USS BRADLEY ASSOCIATION

Established July 6, 2002

 

Newsletter, Autumn 2002

 

Our Second Newsletter!

 

Hi, Shipmates!  It’s already time for the second Bradley Newsletter. Hope your summer has been happy and restful. At the Pella reunion I was asked by the shipmates present to take over the new Bradley Association and work on planning future reunions. On behalf of all those who have attended the last three reunions, I would like to salute Butch Shattuck for his leadership and the concern he has demonstrated toward our Bradley shipmates. Butch was the prime mover behind the last three reunions. Without his dedication and caring there wouldn’t have been three, successful reunions or a new ship’s association, for that matter.  Thanks, Butch …Well Done!!

         Bruce Gottsch

 

Crewmember Survey.

 

Along with the second newsletter each shipmate whose address or e-mail address that we have received, will get a copy of the reunion survey and data sheet.  The idea behind these forms was to first, gather opinions about future reunions… times of year, dates etc. It’s very important that we gather this information to try to enable as many former shipmates as possible to attend the next and future reunions.  The data sheet is an attempt to update old friends from Bradley days about each of our families and lives after the U.S. Navy. It will enable future newsletters to be filled with something besides your editor’s words!  Please complete these important forms and return them to me either via the World Wide Web or the U.S. Mail, as soon as possible.

 

Other Writers?

 

I’d like to invite any former shipmate or members of their family to write and submit articles for the newsletter. Every attempt will be made to publish everything received.  Depending upon space available some editing may be necessary. However, I’d be happy to serve as a clearing house and forward entire articles to those shipmates making those requests. So, let’s get busy and write and send in those news articles or interest stories so they can be shared with all of our shipmates.

 

Tanker Hits Bradley!

 

6 January 1980

Long Beach Press Telegram

Jill Stewart, Staff Writer.

 

A slow-moving 620- foot tanker carrying lubricating oil into Los Angles Harbor careened off a dry dock and hit a berthed Navy frigate late Friday (4 January 1980) afternoon, injuring one man.

    No spills were reported, and neither ship caught fire. The Coast Guard said the tanker PECOS, en route to a Shell Oil berth in Wilmington, lost rudder control and plowed into the Bethlehem Steel Co. dry dock on Terminal Island about 4:55 p.m., ripping a 3-foot hole in the tanker’s starboard side. The tanker then rammed into the frigate USS BRADLEY FF-1041, damaging the navy ship’s deck and starboard side.

    A Coast Guard spokesman said that just before the collision, three tugs assisting the PECOS into the harbor pulled away from the tanker to avoid being crushed. An unidentified Navy crewman – standing watch on the quarterdeck of the USS BRADELY FF-1041 – was injured when the ship listed and a wooden pallet slid against his foot. He was taken to Long Beach Memorial Hospital for treatment of a broken foot.

    An eyewitness who refused to give his name said he was standing about 100 feet from the Navy ship when the inbound PECOS “bounced off a dry dock, hit the destroyer and pushed it out of the water”. The eyewitness said he was a member of the repair crew working on the USS Bradley, which is docked for repairs at Bethlehem Steel’s Pier 3 on Terminal Island in the harbor’s Main Channel.  He said the impact of the collision slammed the 414-foot ship against the wharf, shearing off lines that supplied steam and electricity for repair crews.

    Jack Mc Rae, Bethlehem’s spokesman, said the deck of the port side of the USS Bradley was caved in for 30 percent of its length after the bow of the errant tanker “raked along the deck area”. He said the ship also sustained long gashes and a small hole on the starboard side several feet long above the water line when it was pushed against the pier.

   The PECOS, owned by the Sabine Towing and Shipping Co. of Texas, was carrying 130,006 barrels of A from Martinez in San Francisco Bay. He said damage was confined to the dry cargo area. A Shell spokesman identified the captain of the Tanker as A. R. Ogan. After the accident, the PECOS continued under its own power to the Shell pier.

   Coast Guard Lt. Phil Sanders said the Coast Guard dispatched a utility boat to investigate the accident and that a board of investigation will be convened to determine the cause.

 

This article appeared in the January/February 2002 DESANEWS. The Destroyer Escort Sailor’s Association, a DE sailor’s veterans group, publishes the newspaper. The article was submitted by Lester Lee Dronick who writes: “I was assigned to the USS BRADLEY DE/FF1041 at the time of this accident, but wasn’t actually on board when the collision occurred.

   It was just about sunset when the collision occurred. QM3 Joseph Lytle, who was one of my navigation team members, was on the bridge at the time turning on the anchor lights.  QM3 Lytle saw the tanker coming and he said he knew a collision was inevitable. However, the 1MC announcing system and collision alarm were inoperative due to being overhauled at the time.  QM3 Lytle said he felt very frustrated that he couldn’t sound an alarm and warn the crew. There were only duty section aboard at the time and there were few injuries, the worst being a broken leg.

   We were in the shipyard at the time and only a few weeks from finishing overhaul; this extended us for about 6 months. The collision rolled the ship over on the edge of the pier and caved in the starboard side from just abaft the bow to about amidships; significant damage was done on the port side to the radio central. The tanker hit us on dead on the port anchor hawse ( no anchor was installed); it did surprisingly little damage there.”

 

Where’s the Bradley now?

 

She’s in the Brazilian Navy as the Pernambuco (D 30).

She was leased by the Brazilians from 1989 until 2001 and then permanently transferred and stricken from the list of U.S. Navy ships on January 24, 2001. Pleasant sailing to the Bradley in her new life from her former crewmembers!

 

Veteran’s Organizations.

 

We, as Vietnam veterans, have groups that represent our interests and help to provide important services.

These groups lobby the government on behalf of all veterans. Hopefully, none of us require those services at present but we all might in the future. I don’t believe we can afford to let these groups loose their influence as the vets of World War II pass on to glory at a rate of 10,000 per year! Join your local unit today, if you haven’t already.

  

  In the article on the collision involving the Bradley in 1980 the DESA was mentioned. It along with the Tin Can Sailors are destroyer sailor organizations that both publish interesting newspapers and sponsor yearly conventions of former destroyer/destroyer escort sailors.  The DESA’s convention will be Oct. 13-17 in Myrtle Beach SC.  I plan on attending and will try to locate other Bradley sailors.

More to follow.