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Photo # NH 86113: USS Rich off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Rich (DD-820, later DDE-820 and DD-820), 1946-1979

USS Rich, a 2,200-ton Gearing-class destroyer built at Orange, Texas, was commissioned in July 1946. After shakedown in the Caribbean she deployed to the Mediterranean between November 1946 and March 1947. In the summer of 1947 she received an austere conversion to an anti-submarine destroyer, during which a trainable hedgehog replaced one twin 5" gun mount and a small mainmast with direction finding antennas was added. In March 1950 she was belatedly reclassified as an escort destroyer (DDE), and in 1951 she received further modifications, among them a tripod foremast with new radars. During the 1950s Rich carried out a busy schedule of deployments to the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, cruises along the U.S. east coast and in the Caribbean, and specialized ASW operations. In October 1956 Rich's planned six-month deployment to the Far East was cut short by the November outbreak of the Suez crisis, and after brief service in the Mediterranean the ship returned home in December. During her 1958 Mediterranean cruise she helped support the U.S. Marine landings at Beirut, Lebanon. While there she rescued the crew of a ditched AD-5N Skyraider from USS Saratoga. In November 1960 Rich was attached to Task Group BRAVO, led by USS Wasp, and in June 1961 deployed with that carrier for a three-month Mediterranean cruise. With all other DDEs, she was reclassified back to DD in June 1962. In late 1962 Rich participated in the quarantine of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Between January and November 1963 Rich was rebuilt under the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) program. She began her first Mediterranean deployment as a FRAM I destroyer in August 1964. Her second such cruise, starting in November 1965, included a series of port calls in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Rich deployed again in May 1966, this time to Northern Europe. Between March and November 1968 Rich went to the Western Pacific, where she took part in fleet operations off North Vietnam and provided gunfire support against targets in the northern part of South Vietnam. Between July 1969 and January 1970 she made a lengthy cruise to the Indian Ocean via southern Africa and eastern South America. During a 1971 Mediterranean cruise, Rich operated in the Black Sea in April and July. In January 1972 the ship sailed to the Caribbean in response to the Cuban seizure of two merchant ships in December 1971; she returned to Norfolk in late February after participating in the Atlantic Fleet's annual Operation SPRINGBOARD. Between October 1972 and March 1973 Rich conducted her second Vietnam War combat deployment, which included intensive gunfire support operations that lasted until 13 minutes before the 27 January 1973 cease fire.

In September 1973 Rich became a Naval Reserve Force ship, based at Philadelphia. At-sea operations alternated with inport training and increasingly difficult shipyard maintenance periods until, on 12 July 1977, enroute to the Caribbean, a rudder casualty caused her to collide with the oiler Caloosahatchee. Damage, all above the waterline, extended from amidships to near the stern on the port side. Found unfit for further service in September, USS Rich was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 December 1977 and sold for scrapping in December 1979.

USS Rich was named in honor of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Ralph M. Rich, USNR, (1916-1942).

This page features all the views we have related to USS Rich in 1946-1951, and provides links to later images.

For other pictures concerning this ship, see:


Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 86112

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off Orange, Texas, on 10 July 1946, one week after completion.
Note that she was completed as a standard general purpose Gearing class destroyer with three twin 5"/38 mounts.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 73KB; 580 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 86114

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947 after initial converson to a specialized ASW destroyer.
The modifications included removal of number two 5"/38 gun mount and addition of a small mainmast and a new integrated sonar.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 575 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 86113

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947 after initial converson to a specialized ASW destroyer.
The modifications included removal of number two 5"/38 gun mount and addition of a small mainmast and a new integrated sonar.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 575 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99736

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947 after initial converson to a specialized ASW destroyer.
The modifications included removal of number two 5"/38 gun mount.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 54KB; 640 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99737

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947 after initial converson to a specialized ASW destroyer.
The modifications included the addition of a small mainmast.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 45KB; 645 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99738

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947 after initial converson to a specialized ASW destroyer.
The modifications included removal of number two 5"/38 gun mount.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 105KB; 605 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99869

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947 with a sister ship after initial converson to a specialized ASW destroyer.
The modifications included removal of number two 5"/38 gun mount.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99870

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947 after initial converson to a specialized ASW destroyer.
The modifications included removal of number two 5"/38 gun mount.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 86115

USS Rich (DD-820)

Off the New York Naval Shipyard on 17 September 1947 after initial converson to a specialized ASW destroyer.
The position of the former number two 5"/38 gun mount was covered with a plate that included a smaller mounting ring for a trainable hedgehog, not yet fitted.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 104KB; 655 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99871

USS Yellowstone (AD-27)

With destroyers and submarines alongside circa 1950.
The destroyers are USS Rich (DD-820), Damato (DD-871), and William M. Wood (DD-715). One of the early Guppy conversion submarines is alongside to starboard.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 61KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99872

USS Yellowstone (AD-27)

With destroyers and submarines alongside circa 1950.
The destroyers are USS Rich (DD-820), Damato (DD-871), and William M. Wood (DD-715).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 

In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Rich (DD-820). The following list features these images. The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.

  • Photo #: 80-G-445514
    Starboard bow surface view of USS Rich (DD-820) in her original configuration as built off Orange, Texas, on 10 July 1946. Photographed by her builder. The ship is in "as built" configuration, with three twin five-inch gun mounts.

  • Photo #: 80-G-1036869
    Port side low aerial view of USS Rich (DD-820) underway in the Mediterranean Sea on 29 June 1958. Photographed from USS Saratoga (CVA-60).

  • Photo #: 80-G-1059649
    Port side (somewhat toward the bow) low aerial view of USS Rich (DD-820) underway on 10 February 1962.

  • Photo #: 80-G-1062366
    Starboard side low aerial view of USS Rich (DD-820) underway in the Atlantic on 12 August 1962. Photographed from USS Wasp (CVS-18).

  • Photo #: 80-G-1097285
    Near bow-on low aerial view of USS Rich (DD-820) underway off Key West on 20 February 1964 after her FRAM modernization. Photographed by the Naval Air Station, Key West.

  • Photo #: 80-G-K-87731 (color)
    View of the starboard bow of USS Rich (DD-820) with a portion of USS Sierra (AD-18) in the background, both decorated for Christmas, at Norfolk on 17 December 1970.

  • Photo #: 80-G-1156146
    Close up view of the port side of USS Rich (DD-820), taken shortly after Photo # NH 99850, showing her refueling from astern of the merchant tanker Erna Elizabeth in February 1972.

  • Photo #: 80-G-1156147
    Distant view of USS Rich (DD-820), taken shortly after the above photo, showing her refueling astern from the merchant tanker Erna Elizabeth in February 1972.

    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

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    For other pictures concerning this ship, see:


    Page made 1 January 2005
    Adapted for www.shipscribe.com 10 July 2021