USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)

History

USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) is the lead ship of the two Blue Ridge-class amphibious command ships of the United States Navy, and is the third Navy ship named after the Blue Ridge Mountains, a range of mountains in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States.

As flagship of the Seventh Fleet, she continues in the role of her predecessor, USS Blue Ridge (AGC-2), in providing command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) support to the commander and staff of the Fleet. She is currently forward-deployed to U.S. Navy Fleet Activities, Yokosuka in Japan. Blue Ridge is the oldest deployed warship of the U.S. Navy, following the decommissioning of USS Denver. Blue Ridge, as the U.S. Navy's active commissioned ship having the longest total period as active, flies the First Navy Jack instead of the jack of the United States. Blue Ridge is expected to remain in service until 2039.

Text from Wikipedia: USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Key dates

1. 1970
   Blue Ridge was put "in commission special" on 14 November 1970, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard as an Amphibious Command and Control (LCC) ship, with Captain Kent J. Carroll as the commanding officer.
2. 1972
   As the ship crossed the equator on 27 February 1972 at 0°N 105.24°E / 0; 105.24, bound for Singapore, Blue Ridge performed her second crossing the line ceremony.
3. 1972
   On 5 April 1972, Blue Ridge departed for the war zone, the Gulf of Tonkin.
4. 1972
   The Easter Counter-Offensive was Blue Ridge's longest time at sea, 64 days from 5 April to 7 June 1972.
5. 1973
   With Operation End Sweep progressing in the coastal waters of North Vietnam for the mines released there, Blue Ridge left White Beach again on 10 July 1973 headed for the Gulf of Tonkin.
6. 1975
   Under the conditions existing on the morning of 29 April 1975, the difference in control responsibilities of TACC and HDC at best seemed blurred, at worst redundant.
7. 1986
   In late September–early October 1986, Blue Ridge visited Sydney, New South Wales, as part of the United States contingent for the Royal Australian Navy's 75th anniversary International Fleet Review, including participation in the review on 4 October 1986.
8. 1993
   However, The Navy Unit awards page does not mention the award and the ship's crew did not paint the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal on the ship's bridge wing in 1993 or 2011.
9. 2010
   On 9 May 2010, sailors from Blue Ridge took part in a Victory Day Parade of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet in the city of Vladivostok, being assembled on the city square next to French sailors.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Records that place someone aboard this ship

A ship history doesn't name everyone who served. These records do:

• Navy muster rolls, 1939–1949 (National Archives guide)
• Deck logs: how to get them (Naval History and Heritage Command)
• Crew lists research guide (NHHC)
• Search the National Archives Catalog for “USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)”

More history

• Wikipedia: USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)