USS Dubuque

Two ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Dubuque, after the city of Dubuque, Iowa.

USS Dubuque (PG-17)

USS Dubuque (PG-17) was a United States Navy patrol combatant ship that served in both World War I and World War II. She was named for Dubuque, Iowa.

She was launched 15 August 1904 by Gas Engine and Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury and Co., Morris Heights, Bronx, where she was sponsored by Miss M. Tredway. She was commissioned on 3 June 1905, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Augustus F. Fechteler. She was reclassified AG-6 in 1919; IX-9, 24 April 1922; and PG-17, 4 November 1940.

Service history

1905–1911

Dubuque cruised from her home port of Portsmouth, New Hampshire in Atlantic coastal waters and in the Caribbean protecting American interests and citizens, a group of whom she saved from depredations by Cuban bandits on the night of 18–19 May 1907. She arrived at Chicago, Illinois on 29 June 1911, and was decommissioned 22 July for use as a training ship by the Illinois Naval Militia.

1914–1919

Recommissioned on 4 August 1914, Dubuque sailed three days later for Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she was placed in commission in reserve 3 October. She was fitted out as a mine-training ship and on 30 July 1915 she returned to a fully commissioned status and was assigned to Mining and Minesweeping Division, Atlantic Fleet. She participated in training along the Atlantic coast and after American entry into World War I in April 1917, she installed and tended submarine nets in Hampton Roads and at New London, Connecticut. She also trained reserve officers at the Naval Academy.

USS Dubuque (LPD-8)

USS Dubuque (LPD-8), an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, is the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Dubuque, Iowa.

USS Dubuque is named after Dubuque, Iowa on the Mississippi River and her founder, Julien Dubuque - a French Canadian explorer. The second ship to bear the name, USS Dubuque was commissioned on 1 September 1967 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia.

History

Dubuque's keel was laid down on 25 January 1965 by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on 6 August 1966 and commissioned on 1 September 1967 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. In November 1967, the ship arrived at her first homeport of San Diego, California after transiting the Panama Canal.

From 1968 until 1975, Dubuque made five Western Pacific deployments that saw extensive duty in Vietnam. In a highly publicized event in October 1968, the ship returned 14 repatriated prisoners of war to North Vietnam. From 1969 until 1971 the ship conducted ten "Keystone Cardinal" troop lifts to Okinawa as part of the "Vietnamization" of the war. Dubuque relieved USS Cleveland (LPD-7) as the launch platform for HMA-369's Marine Hunter-Killer (MARHUK) Operations near Hon La (Tiger Island) off the coast of North Vietnam. From February to June 1973 the ship operated helicopters that conducted naval mine clearance operations in Haiphong Harbor as part of Operation End Sweep. In April 1975 the ship participated in Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon and the rescue of refugees fleeing South Vietnam.