USS Badger (FF-1071)
USS Badger (FF-1071) was a in service in the United States Navy from 1970 to 1991. She was sunk as a target in 1998. History The first was named for Commodore Oscar C. Badger (a cousin of Secretary of the Navy George Edmund Badger), the father of Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger, the son of the commodore and the father of the admiral, was also honored by the naming of the destroyer (q.v.), and the grandfather of Admiral Oscar C. Badger. This Badger (FF-1071) honors all four men. Commissioning Badger was laid down on 17 February 1968 at Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, California; launched on 7 December 1968; sponsored by Mrs. Oscar C. Badger; and commissioned at Long Beach, California, on 1 December 1970. Badger completed fitting out at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in January 1971 and then spent most of the spring engaged in tests and shakedown training. She completed final contract trials in May, during which Badger set the speed record for Knox class frigates, over 30 knots. The following month, entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for post-shakedown availability. During that availability, she received extensive modifications including the addition of a basic point defense missile system (BPDMS) and of an independent variable depth sonar system. Because of those changes, Badger underwent a post-shakedown availability that lasted until mid-November. From that time until mid-March 1972, the destroyer escort conducted a series of underway tests and training evolutions and underwent readiness inspections. On 16 March 1972, she weighed anchor and stood out of Long Beach on her way to the Far East. Along the way, Badger stopped at Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Guam before arriving in Subic Bay on 7 April. 1970s On the following evening, Badger stood out of Subic bound for the Vietnam War zone. She arrived in Danang, South Vietnam, two days later and, after a four-hour layover, again got underway, bound for the northern gunline near the mouth of the Cua Viet River. She began gunfire support missions on the 11th and, on the 13th, received her first counterbattery fire. Two days later, she suffered superficial damage from a communist shore battery after her had been put out of action by a fouled bore and an overheated barrel. Later that day, the ship headed back to Danang to have her 5-inch gun barrel replaced by the repair ship . She returned to sea on the 16th and soon arrived back on the gunline. On the 19th, Badger was switched to plane guard duty for the aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin. That assignment lasted two days short of a month. On 17 May, destroyer escort relieved her, and Badger shaped a course for Sasebo, Japan. 1972 Following a week of availability and liberty, Badger departed Sasebo on 29 May 1972 and, on 2 June, joined guided missile cruiser on the middle sea-air rescue (SAR) station in the Gulf of Tonkin. Four days later, however, she was reassigned to plane guard