Professional Notes and Notebook

Commanding Officer Comments: The New USS Hepburn DE-1055

By Commander Stuart D. Landersman, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, USS Hepburn (DE-1055)

Forty-six new DEs will soon be a part of the operating forces of our new, revitalized Navy. Twenty-six ships of the DE-1052 class and 20 ships of the almost identical DE-1078 class are being built in San Pedro, California; Seattle, Washington; and Westwego, Louisiana, as part of one of the largest steps toward modernization which our Navy has undertaken since World War II. Among the first of these new ships is the USS Hepburn (DE-1055), the first of seven of her class to be built by Todd Shipyards Corporation, Los Angeles Division at San Pedro, California, and the second ship of the DE-1052 class to be commissioned. Her keel was laid on 1 June 1966, she was launched on 25 March 1967, and was commissioned on 3 July 1969.