Spacecraft Recovery
7 August 1971: Apollo 15
| General Characteristics: | Awarded: October 24, 1958 |
| Keel laid: April 1, 1960 | |
| Launched: August 19, 1961 | |
| Commissioned: April 14, 1962 | |
| Decommissioned: December 17, 1992 | |
| Builder: Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Penn. | |
| Propulsion system: Two boilers, one geared steam turbines, one shaft, 22,000 total shaft horsepower | |
| Propellers: one | |
| Length: 603, 65 feet (184 meters) | |
| Beam: 104 feet (31.7 meters) | |
| Draft: 25,9 feet (7.9 meters) | |
| Aircraft elevators: two | |
| Displacement: approx. 19,500 tons full load | |
| Speed: 23 knots | |
| Aircraft: 20 UH-46D Sea Knight Helicopters, 10 MH-53E Sea Stallion Helicopters, 3 UH-1 Helicopters, 3 AH-1 Helicopters but the actual mix depends upon mission | |
| Armament: two Phalanx CIWS | |
| Crew: 80 officers, 638 enlisted, 1,750 Marine Detachment |
More information on USS Okinawa from the United States Navy.
USS OKINAWA, which served the US Navy
for over 30 years, was put to rest off the coast of Southern California as part
of a COMSUBPAC ship sinking exercise (SINKEX) on 6
June 2002. The ship was sunk by a NUWC Keyport-built MK-48 Mod 5 ADCAP torpedo
fired by USS PORTSMOUTH (SSN
707). Decommissioned in December 1992, the OKINAWA had resided at the Suisan Bay
Reserve Fleet in Benecia, CA before being transferred to Naval Inactive Ships
Maintenance Facility in Bremerton in August 2000 for SINKEX preparation.
Though the ADCAP torpedo was the weapon that ultimately sank the OKINAWA, it
wasn’t the only ordnance employed against her that day. Prior to the warshot
firing, naval air training operations were conducted involving several Maverick
and Harpoon missile firings as well as a number of general-purpose bomb drops.
Though the OKINAWA did sustain some minor damage during the air exercises, there
was never any sign of her going down prematurely. After the actual torpedo
detonation, the OKINAWA, due to its large size and watertight condition, listed
increasingly for almost four hours before ultimately descending
below the surface.