to Beaumont on December 10, 2007, and placed in reserve while the government considered possible future disposition, including the Foreign Military Sales program. She did not subsequently enter service with a foreign navy.

By 2010, SHRIKE was officially listed among Navy-owned obsolete vessels being held at the Beaumont Reserve Fleet for disposal or potential Foreign Military Sales disposition. The Navy later conducted the historic-preservation review required before final disposal. An initial historical assessment was completed on February 29, 2012, and the final determination was issued on May 29. The evaluation concluded that SHRIKE did not meet the criteria for eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

On November 19, 2012, SHRIKE was temporarily removed from the Beaumont Reserve Fleet and transferred to Port Arthur, Texas, for a material-harvesting project. Components that remained useful to the government could be recovered before final disposal of the ship. SHRIKE returned to the Beaumont Reserve Fleet on February 22, 2013 and remained there while the disposal process continued. SHRIKE was sold for scrapping on May 8, 2014. Her custody within the Beaumont Reserve Fleet formally ended on August 22, 2014.

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