USS Ruchamkin

{{Short description|Crosley-class high-speed transport}} {{No footnotes|date=February 2021}} {{Use American English|date=October 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image | image = USS Ruchamkin (APD-89).jpg | image_caption = USS ''Ruchamkin'' ca. 1965 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career | country = United States | flag = {{USN flag|1945}} | name = USS ''Ruchamkin'' | namesake = Seymour D. Ruchamkin | ordered = | builder = *[[Philadelphia Navy Yard]], [[Philadelphia]] * [[Duane Shipbuilding Corporation]] | laid_down = 14 February 1944 as {{sclass|Rudderow|destroyer escort|1}} | launched = 15 June 1944 | sponsor = Mrs. Mary Ruchamkin | identification = DE-228 }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = yes | reclassified = APD-89, 17 July 1944 | commissioned = 16 September 1945 | decommissioned = 27 February 1946 }}

|section4={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = yes | recommissioned = 9 March 1951 | decommissioned = 13 August 1957 }}

|section5={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = yes | recommissioned = 18 November 1961 | reclassified = LPR-89, 1 January 1969 }}

|section6={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = yes | decommissioned = 24 November 1969 | struck = 31 October 1977 | honors = [[Navy Unit Commendation]] for [[1965 United States occupation of the Dominican Republic|1965 Dominican crisis]] | fate = Transferred to [[Colombia]], 24 November 1969 }}

|section7={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = title | country = Colombia | flag = {{shipboxflag|Colombia|naval}} | name = ARC ''Córdoba'' | namesake = | acquired = 24 November 1969 | commissioned = | decommissioned = | struck = 1980 | identification = DT-15 | status = [[Museum ship]] at [[Jaime Duque Park]] }}

|section8={{Infobox ship/characteristics | hide_header = | header_caption = | class = {{sclass|Crosley|high speed transport}} | displacement = {{convert|2130|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full | length = {{convert|306|ft|m|abbr=on}} | beam = {{convert|37|ft|m|abbr=on}} | draft = {{convert|12|ft|7|in|m|abbr=on}} | depth = | hold_depth = | propulsion = | speed = {{convert|23|kn|lk=in}} | range = | capacity = | troops = 162 | complement = 204 | armament = * 1 × [[5"/38 caliber gun|5-inch/38 caliber gun]] (127 mm) * 6 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm guns]] * 6 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm guns]] * 2 × [[depth charge]] tracks | armor = | notes = 2 mark 37 torpedo tubes }} }} '''USS ''Ruchamkin'' (APD-89)''', ex-'''DE-228''', later '''LPR-89''', was a [[United States Navy]] [[high speed transport|high-speed transport]] in commission from 1945 to 1946, from 1951 to 1957, and from 1961 to 1969. She subsequently served as '''ARC ''Córdoba'' (DT 15)''' in the [[Colombian Navy]], until 1980; although [[Ship breaking|scrapped]], her [[Hull (watercraft)|hull]] and [[superstructure]] were re-erected in a leisure park near [[Bogotá]].

==Namesake== Seymour David Ruchamkin was born on 8 March 1912 in [[New York City]]. He graduated from UCLA in 1940 and shortly thereafter, on 13 July 1940, [[Enlisted man|enlisted]] in the [[United States Naval Reserve]]. Appointed [[Midshipman#United States Naval and Merchant Marine Academies|midshipman]] on 16 September 1940, he attended the [[United States Naval Reserve Midshipman School]] at [[Northwestern University]] in [[Evanston, Illinois|Evanston]], [[Illinois]], and reported to the [[destroyer]] {{USS|Cushing|DD-376|6}} on 24 January 1941.

On 13 November 1942, [[Lieutenant, junior grade]], Ruchamkin was [[killed in action]] against [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] forces in [[Ironbottom Sound]] off [[Savo Island]] in the [[Solomon Islands]] during the [[Naval Battle of Guadalcanal]]. He was posthumously awarded the [[Navy Cross]].

==Construction and commissioning== ''Ruchamkin'' was laid down as the {{sclass|Rudderow|destroyer escort}} USS ''Ruchamkin'' (DE-228) on 14 February 1944 by the [[Philadelphia Navy Yard]] at [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], and was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 15 June 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Mary Ruchamkin. The ship was reclassified as a {{sclass|Crosley|high-speed transport}} and redesignated APD-89 on 17 July 1944. After conversion to her new role by the [[Duane Shipbuilding Corporation]], she was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 16 September 1945.

== First period in commission, 1945–1946 == After [[shakedown cruise|shakedown]], ''Ruchamkin'' engaged in training exercises off the [[United States East Coast]] and in the [[Caribbean]]. She was [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] at [[Green Cove Springs, Florida|Green Cove Springs]], [[Florida]], on 27 February 1946 and placed in [[Reserve fleet|reserve]] there on the [[St. Johns River]] in the Florida Group of the [[Atlantic Reserve Fleet]].

== Second period in commission, 1951–1957 ==

After five years of inactivity, ''Ruchamkin'' was recommissioned on 9 March 1951. Based at [[Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek]] in [[Virginia Beach, Virginia|Virginia Beach]], [[Virginia]], she participated in [[amphibious warfare]] training operations off [[Puerto Rico]] during the summer and autumn of 1951, then, in January 1952, departed [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], Virginia, for her first [[Mediterranean]] deployment with the [[United States Sixth Fleet]].

[[File:USS Ruchamkin (APD-89) damage.jpg|left|thumb|Damage to ''Ruchamkin'' after her 14 November 1952 collision with the [[Merchant ship|merchant]] [[Tanker (ship)|tanker]] ''Washington''.]]Further amphibious exercises off the U.S. East Coast followed her return from Sixth Fleet duty, and, in August 1952, she conducted her first [[Midshipman#United States Naval and Merchant Marine Academies|midshipman]] training cruise. Three months later, on 14 November 1952, while involved in fleet exercises off the [[Virginia Capes]], she collided with the [[Merchant ship|merchant]] [[Tanker (ship)|tanker]] ''Washington''. Hit [[Port (nautical)|portside]] in the troop compartment area, ''Ruchamkin'' lost seven of the troops embarked for the exercise.

After repairs at Norfolk and refresher training off [[Cuba]] during April 1953, ''Ruchamkin'' resumed amphibious training duties. For the next year, she trained with [[United States Marines]] off the Virginia Capes and the [[The Carolinas|Carolina]] capes and off [[Puerto Rico]]. In July 1954, she conducted another [[Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps]] midshipman training cruise.

''Ruchamkin'' departed Norfolk on 5 January 1955 bound for the [[United States West Coast]]. She transited the [[Panama Canal]] and on 23 January 1955 arrived at [[San Diego, California|San Diego]], [[California]]. For the next three months she participated in amphibious training exercises with units of the [[United States Pacific Fleet]].

In early May 1955, ''Ruchamkin'' retransited the Panama Canal and steamed for her new [[home port]], [[Boston]], Massachusetts. She arrived there on 27 May 1955, assumed duties as a [[United States Naval Reserve]] [[training ship]], and for two years trained naval reservists of the [[1st Naval District]] in port and at sea on weekend, two-week, and month-long cruises.

Designated for inactivation in the spring of 1957, ''Ruchamkin'' was decommissioned on 13 August 1957 and berthed at Boston in reserve.

== Third period in commission, 1961–1969 ==

''Ruchamkin'' was ordered reactivated in August 1961 to increase the U.S. Navy{{'}}s troop lift capacity during the [[Berlin Crisis of 1961]]. Recommissioned on 18 November 1961 and assigned to Amphibious [[Squadron (naval)|Squadron]] 10, she completed shakedown and repairs and in April 1962 participated in a demonstration landing for [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] and subsequent [[antisubmarine warfare]] and amphibious exercises in Puerto Rican waters.

Based again at Little Creek, ''Ruchamkin'' returned to a schedule of U.S. East Coast and Caribbean exercises, the latter usually of two to three months{{'}} duration.

In November 1963, ''Ruchamkin''{{'}}s schedule was interrupted for [[Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization|Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM)]] at the [[Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Company]]. The [[Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization#FRAM II|FRAM II]] [[wikt:overhaul|overhaul]] was completed in June 1964, and she resumed her duties as primary control vessel in ship-to-shore amphibious movements, [[Transport (ship)|transport]] for [[underwater demolition team]]s and beach [[reconnaissance]] personnel, and antisubmarine warfare screening unit.

In October 1964, ''Ruchamkin'' moved east to the coast of Spain, where she controlled the major portion of ship-to-shore movement during [[Operation Steel Pike I]], the largest amphibious exercise since [[World War II]]. In November 1964 she returned to Little Creek and resumed amphibious and antisubmarine warfare exercises along the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean.

In late April and early May 1965, ''Ruchamkin'' was called on to assist in the [[emergency evacuation|evacuation]] of civilians from the strife-torn Dominican Republic to [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]], [[Puerto Rico]]. She then returned to the western coast of [[Hispaniola]] for patrol and [[hydrographic survey]] duties. For her work during the [[1965 United States occupation of the Dominican Republic|Dominican Crisis]], she was awarded the [[Navy Unit Commendation]].

During the summer of 1965, ''Ruchamkin'' returned to a more normal schedule of exercises, but, from February to April 1966, interrupted those operations to act as primary support ship for four [[fleet ballistic missile submarine]]s which were test firing [[UGM-27 Polaris|Polaris]] [[submarine-launched ballistic missile]]s off the Florida coast.

In October 1966, [[Hurricane Inez]] interrupted Caribbean exercises and ''Ruchamkin'', assigned to relief operations, distributed food supplies to survivors in [[Haiti]].

During 1967 and into 1968, ''Ruchamkin'' continued her operations in the western [[Atlantic Ocean]]. Then on 27 July 1968, she headed east for a four-month deployment in the Mediterranean. There until the end of November 1968, she conducted hydrographic surveys along the coasts of [[southern Europe]] and [[North Africa]]. She was reassigned to Amphibious Squadron 6 while deployed to the Mediterranean.

''Ruchamkin'' was reclassified as an "amphibious transport, small", and redesignated LPR-89 on 1 January 1969. After Caribbean exercises in February and March 1969, ''Ruchamkin'' was assigned to support search operations being conducted by [[auxiliary repair dock]] {{USS|White Sands|ARD-20|6}}, [[fleet ocean tug]] {{USS|Apache|ATF-67|6}}, and the deep-diving [[bathyscaphe]] {{ship|Bathyscaphe|Trieste II||2}} off the [[Azores]] for the sunken [[nuclear submarine]] {{USS|Scorpion|SSN-589|6}}. In late August 1969, she moved north, conducted hydrographic survey operations in the [[North Sea]] until 20 October 1969, then headed back to Little Creek. [[File:ARC Córdoba (DT-15).jpg|thumb|ARC ''Córdoba'', ex USS ''Ruchamkin'' on exhibition in [[Jaime Duque Park]], Tocancipá, Colombia]]

==Final decommissioning and disposal== ''Ruchamkin'' was decommissioned at Little Creek on 24 November 1969 for immediate foreign transfer. She eventually was stricken from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] on 31 October 1977.

==Colombian Navy service== ''Ruchamkin'' was turned over to Colombia under the terms of the [[Military Assistance Program]] on 24 November 1969, the day of her final U.S. Navy decommissioning. She was commissioned in the [[Colombian Navy]] the same day as ARC ''Córdoba'' (DT-15) and served until retirement in 1980. She subsequently was scrapped, although ''Córdoba''{{'}}s [[Hull (watercraft)|hull]] and [[Superstructure (ship)|superstructure]] were saved and re-erected at the [[Jaime Duque Park|Jaime Duque amusement park]] at [[Tocancipá]], near [[Bogotá]].

==References== {{reflist}} * {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r9/ruchamkin.htm}} * {{navsource|10/04/04089}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruchamkin (APD-89)}} [[Category:Crosley-class high speed transports]] [[Category:Ships built in Philadelphia]] [[Category:1944 ships]] [[Category:World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States]] [[Category:World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States]] [[Category:Cold War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States]] [[Category:Crosley-class high speed transports of the Colombian Navy]] [[Category:Museum ships in Colombia]]