USS White Plains (AFS-4)

White Plains was laid down on 2 October 1965 by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego. She was launched on 26 July 1966, sponsored by Mrs. Bob Wilson, and commissioned at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard at Long Beach, California, on 23 November 1968, with Captain Thomas B. Brenner in command.

White Plains was used as the trial vessel for the class to mount the two Vulcan Phalanx CIWS. The ship retained the Phalanx systems after decision was made not to mount them on the rest of the class.

After fit out and shakedown training, she began a series of Western Pacific deployments that made up the bulk of her career. Early deployments were in Vietnam's waters. Later deployments supported U.S. naval forces in the Persian Gulf.[1]

In 1978, White Plains was struck by USS Mount Vernon during an underway replenishment operation.

In 1978, the ship lost power and propulsion in the Strait of Malacca while being followed by a supertanker; collision was avoided, but it was a close call.

In the late 1980s, the ship was one of the first U.S. Navy ships to have women sailors aboard. (The first were CH-46 pilots from HC-5). By 1991, and after a berthing retrofit accomplished in overhaul, the ship had a complement of both female officers and enlisted aboard.

On 9 May 1989, while underway in the South China Sea en route from Hong Kong to her homeport of Guam, White Plains experienced a major Class Bravo fire in the main engine room while conducting fueling at sea with the combat replenishment ship USS Sacramento (AOE-1). The fire resulted from the ejection of a valve stem on the fuel transfer system which sent a high-pressure spray of fuel onto the back of a firing boiler that consequently ignited into a fireball. There were 6 fatalities and 161 injuries reported as a result of the fire. The cause of the valve stem ejection was a failure to follow proper tag-out procedures, a partially disassembled butterfly valve, poor validation of the fuel transfer checklist, and subsequent pressurization of the fuel line containing the valve.[2] White Plains was towed to SRF Subic Bay by USNS Narragansett for preliminary repairs and returned to Guam approximately three months later.

White Plains next deployed to the western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf in July-November 1990.

In early August 1992, the ship received an extensive refit, including her main steam plant, at Ship Repair Facility (SRF) Guam. Later that same month, since the ship was unable to get underway on its own power, its mooring lines were reinforced with anchor chain and steel cables to keep it moored to the pier as Typhoon Omar approached Guam. On 27 August 1992, under the command of Capt. Robin Y. Weber, the ship weathered the initial pass of the eyewall of Omar over Apra Harbor. After a relative calm and then the second pass of the eyewall, White Plains was torn from her moorings by the 150 mph winds and ultimately ran aground on the coral beach near Polaris Point.

At the beginning of the repair availability, the ship's First Lieutenant met with SRF Guam engineers and developed a plan to moor the ship in the event of a typhoon. The plan took into account the surface area of exposed portions of the ship and pounds per square inch of expected force generated by typhoon winds along with the strength of pier cleats, bollards and deadmen. The plan required more lines than were a part of the ship's normal complement. An agreement was reached about which lines would be provided by the ship and which would be provided by the SRF. All lines were to be of nylon construction. On the morning of the storm's approach, SRF riggers used springlay mooring lines. Springlay is a combination of wire and synthetic fiber and does not stretch. Nylon mooring lines can stretch up to a third of their length with no damage to the line. Despite the First Lieutenant's protest of the incompatibility of the two types of mooring lines, the SRF's riggers claimed they had no other lines available. This resulted in the springlay mooring lines holding almost the full force of the winds while the strength of the nylon mooring lines was not fully utilized. The springlay lines gave way followed by the nylon lines. In the weeks following Typhoon Omar, the eyes of two other typhoons passed over the ship while still in the SRF. During these events, the original mooring plan was utilized using all nylon mooring lines and the ship rode out both typhoons with no problems.

Very fortunate to have run aground near Polaris Point, after the ship left the pier in the storm, the ship lost its only power source for a day, a notoriously fickle emergency diesel generator. The generator situation was corrected after several hours and troubleshooting, and ultimately solved by a simple observation made by the Electrical Officer, LTJG Lee, that a control governor mechanical linkage was undone. Essential power for emergency services were restored to the ship, enabling the crew to handle any flooding or fire that would occur. While the ship was aground for 3–5 days, the crew subsisted on MREs, and helped plan, along with harbor operations, for her ungrounding. There was no real damage to the ship's hull.

The ship recovered completely from the grounding and was underway for Gulf operations in May 1993.

The ship, well past her life cycle and usefulness to the U.S. Navy, was decommissioned in 1995.

White Plains was sunk as a target in the Pacific Ocean at 22°55′00.9″N 160°10′00.3″W, during the RIMPAC 02 exercise in waters 2,570 fathoms (15,420 feet; 4,700 meters) deep.[3]

White Plains earned 52 unit awards,[4] including:

• Meritorious Unit Commendation (x 3)
• Navy Unit Commendation (x 2)
• Navy Expeditionary Medal (x 5)
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (x 2)
• Vietnam Service Medal (x 26)
• Southwest Asia Service Medal

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS White Plains (AFS-4).

• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive AFS-4 White Plains

Category"Maritime incidents in 2002