USS Frank Cable

Frank Cable in Hong Kong, October 2006
Career
Awarded:	20 November 1974
Laid down:	2 March 1976
Launched:	14 January 1978
Commissioned:	29 October 1979
Fate:	Template:Ship fate box active in service
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 electrical engineer who had worked as an electrician and trial captain for the USS Holland (SS-1). This was the first submarine of the US Navy built by the Holland Torpedo Boat Company at [Ret.] Navy Lt. Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. The USS Holland was purchased on 11 April 1900 and officially commissioned for service in the United States Navy on 12 October 1900.

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 Air 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.

Accidents

On December 1(Guam time), 2006, aboard the Frank Cable a steam line ruptured. Two sailors were killed and seven others injured.

References

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register as well as various press releases and news stories.

External links

• USS Frank Cable Navy site
• navsource.org: USS Frank Cable
• [http//www.gdeb.com/about/centennial/eb-100yrs-2.html] Official Electric Boat web site with infomation on Frank Cable.

USS Frank Cable (AS-40) in her home port, Apra Harbor, Guam