USS Frank Cable (AS-40)
![]() Frank Cable in Hong Kong, October 2006 | |
Career | ![]() |
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Name: | USS Frank Cable |
Namesake: | Frank Cable |
Awarded: | 20 November 1974 |
Builder: | Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company, Seattle, Washington |
Laid down: | 2 March 1976 |
Launched: | 14 January 1978 |
Commissioned: | 29 October 1979 |
Homeport: | Apra Harbor, Guam |
Motto: | The Warship that fixes Warships |
Nickname: | Building 40 |
Honours and awards: |
7 × Meritorious Unit Commendations 9 × Battle Effectiveness Awards Humanitarian Service Medal |
Status: | in active service, as of 2015 |
Badge: |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Emory S. Land-class submarine tender |
Tonnage: | 9,068 long tons deadweight (DWT) |
Displacement: | 13,758 long tons (13,979 t) light 22,826 long tons (23,192 t) full load |
Length: | 649 ft (198 m) |
Beam: | 85 ft (26 m) |
Draft: | 26–29 ft (7.9–8.8 m) |
Propulsion: | 2 × boilers Steam turbine 1 shaft 20,000 shp (14,914 kW) |
Speed: | 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) |
Complement: | 81 officers, 1,270 enlisted |
Armament: | • 2 × 40 mm AA guns • 4 × 25 mm AA guns |
USS Frank Cable (AS-40) is the second Emory S. Land-class submarine tender built by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington for the United States Navy.
The ship was christened on 14 January 1978 by Mrs. Rose A. Michaelis, wife of Admiral F. H. Michaelis, then Chief of Naval Material. The ship is named for Frank Cable, an electrical engineer who had worked as an electrician and trial captain for the USS Holland (SS-1).
Service history
USS Frank Cable was designed as a submarine tender for Los Angeles-class submarines. The ship spent 1980 until 1996 as the repair ship for SUBRON 4 and 18 in Charleston, South Carolina, tending Sturgeon 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, USS 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 Air Flight 801 crash on Guam, and also in the recovery and clean-up efforts following Typhoon Paka. From 1980 to 2003, USS 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.
Accidents
On 1 December (Guam time), 2006, a steam line ruptured aboard USS Frank Cable. Two sailors were killed and seven others injured.[1]
In popular culture
In the novel World War Z, by Max Brooks, the USS Frank Cable is used as a rescue ship in the evacuation of New York City. Infected refugees die and reanimate as zombies, attacking and infecting the other refugees. The ship sinks at the entrance to New York Harbour carrying several hundred zombies, who are still a threat several years later and must be removed before the wreck is raised.
References
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Frank Cable (AS-40). |
- USS Frank Cable Navy site
- navsource.org: USS Frank Cable
- Cable worked as an electrician for John Holland's company at Crescent Shipyards.
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