USS Belknap (DLG-26)
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| Image:USS Belknap official photo.jpg | |
| Career | Image:USN-Jack.png |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 5 February 1962 |
| Launched: | 20 July 1963 |
| Commissioned: | 7 November 1964 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 February 1995 |
| Fate: | sunk as a target on 24 September 1998 |
| Struck: | 15 December 1995 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8957 tons |
| Length: | 547 ft |
| Beam: | 55 ft |
| Draught: | 31 ft |
| Propulsion: | Steam Turbine |
| Speed: | |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 64 officers and 546 enlisted |
| Armament: | |
| Aircraft: | |
| Motto: | |
Image:USS Belknap collision damage.jpg USS Belknap (DLG-26/CG-26), named for Rear Admiral George Eugene Belknap USN (1832-1903), was the lead ship of her class of guided missile cruisers in the United States Navy She was launched as DLG-26, a frigate under the then current designation system, and reclassified on 30 June 1975.
She was laid down by the Bath Iron Works Corporation at Bath in Maine on 5 February 1962, launched on 20 July 1963 and commissioned on 7 November 1964.
Belknap was severely damaged in a collision with John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1975. A fire broke out on Belknap following the collision, and during the fire her aluminum superstructure was melted, burned and gutted to the deck level. This fire and the resultant damage and deaths, which would have been preventable had Belknap's superstructure been made of steel, drove the US Navy's decision to pursue all-steel construction in its next major class of surface combatants, the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer. Belknap was reconstructed by the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 30 January 1976 to 10 May 1980.
She was converted to a flagship by the Norfolk Navy Yard from May 1985 to February 1986.
She played again a role in the Malta Summit between US President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev on 2 and 3 December, 1989. The US President had his sleeping quarters aboard the Belknap, whereas the meetings took place (due to the stormy weather) on the soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky (best known for its role in the film Juggernaut (1974) (aka "Terror on the Britannic"))
Belknap was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 February 1995 and sunk as a target on 24 September 1998.
See USS Belknap for other ships of this name.