USS
John A. Bole
(DD-755)
Allen M. Sumner Class Destroyer
- Displacement 3218 Tons (Full),
Dimensions, 376' 6"(oa) x 40' 10" x 14'
2" (Max)
- Armament 6 x 5"/38AA (3x2), 12 x 40mm AA, 11 x
20mm AA, 10 x 21"
tt.(2x5).
- Machinery, 60,000 SHP; General Electric Geared
Turbines, 2 screws
- Speed, 36.5 Knots, Range 3300 NM@ 20 Knots
- Crew 336
- Laid down by Bethlehem Steel, Staten Island NY
May 20 1944.
- Launched November 1 1944 and commissioned March 3
1945.
- Decommissioned November 6 1970.
- Stricken February 1 1974.
Fate Sold to Taiwan May 6 1974 and
cannibalized for spare
parts.
My Duties with USS Jon A.Bole
Oct
1966
to
Mar 1967
I was
transfered to USS John A. Bole which was just
out board of USS Shelton in a nest of destroyers. My transfer
consisted of basically of tossing my sea bag over the rail to the next
ship.
Most Gearing and
Sumner class destroyers
had been enlarged (FRAM)
to
accommodate ASROC,
John A.
Bole had
not. She retained hedgehogs
and her fixed torpedo tubes
between the
stacks. She also had the experimental variable depth sonar and
DASH
(Drone Anti Submarine Helicopter). The bulkheads
of the DASH hanger was lined
with broken rotor blades, mementos of all of the crashes -
which explains why DASH didn't stay in the fleet very long. I
think that John A. Bole was one of the last destroyers to carry these
birds.
I liked
photography and was always looking for something new to
photograph. One
day I over heard a shipmate comment that he was about to make his 100th
sky
diving jump. Thinking it would be fun, I offered to photograph
it
for him. That hooked me on the sport and I continued until 1972,
having made just under 100 jumps and over 20 min of total free fall
time.
In Mar 1967 my
two years of reserve ActDu was up and I was separated
from active duty
I returned to SelRes crew of USS
Uhlmann (DD-687).
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