USS Frank Cable (AS-40)

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Career
USS Salt Lake City pulls alongside USS Frank Cable.
Awarded:	20 November 1974
Laid down:	2 March 1976
Launched:	14 January 1978
Commissioned:	29 October 1979
Fate:	Active in service as of 2007
Homeport:	Guam
General Characteristics
Displacement:	22,826 tons full, 13,758 tons light, 9068 tons dead weight
Length:	649 ft
Beam:	85 ft
Draft:	26-29 ft
Propulsion:	two boilers, one propeller
Complement:	81 officers, 1270 enlisted
Armarment	2 × 40mm AA guns, 4 × 20mm AA guns
Motto:	"The Warship that fixes Warships."

USS Frank Cable (AS-40) was built by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company, Seattle, WA. The ship was christened on January 14, 1978 by Mrs. Rose A. Michaelis, wife of Admiral F. H. Michaelis, then Chief of Naval Material. She is named for Frank Taylor Cable, a civilian designer of the USS Holland (SS-1), the first submarine of the US Navy.

Frank Cable was designed to a Submarine tender of the Los Angeles class submarines. The ship spent 1980 until 1996 as the repair ship for COMSUBRON FOUR and EIGHTEEN in Charleston, South Carolina, tending Sturgeon class attack submarines and Benjamin Franklin class submarines. Frank Cable began decommissioning in 1996, but then was reactivated and refitted to replace the USS Holland (AS-32) in the Western Pacific as Commander Seventh Fleet’s mobile repair and support platform.

Since arriving in Guam, Frank Cable has visited many Western Pacific ports in support of U.S. forces. In 1997, the ship was heavily involved with the rescue and recovery efforts following the Korean Airline Flight 801 crash on Guam, and also in the recovery and clean-up efforts following Typhoon Paka. From 1980 to 2003, Frank Cable garnered many awards as a unit of both the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, including seven Meritorious Unit Commendations, nine Battle Efficiency "E" awards and three Golden Anchor Awards. Frank Cable’s most recent recognition was a Humanitarian Service Medal for support provided in recovery efforts on Guam following Super Typhoon Pongsona in 2002.

[edit] Accidents

On December 1(Guam time), 2006, there was an accident aboard the Frank Cable that killed one sailor and injured approximately eight others. The cause of the incident is under investigation.^[1]