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USS Benjamin Stoddert

USS Benjamin Stoddert (DDG-22), named for Benjamin Stoddert (1751–1813), Secretary of the Navy from 1798 to 1801, was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile armed destroyer in the United States Navy.

Construction and career
She was laid down by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dry Dock Company at Seattle, Washington on 11 June 1962, launched on 8 January 1963 and commissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on 12 September 1964.

1960s
Over the next six weeks, Benjamin Stoddert fitted out at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, preparing for a series of weapon, sensor, and communication system tests. The guided-missile destroyer departed Bremerton for the first time on 7 November and, after brief stops at San Francisco and San Diego, arrived at Pearl Harbor to commence acceptance trials.

Since she was primarily designed to provide long-range antiaircraft cover for task forces at sea, Benjamin Stoddert conducted a two-month evaluation of her TARTAR antiaircraft missile system, concluding with a test firing off Kauai, Hawaii, in early February 1965. Other tests – including gunnery, torpedo, and engineering exercises – helped the crew tie her antisubmarine, antiair, and communications gear into a single integrated system. In May, the warship entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a two-month maintenance period. In July, Benjamin Stoddert's crew took her through shakedown training, carrying out a variety of operational evolutions – from the complex tracking of aircraft and submarines, to underway refueling, down through the simple but important tasks of anchoring ship – under the watchful eyes of the Fleet Training Group, Pearl Harbor. Upon completing these exams, the warship officially joined the Pacific Fleet in August 1965.

Assigned to Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 112, Benjamin Stoddert conducted local operations in Hawaiian waters through October, when she began preparations for her first tour of duty with 7th Fleet in the western Pacific. Underway with Hancock (CV-19) in late November, she made a brief stop at Subic Bay in the Philippines before proceeding to the South China Sea for combat operations off Vietnam.

Upon arrival at "Yankee Station" on 16 December, Benjamin Stoddert joined Task Force (TF) 77 in support of Operation Rolling Thunder. This naval air campaign, begun the previous March, was intended to interdict North Vietnam's logistical pipeline through Laos and across the demilitarized zone (DMZ), cutting the flow of munitions and supplies to the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. The surface Navy's companion campaign – Operation Sea Dragon – supported this effort by targeting communist supply craft, shelling coastal batteries and radar sites, and bombarding coastal infiltration routes. Over the next six weeks, the guided-missile destroyer screened Hancock – providing antisubmarine and antiair protection for the carrier and carrying out planeguard services during flight operations. She also performed radar control duties to assist strike and combat air patrol (CAP) aircraft returning to the carrier. On 4 and 5 January 1966, in a change of pace from earlier tasks, the guided-missile destroyer also fired her 5-inch guns against Viet Cong targets ashore.

Released from TF 77 on 22 January 1966, Benjamin Stoddert proceeded north, arriving at Yokosuka, Japan, on the 28th. The warship spent a week of alongside Isle Royale (AD-29) to repair a broken steam blower before departing Japan on 6 February to return to the South China Sea. Six days later, the guided-missile destroyer resumed duty in TF 77 screening Hancock and remained so employed until setting out for the Philippines on 5 March. Benjamin Stoddert arrived at Subic Bay on the 7th for a five-day upkeep period alongside Ajax (AR-6). She then sailed to Hong Kong on 12 March for six days of rest and recreation. The warship returned to the South China Sea and rejoined TF 77 late that month. During the next two weeks, the guided-missile destroyer conducted radar picket duty in the Gulf of Tonkin before being relieved by Topeka (CLG-8). Steaming to Subic Bay on the 12th, she then began preparing for a visit to Australia and New Zealand.

Departing Subic Bay on 17 April, Benjamin Stoddert crossed the equator north of the Admiralty Islands and moored at Sydney, Australia, on 29 April. During the next three weeks her crew took part in the annual "Coral Sea Celebration" – in honor of the May 1942 Allied naval victory – and visited Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne in Australia as well as Wellington, New Zealand. Underway for Hawaii on 22 May, the guided-missile destroyer arrived at Pearl Harbor, via Suva in the Fiji Islands, on 30 May.

Except for a brief trip to Honolulu, Benjamin Stoddert remained in port until 16 July when she put to sea to participate in the Gemini 10 capsule recovery operation. Then, from 25 July to 5 August, the warship conducted several antisubmarine exercises in Hawaiian waters. She returned to mid-ocean operations on 16 August to participate in the recovery of an unmanned Apollo capsule. After a fuel stop at Kwajalein in the Marshalls on the 27th, the guided-missile destroyer returned to Pearl Harbor on 2 September. In addition to a limited availability alongside Prairie (AD-15), the warship divided the remainder of the year between various service inspections and local operations out of Pearl Harbor.

These local operations – which included shore bombardment, carrier screening, and ASW exercises – continued into early 1967 as the crew prepared for another 7th Fleet deployment. During this time, her engineers and technicians busied themselves maintaining and improving the warship's complex electronic and fire-control systems, a task abetted by a two-week availability alongside Frontier (AD-25) in mid-February.

After a final hull cleaning at Pearl Harbor in late March, Benjamin Stoddert got underway for the Far East on 6 April. The guided-missile destroyer crossed the central Pacific; and, after a short liberty at Yokosuka, Japan, the crew took the warship south to Subic Bay, arriving there on 23 April. Underway the following day, Benjamin Stoddert met Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) in the Gulf of Tonkin on the 27th. Later that same day, she joined Saint Paul (CA-73) and Ault (DD-698) for a "Sea Dragon" patrol; and the task unit prowled the North Vietnamese coast at the 19th parallel, searching for enemy waterborne logistics craft. Early on 5 May, the warships found two such craft, sinking one with gunfire and damaging the other. That afternoon, the trio carried out a preplanned bombardment mission off North Vietnam. This pattern – small-craft searches in the morning followed by shore bombardment missions later in the day – became the daily routine of Benjamin Stoddert's later "Sea Dragon" patrols.

Following a diversion to Subic Bay on 7 May to fix a broken forced-draft blower, the guided-missile destroyer rejoined Bon Homme Richard on 16 May for 10 days of planeguard duty. Steaming on her second "Sea Dragon" patrol on 26 May, Benjamin Stoddert came under enemy fire for the first time later that day. A North Vietnamese coastal battery unexpectedly opened fire, forcing her to shift fire onto the battery, to commence weaving, and to clear the area. During this patrol, Benjamin Stoddert also rescued the pilot who parachuted from a stricken Air Force F4C "Phantom" that crashed at sea on 30 May (the WSO was rescued by the USS Blue (DD-744)) and provided gunfire protection during the helicopter rescue of an Air Force F-105 "Thunderchief" pilot on 4 June. Returning to Bon Homme Richard the next day, the guided-missile destroyer alternated planeguard duties with "Sea Dragon" patrols through 12 July. At one point on 26 June, enemy counterbattery fire fell close enough to spray the ship with shell fragments, but the resulting damage was light and was quickly repaired. Next came a week of PIRAZ duty followed by four days of gunline operations, after which Benjamin Stoddert headed to Hong Kong for a week of rest and recreation. After an upkeep period at Subic Bay, the guided-missile destroyer returned to "Yankee Station" on 9 August. Once again, she alternated between carrier planeguard services and gunline duties through the end of the month. A boiler tube failure on 4 September, however, forced the warship to proceed to Yokosuka for temporary repairs.

Departing Japan on 21 August, she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 29 August, and spent the remainder of the year undergoing boiler repairs, conducting post-deployment maintenance, and preparing for various service inspections. This routine was broken only by a few days of underway combat training with Jenkins (DD-447) and Pickerel (SS-524) in mid-December. On 20 December, the guided-missile destroyer fired two Tartar missiles at the hulk of the former Fessenden (DE-142) about 50 mi south of Oahu. The old escort was damaged by one missile shot and was later sunk by combined gun and torpedo fire. It was during these exercises that the crew learned that Benjamin Stoddert had earned a meritorious unit commendation for the previous summer's combat operations in Southeast Asia.

The guided-missile destroyer continued local operations out of Hawaii until 5 March 1968 when she moved into the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to begin a maintenance overhaul. Upon completion of these repairs on 29 August, the warship conducted four weeks of weapons system and sensor calibration tests. Departing Pearl Harbor on 1 October, Benjamin Stoddert steamed to San Diego, mooring there on the 7th. The next day, the warship began two weeks of training operations in the waters off southern California. Following a missile-firing exercise on the 24th, she put into Redwood City, California, for a port visit on 25 October. After departing there on the 29th, the warship returned home to Pearl Harbor on 2 November and spent the remainder of the year in port.

As part of her final post-overhaul refresher training, Benjamin Stoddert stood out of Pearl Harbor on 13 January 1969 for local operations with Enterprise (CVAN-65) and Rogers (DD-876). Early the next day, while she operated about nine miles (14 km) away, Benjamin Stoddert's crew saw a plume of black smoke rise from the carrier. The guided-missile destroyer closed the smoking carrier – which had suffered a severe flight deck fire – to assist firefighting efforts and search for survivors. By late afternoon, she had recovered one body from the sea and set course for Pearl Harbor.

On 20 January, the guided-missile destroyer began tactical exercises in preparation for "STRIKEX 1-69," a fleet exercise to be held the following month. Underway from Pearl Harbor on 10 February, Benjamin Stoddert conducted two weeks of screening, antiair warfare, gunnery, and antisubmarine exercises off San Diego. After these successful maneuvers, she loaded 10 Standard and 24 Tartar missiles at the ammunition depot at Concord, Calif., and returned to Hawaii. There, she moored alongside Isle Royal (AD-29) in Pearl Harbor for three weeks of boiler tube repairs in preparation for another western Pacific deployment.

On 14 April, Benjamin Stoddert loaded a final pallet of 5-inch ammunition before steaming northwest toward Yokosuka. One day after a brief fuel stop at Midway Island, however, the warship suffered yet another boiler tube failure. This did not prevent regular operations; however, and the guided-missile destroyer arrived in Japan on the 24th. The next day, after North Korean fighters shot down a Navy EC-121 reconnaissance plane over the Sea of Japan, Benjamin Stoddert put to sea for emergency operations in the Yellow Sea. During the tense days that followed, the warship's duties included antiair early warning, carrier screening, and electronic intelligence gathering to pinpoint radar and other installations in the Shandong province of eastern China.

When the crisis abated in mid-May, Benjamin Stoddert turned south, visiting Singapore and spending a day on "Yankee Station," before mooring at Subic Bay on 1 June. Fitted out with specialized reconnaissance equipment, the warship steamed to the Sea of Japan and relieved Dale (DLG-19) as Pacific Area Reconnaissance Program (PARPRO) picket ship on 4 June. The guided-missile destroyer, aside from a few upkeep periods at Sasebo, collected intelligence off the Korean peninsula for the next eight weeks. She moored at Yokosuka on 8 August, unloaded the PARPRO equipment, and then set off south for combat operations on the 10th. After a week of liberty in Hong Kong, Benjamin Stoddert reported to the gunline off South Vietnam on 22 August. There, she carried out fire missions in the Chu Lai area during the day and provided harassment and interdiction fire from Danang harbor during the night. During four weeks of operations, air and ground spotters directed her guns at enemy supply points, troop concentrations, rocket sites, and infiltration routes; and, by mid-September, she had fired over 5,000 5-inch rounds at these and other targets. To guard against enemy underwater swimmer attacks while at anchor in Danang harbor, Benjamin Stoddert's crew assisted her marine sentries by frequently dropping concussion grenades in the water.

Departing Danang on the 18th, the warship steamed to Yokosuka for a second PARPRO cruise in the Sea of Japan. These duties included the difficult task of marshaling, routing, and refueling aircraft during large-scale intelligence gathering missions near North Korea. Relieved by Halsey (DLG-23) in mid-October, Benjamin Stoddert unloaded her PARPRO equipment and sailed for Pearl Harbor on 19 October. During the transit, however, a typhoon moved across her track, forcing the warship to reverse course; and she did not arrive in Pearl Harbor until 1 November.

1970s
The guided-missile destroyer remained in port until 12 January 1970, when she got underway for a three-day exercise at the Barking Sands Tactical Underwater Range (BARSTUR). The warship conducted a second such training mission between 9 and 13 February, firing exercise RUR-5 ASROC rockets and torpedoes at underwater targets both times. In addition to putting to sea for routine training, she also did so to serve as standby ship for the Apollo 13 recovery mission. In May, Benjamin Stoddert conducted a very successful nuclear submarine detection and tracking exercise with Epperson (DD-719), Knox (DE-1052), and Sargo (SSN-583). At the end of a short availability alongside Bryce Canyon (AD-36), the guided-missile destroyer passed her pre-deployment inspections in early June before joining the annual summer antisubmarine warfare exercise – conducted by American, Canadian, New Zealand, and Japanese warships – off Pearl Harbor at the end of the month. She followed up this exercise with a final tender availability in mid-July.

On 1 August, Benjamin Stoddert sailed for the western Pacific in company with Goldsborough (DDG-20); and, after stopping for fuel at Midway and Guam, the two warships arrived in Subic Bay on the 15th. Stoddert then moved on to "Yankee Station" where she provided planeguard and screen services for Bon Homme Richard between 22 and 30 August. The guided-missile destroyer then headed south for Indonesia, held "a rousing shellback initiation" when she crossed the Equator on 3 September and entered Surabaya harbor for a goodwill visit on the 4th. Departing Java on 7 September, Benjamin Stoddert traced a northerly course between Borneo and Celebes and arrived back at Subic Bay on the 11th.

Following a short upkeep period, the guided-missile destroyer headed for Danang and a tour on the northern search and rescue station (SAR) in the Gulf of Tonkin. Relieving USS Bainbridge (CGN-25) (DLGN-25) on 17 September, Benjamin Stoddert provided continuous radar and communications services for barrier combat air patrol (BARCAP) operations over the next 25 days. She then headed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where her crew received four days of liberty. Over the next five weeks, Stoddert conducted two more patrols on the north SAR station, the second of which was interrupted by a small fire in the forward fireroom. Although damage was minimal, the warship sailed to Sasebo, Japan, for minor repairs alongside Hector (AR-7). To make matters worse, she suffered another setback when a boiler pipe cracked on the return voyage, and she diverted to Subic Bay for repairs.

The warship finally returned to South Vietnam on the 13th, when she stood to on the gunline off Chu Lai. Once there, the warship settled into a pattern of sporadic call-fire missions during the day and night harassment and interdiction fire after dark. Over the next two weeks, her gun crews fired 2,200 rounds at targets ashore. Sailing for Hong Kong on 29 December, Benjamin Stoddert's crew closed the year with liberty in that city. Underway again on 5 January 1971, the guided-missile destroyer commenced a final three days of lifeguard duty on "Yankee Station" before sailing for home on the 15th. After stops at Taiwan, Guam, and Midway, she finally returned to Pearl Harbor on 5 February.

Following preparations for a second shipyard overhaul – during which time Benjamin Stoddert was reassigned to Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 33 – she entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on 17 May. The warship received improvements to her missile and gun systems, and much-needed repairs to her hull, sonar dome, and engineering spaces. With shipyard work completed on 17 September, the crew began refresher training on 13 October. In the evening of 29 October, however, a fire broke out in sonar control in the forward part of the warship. In the darkness and heavy rain, it took damage control teams and the shipyard fire department just over four hours to extinguish the blaze. The crew then spent the next six weeks helping shipyard workers repair the fire damage and get the warship's ASW systems back in battery. It was not until 13 January 1972 that Stoddert could begin two months of refresher training and other local operations.

The warship finally got underway for deployment on 25 March, arriving in Subic Bay via Midway and Guam on 7 April. The next day, she sailed for the Tonkin Gulf and commenced gunline operations upon arrival off Vietnam on the 10th. She joined other 7th Fleet units in heavy attacks against North Vietnamese military units pushing south along the coast, firing numerous bombardment missions against enemy troops and tanks advancing towards Hue. Four days later, Benjamin Stoddert joined Task Unit (TU) 77.1.0 for Operation "Freedom Train" – a series of strikes against enemy forces and their logistical infrastructure in North Vietnam.

After rearming from ammunition ships Pyro (AE-24) and Haleakala (AE-25) early on 17 April, Benjamin Stoddert joined Oklahoma City (CLG-5) for a raid on Vinh, North Vietnam. As the warships closed the port, Stoddert's electronic warfare unit registered signals from an enemy fire-control radar, followed almost immediately by the launch of two surface-to-surface missiles. Fortunately, both of the missiles missed her; one burst 50 yards to starboard while the other exploded well astern. When enemy gunfire started falling close aboard, including several air bursts that sprayed shell fragments near the warship, Benjamin Stoddert returned double salvos commencing an inconclusive gun duel that lasted about 13 minutes. Over the next week, the guided-missile destroyer continued strikes against coastal targets, including daily bombardments of the shore as far north as Thanh Hoa. North Vietnamese shore batteries repeatedly took her under fire and finally scored on 23 April when a shell struck Benjamin Stoddert forward in the windlass room. Although put out quickly, the resulting fire destroyed the medical storeroom and the degaussing cable. Returning to gunline duty shortly thereafter, Stoddert steered south and provided defensive fire for South Vietnamese (ARVN) forces ashore – at one point firing 1,009 rounds in a 24-hour period.

After a two-week repair and refitting period at Subic Bay between 12 and 26 May, she reentered the Tonkin Gulf on the 29th for more missions against the enemy's coastal logistics pipeline. Once American mines shut down the major North Vietnamese harbors, many Chinese communist merchant ships sought refuge in strategic lagoons and inlets whence their cargoes were ferried ashore. One of the guided-missile destroyer's missions was to search out and destroy the small ferry craft and any nearby supply caches. On the night of 10 and 11 June, Benjamin Stoddert closed one such merchant ship, firing on several small craft trying to make a run for shore. When she hit one, and its crew abandoned ship; Stoddert sent a boarding party to inspect the sampan. The craft – loaded with seven tons of rice – was later sunk by 5-inch gun and machinegun fire.

Resuming gunline operations on the 14th, the warship fired at enemy troop formations attacking ARVN troops, helping to stall and then repulse this communist thrust into South Vietnam. During one such mission, at 09:10 on 26 June, the forward 5-inch mount suffered a misfire which left a live round hung up in the barrel. Sadly efforts to extract the live shell failed when it exploded, killing two sailors outright and mortally wounding two others. The blast also heavily damaged the gun mount and nearby living spaces. Departing immediately for Subic Bay, the guided-missile destroyer spent the next month in port, replacing the wrecked gun mount and repairing other damage.

According to the ship's Deck Logs, from April till the end of June when the gun mount incident occurred, 10,476 rounds were fired. Many were not logged or recorded due to the intense combat situations.

Arriving back in the Tonkin Gulf on 30 July, Benjamin Stoddert spent the next three weeks conducting fire missions with TU 70.8.9 off North Vietnam. At this point, South Vietnamese forces had taken Quang Tri City, driving North Vietnamese forces back toward the DMZ; and the naval campaign against the North began to wind down. Coincidentally, Stoddert's deployment drew to a close at about the same time, and she headed for home on 27 September, mooring in Pearl Harbor on 6 October after a quick transit. Three days later, she entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a much needed 30-day standdown.

Benjamin Stoddert remained in the Hawaiian area for the next seven months, conducting routine training operations in preparation for her next 7th Fleet deployment. During this time, a cease-fire agreement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973, and American forces in South Vietnam began to withdraw. Underway for the Far East on 14 May, Stoddert stopped at Yokosuka, Japan, and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, before finally arriving off South Vietnam on 9 June. With combat operations over, the warship helped enforce the terms of the cease fire while on PIRAZ and antiair warfare picket duty in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Following liberty at Hong Kong in early August and two weeks of repairs at Subic Bay, Benjamin Stoddert received orders to sail for the Gulf of Thailand in response to a domestic crisis in Thailand. She arrived in the gulf on 29 August and operated for three days with Task Group (TG) 76.4, the contingency force assembled in case Americans had to be evacuated from Thailand. Once the crisis eased, Stoddert returned to the Gulf of Tonkin. Arriving on station on 11 September, the guided-missile destroyer spent the next six weeks patrolling off Vietnam. Her only diversion came in mid-October, when the warship conducted antisubmarine tactical training in the Subic Bay operating area. Then, on 30 October while steaming near Singapore to avoid a typhoon in the Gulf of Tonkin, she suffered a boiler breakdown which forced her back to Subic Bay. Following three weeks of repairs, the warship sailed for Hawaii, arriving in Pearl Harbor, via Guam and Midway, on 7 December. Upon her return home, the guided-missile destroyer was greeted by a shrinking defense budget, lack of spare parts, and a shortage of fuel oil – the latter caused by the October 1973 Arab oil embargo – all of which cut back the operating tempo of the Pacific Fleet's surface ships. In response, the Navy concentrated on improving overall operational readiness, a routine markedly different from previous training which had concentrated on preparing warships for combat operations off Vietnam. Benjamin Stoddert spent the first three months of 1974 participating in a series of fleet-wide inspections and maintenance programs. She remained in the Pearl Harbor area through October, engaged in extensive propulsion repairs, improving her maintenance procedures, and conducting a few local training operations.

On 2 November, Benjamin Stoddert got underway for her sixth deployment to the Far East. After a stop at Midway to refuel, the guided-missile destroyer arrived at Yokosuka on the 12th. After putting to sea four days later, she conducted ASW operations with Sailfish (SS-572) near Okinawa before sailing for Jinhae, South Korea. Arriving at that port on 25 November, the warship then participated in a three-day antisubmarine operation called Exercise "Tae Kwon Do IV." After a two-week repair stop at Yokosuka in early December and a holiday port visit to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, she ended the year at Subic Bay.

In response to the growing Soviet Navy presence in the Indian Ocean, several American warships received orders to "show the flag" in the region. On 7 January 1975, Benjamin Stoddert got underway for the Indian Ocean in company with Enterprise. The warships conducted four weeks of training operations at sea before visiting Mombasa, Kenya, between 5 and 9 February. The task force sailed back to the Pacific in mid-February and arrived at Subic Bay on the 28th.

After four weeks of liberty and repairs, the warship was placed on 48-hour alert following the success of the North Vietnamese "Easter" offensive in South Vietnam. Two days later, on 5 April, the guided-missile destroyer sailed for Vung Tau, South Vietnam. Over the next two weeks, she cruised offshore with an amphibious ready group (ARG) and covered three Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships sent to the Vung Tau area on the 23d for evacuation duty. Soon the situation worsened, and the departure of Americans and South Vietnamese from Saigon began on 29 April. The guided-missile destroyer covered helicopter and boat lifts of refugees in the Vung Tau area. Then, on 3 May, she sailed to the location of a sinking South Vietnamese naval ship and rescued 19 people, including one woman and four children. Later that same day, the warship took on another 158 refugees picked up by a Korean fishing vessel.

With the end of the evacuation after the fall of Saigon, Benjamin Stoddert sailed for Hawaii on 9 May, arriving at Pearl Harbor, via Guam and Midway, on the 21st. The warship spent the summer conducting local operations and preparing for a regular overhaul, which she began at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on 1 October. Shifted out of drydock on 6 February 1976, she conducted a long series of full-power runs and sea trials before finishing her 10-month overhaul on 17 August. The crew then spent the remainder of the year conducting training evolutions, various inspections, and helicopter flight deck certifications. On 17 February 1977, the guided-missile destroyer got underway for "RIMPAC 77," a multinational naval exercise held in the Hawaiian Islands.

After finishing this exercise on 1 March, she sailed west for her first western Pacific cruise in almost two years. The end of the Vietnam War two years earlier meant that the guided-missile destroyer conducted different operations than during her previous deployments to the Far East. Instead of antiair or gunline combat operations aimed at the North Vietnamese, the warship concentrated on training to counter the threat of Soviet nuclear-powered submarines and guided-missile warships to the western Pacific region. After a stop in the Philippines in late March, Benjamin Stoddert steamed for Okinawa on 1 April and thence to the waters off Japan and South Korea for a series of exercises. She carried out an ASW exercise against Barb (SSN-596) on 6 April, a "war-at-sea" exercise with Coral Sea on the 20th, and another ASW drill with Sailfish on 5 May before returning to Subic Bay on the 17th. Over the next eight weeks, Stoddert trained in Philippine waters, practicing underway replenishment and other drills. On 6 July, she escorted Coral Sea north to Okinawa, and then participated in "MissileEx 4-77" before putting into Pusan, South Korea, on the 20th. After a week of liberty, she joined elements of the South Korean Navy for ASW exercise "Tae Kwon Do" on 30 July. The guided-missile destroyer then steamed south, stopping at Hong Kong in mid-August before returning to Subic Bay on the 21st.

For her trip home, which began on 6 September, Benjamin Stoddert detoured south, crossing the equator on the 10th, and mooring at Fremantle, Australia, on 17 September. Following a five-day port visit, the warship sailed on to Melbourne, Australia, and to Dunedin, New Zealand, before arriving at Pago Pago, American Samoa, on 14 September. Underway the next day, the warship visited Western Samoa before proceeding on to Hawaii, to arrive in Pearl Harbor on the 22d. She spent the remainder of the year engaged in post-deployment leave and upkeep. Starting on 9 January 1978, Stoddert began eight months of local operations in Hawaiian waters. These evolutions included several firings on the Pacific Missile Range, highlighted by the successful shootdown of two MQM 74C drones by RIM 66A Standard missiles on 29 July.

Following a series of inspections and ship surveys, the warship got underway for the South Pacific on 22 September. After crossing the equator on the 28th, Benjamin Stoddert anchored at Funafuti, Tuvalu, on 29 September. The next day, she fired a 21-gun salute in recognition of that country's independence. Proceeding westward on 2 October, the warship stopped at Suva, Fiji Islands, on the 4th; visited Cairns, Australia, on 10 October; and rendezvoused with Constellation (CV-64) south of Guam on the 21st. Delayed by the need to evade a typhoon near the Philippines, the warships did not put into Subic Bay until 30 October. Over the next seven weeks, Stoddert conducted operations similar to those of her most recent deployment. Attached to the Midway (CV-41) task group, she provided screen services to the carrier as the task group cruised as far south as Pattaya, Thailand, and as far north as Kyūshū, Japan. After arriving at the latter place on 22 December, she ended the year moored at the Naval Ordnance Facility, Sasebo.

Shifting to Yokosuka on 7 January 1979, the warship received four weeks of repairs there at the Naval Ship Repair Facility. Benjamin Stoddert then steamed to Okinawa on 10 February to participate in an antiair warfare exercise called "BuzzardEx 1–79." Moving on to Subic Bay, the guided-missile destroyer provided planeguard services for Constellation (CV-64) through the end of the month. Departing Philippine waters on 7 March, the warship returned to Pearl Harbor on the 19th to begin a seven-week maintenance availability.

1980s
Continued boiler trouble kept the guided-missile destroyer in port, save for a few local operations, for the remainder of the year. Then, following a series of tests and inspections, Benjamin Stoddert commenced a major overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on 3 January 1980. After five months in drydock, she moved to a berth for continued industrial work; and it was not until 30 November that the guided-missile destroyer got underway for her first sea trials. The crew spent the next five months putting the warship through full power exams, sonar tests, and weapons system acceptance trials. During the latter, on 31 March 1981, she successfully fired six Standard missiles on the Pacific missile range. The warship then conducted training and other local operations out of Pearl Harbor through the summer and into the fall. On 19 October, she set out for San Francisco, arriving there on the 29th. After a week of liberty, the guided-missile destroyer cruised south to San Diego, mooring at the naval station on 6 November. Benjamin Stoddert then participated in Exercise "ReadiEx 1-82", the highlight of which was a missile firing exercise held on 23 November. Steaming to Hawaii the next day, she moored alongside Jason (AR-8) in Pearl Harbor on 1 December for voyage repairs.

On 22 February 1982, Benjamin Stoddert departed Hawaii for her ninth western Pacific cruise. After a brief stop at Guam on 6 March, she proceeded on to the Philippines. While en route to Subic Bay, the warship conducted both antisubmarine and antiair warfare exercises, an underway routine she would continue throughout this deployment. Following a week in Subic Bay, the guided-missile destroyer steamed to Korea and, between 28 and 30 March, participated in amphibious Exercise "Team Spirit 82." She then sailed between Hong Kong, Subic Bay, and Yokosuka before anchoring in Shimoda, Japan, on 15 May. In the latter port, she took part in the Black Ship Festival, commemorating Commodore Matthew C. Perry's opening of Japan to foreign trade in 1854. Benjamin Stoddert returned to Subic Bay on the 24th.

Leaving the Philippines on 2 June, the guided-missile destroyer sailed to Pattaya, Thailand, anchoring there on the 6th. That same day, tension between the Soviet Union and the West increased after Israel invaded Lebanon. International friction notwithstanding, the warship joined the previously scheduled exercise "Cobra Gold 82" in the Gulf of Thailand on the 7th. Her participation included naval gunfire support for an amphibious landing exercise and ASW operations with three Royal Thai Navy warships. Still, heightened Cold War tension intruded when, just before midnight on 8 June, Aneroid – a Soviet intelligence gathering trawler – fired an illumination flare over Thai ship HTMS Khirirat.

Departing Thailand, on 19 June, Benjamin Stoddert, guided-missile cruiser Sterett (CG-31), and two other destroyers passed into the South China Sea on their way to Subic Bay. The next evening, Soviet aircraft – presumably from bases in Vietnam – began shadowing the American warships. At around 22:00, a Soviet aircraft dropped 16 flares over Turner Joy (DD-951). A few minutes later, Lynde McCormick (DDG-8) received .30-caliber machinegun fire from an unidentified ship in the vicinity. The warship responded in kind, deliberately aiming high; and the foreign ship ceased fire. Although tension remained high the rest of the night, no other incidents occurred; and the warships arrived at Subic Bay on 23 June. After that, however, Stoddert passed her remaining five weeks in the western Pacific without incident; and, following two "war-at-sea" exercises in the waters off Japan, she steamed for home on 6 August. Mooring at Pearl Harbor on 12 August, the warship spent the rest of the year doing maintenance work on her boilers and standing several regular safety and readiness inspections. During the first three weeks of 1983, Benjamin Stoddert prepared for a joint Navy-Air Force exercise in the Hawaiian Islands. This refresher training included helicopter operations, naval gunfire support, damage control drills, and antisubmarine systems' tests. The highlight of Exercise "MidPacTraEx," held between 31 January and 3 February, was a defensive ASW operation with Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) and Willamette (AO-180). Later that month, she served as "surface deep dive safety ship" for Sargo (SSN-583).

In a scenery shift from her familiar operational zone, the guided-missile destroyer sailed from Pearl Harbor to the southern California operating area on 31 March. There, she conducted a "war at sea" exercise with DesRon 17 in early April. The warship then joined Ranger (CV-61) and operated with her battle group along the west coasts of California and Central America for the next four weeks. These evolutions were intended, in part, to demonstrate American resolve in checking the spread of communism in Central America.

Returning to Pearl Harbor on 25 May, the guided-missile destroyer remained in port for the next eight weeks. Between 21 and 24 July, the warship took part in a joint ASW exercise with Sample (FF-1048), Cochrane (DDG-21), Harold E. Holt, and three Japanese warships before getting ready to deploy overseas once more. On 26 August, Benjamin Stoddert put to sea with Ranger's battle group and steered for the Philippines, arriving in Subic Bay on 14 September. Earlier in the year, and partly in response to the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War in 1980, the United States had established Central Command (CentCom) in the western reaches of the Indian Ocean to protect American security interests in the Middle East; and Ranger's group received orders to patrol the northern portion of the Arabian Sea in support of CentCom's mission.

Departing Subic Bay on 26 September, the battle group set course for the Strait of Malacca. The unit's transit of the South China Sea was interrupted on the 30th, however, when Benjamin Stoddert rescued 39 Vietnamese refugees from their sinking boat, an act that later brought her the Humanitarian Service Medal. Once the refugees had been passed along, the group continued on south and west, passing through the Strait of Malacca and entering the Indian Ocean on 4 October. Linking up with a British force built around HMS Invincible (R05), the warships sailed northwest and arrived on station in the Arabian Sea on 12 October. Stoddert remained in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf through the end of the year, helping to assure Western access to oil and countering the spread of Soviet influence in the region. During this period, she paid two visits to El Masirah, Oman, and called at Karachi, Pakistan.

On 15 January 1984, the American task group turned east for the long voyage back to Hawaii. After stops in Singapore and Subic Bay, Benjamin Stoddert moored in Pearl Harbor on 22 February. Six days later, she entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a major equipment overhaul. During the ensuing 15-month shipyard period, the guided-missile destroyer received new radar and fire-control systems, the navy tactical data system (NTDS), the integrated automatic detection and tracking system (IADTS) and a modernized steam engineering plant. In addition to her combat systems' overhaul, she had her antiship capabilities enhanced by the installation of Harpoon missile launchers. Completing the overhaul on 9 July 1985, Stoddert occupied the rest of the year with a series of local operations and inspections. These ranged from a joint ASW exercise with Australian and New Zealand warships at sea to the more mundane propulsion plant and ordnance safety inspections while in port. The warship's first exercise in the new year took place between 23 and 28 January 1986. Benjamin Stoddert operated as part of an "enemy" surface and submarine force that "attacked" the Enterprise battle group. Two more individual ship exercises followed in February. Then, after a command inspection in late March and a nuclear weapons certification inspection in early April, Stoddert got underway for "RimPac 86", an international naval exercise held in Hawaiian waters between 21 May and 12 June. As a unit of the "Blue Force," she served as communications link ship with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force warships involved in the maneuvers. The guided-missile destroyer also covered a SEAL team insertion and extraction mission during the exercise. During rimpac86 the Stoddert had port calls in San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver BC, where crew members were able to attend the Vancouver Worlds Fair, before returning home.

After five more months of local training operations and other preparatory tasks, Benjamin Stoddert finally got underway for another Middle East deployment on 28 November. Steaming in company with Hepburn (FF-1055) and Mahlon S. Tisdale (FFG-27), she first sailed to the Philippines. After a week of upkeep at Subic Bay, Stoddert set out south on 21 December, stopping at Singapore on the 25th before passing the Strait of Malacca on the 26th and ending the year with a fuel stop at Colombo, Sri Lanka. The guided-missile destroyer continued on to the Middle East in the new year and relieved Goldsborough on station in the Persian Gulf on 6 January. Although Iranian and Iraqi attacks on neutral tankers had begun to increase in early 1987, no firm American policy regarding this "tanker war" had yet been established. This limited Stoddert's mission, therefore, to surveillance operations against Iranian forces, especially "Silkworm" missile sites in the Strait of Hormuz, and to the provision of communications and other data links to friendly aircraft in the region. Relieved by Waddell (DDG-24) on 4 April after three months on station, the warship steamed toward home, passing into the Indian Ocean and stopping at Colombo on the 9th to refuel. Following port visits to Phuket, Thailand, between 13 and 16 April and at Hong Kong between 23 and 27 April, the guided-missile destroyer moored at Pearl Harbor on 9 May. After a four-week leave and upkeep standdown, Benjamin Stoddert resumed the familiar routine. This included various weapons and supply inspections, equipment alterations in the shipyard, and training ashore for crew members. In addition, the warship participated in a joint Navy-Coast Guard exercise in late June, took part in ASW drills in mid-August, and served as ready duty destroyer during the month of September. She then began a phased maintenance availability at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on 26 October.

With the repairs and upgrades to her engineering plant finished on 9 February 1988, Benjamin Stoddert began preparing for an upcoming fleet exercise. The warship set out for San Diego on 15 March, completing a transit exercise – including service as the target for simulated attacks by two attack submarines – before mooring in San Diego harbor on the 31st. On 8 April, she put to sea for "FleetEx 88-2", a carrier battle group exercise held off southern California, in which Stoddert's crew took "revenge" for the transit exercise by successfully engaging a target submarine with an exercise torpedo. Later, she joined the Carl Vinson (CVN-70) battle group and, in simulated air attacks, shot down three target drones with as many Standard SM-1 missiles. After more than two weeks of intensive training, the warship sailed for home, arriving in Pearl Harbor on 30 April.

Although originally scheduled for an overseas deployment in June, the warship delayed her departure until September so she could join the Nimitz (CVN-68) battle group. Her crew spent the summer testing new maintenance procedures, passing safety inspections, and taking the warship to sea for exercises such as the combined American, Australian, Canadian, and Japanese "RimPac 88" battle problems held between 7 and 17 July. Finally embarking on her deployment on 20 September, the warship joined Waddell, Hepburn, Barbey (FF-1088), Kiska (AE-35), and Willamette (AO-180) in Battle Group "Bravo" for the voyage west to the Persian Gulf. After a stop at Subic Bay between 7 and 11 October, the group conducted a few days of gunnery practice at the Tabones range in the Philippines before sailing to Hong Kong for liberty. Departing the British Crown Colony on the 20th, the battle group headed south, navigated the Malacca Strait, and passed into the Indian Ocean. From there, the warships took up station in the northern part of the Arabian Sea on 30 October.

Although the "tanker war" in the Persian Gulf had ended on 20 August with the cease-fire between Iran and Iraq, American warships still patrolled the region, replacing tanker-escort duty with general "zone defense." Benjamin Stoddert remained in the Arabian Sea for the first 10 days of this mission before receiving a brief availability alongside Prairie at the Masirah anchorage between 10 and 16 November. From there, she moved to the Strait of Hormuz and relieved Antietam (CG-54) as patrol ship there. Turning over that patrol station to California (CGN-36) on 2 December, the warship returned to the Arabian Sea for another 10 days with Battle Group "Bravo". After 56 days at sea, the crew displayed palpable relief when the guided-missile destroyer put into Abu Dhabi for a three-day port visit on 14 December. While returning to her unit on the 18th, Stoddert provided medical assistance to three injured crew members of the British merchant vessel British Trident. Shortly thereafter, the group sailed east, passing through the Malacca Strait and anchoring at Singapore on 31 December.

Following a six-day port visit, the group steamed back into the Indian Ocean for a quick drop south of the equator on 9 January 1989 before returning through the Strait of Malacca on the 19th. The warships then steamed north into the South China Sea for four days of ASW exercises with units of the Royal Thai Navy, followed by a three-day visit to Pattaya Beach, Thailand. Benjamin Stoddert then sailed independently for Subic Bay, arriving there on 1 February to begin a week-long upkeep and maintenance availability dedicated to main propulsion plant repairs. Departing the Philippines on 8 February, Stoddert steamed across the Pacific and moored in Pearl Harbor on 21 February.

At the end of a four-week post-deployment standdown, the guided-missile destroyer began preparations for a series of engineering and general survey inspections set for late spring. Those inspections ended late in June, and July passed relatively slowly, marked by an overnight "tiger cruise" for crew dependents on the 18th, and a port visit to Hilo, Hawaii, between 19 and 25 July. A week after that, Benjamin Stoddert departed Pearl Harbor for two weeks of law enforcement operations with the United States Coast Guard. The warship used her surface search radars and other equipment to spot small craft, which were then boarded by Coast Guard detachments in search of drug smugglers. Back in port on 11 August, Stoddert spent the next week training submarine prospective commanding officers.

1990s
Toward the end of August, Benjamin Stoddert started preparing for a phased maintenance availability, which she began on 12 September in the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. During the ensuing five months, the warship received extensive equipment upgrades and regularly scheduled maintenance work on her propulsion plant. Pronounced ready for duty on 1 March, the warship conducted another Coast Guard law enforcement operation in Hawaiian waters. Then, on 16 April, she joined the familiar multinational exercise "RIMPAC 90". She conducted ASW and anti-surface ship exercises during this period, highlighted by a successful Standard missile shot in early May.

Back in Pearl Harbor on 12 May, Benjamin Stoddert did not leave Hawaii until 18 June when she set out for Central America and another Coast Guard law enforcement deployment. The warship began patrol operations off Baja California on the 27th and remained there – save for a single port visit to San Diego – through 11 August. After rendezvousing with Badger (FF-1071) and Kawishiwi (AO-146), the guided-missile destroyer sailed south for a drug interdiction patrol off Panama. These operations continued until 11 September, when the warship put into Rodman, Panama – the first landfall for the crew after 47 days at sea. Departing Panama on the 14th, the guided-missile destroyer returned to her patrol station, remaining there until 29 September when she was relieved by Waddell. Instead of sailing northwest for home, however, Stoddert passed through the Panama Canal on 3 October, entered the Caribbean Sea – the first and only arm of the Atlantic Ocean to wash her hull – and pulled into Willemstad, Curaçao, on the 6th. After a five-day port visit, she turned west for her transit home, arriving in Pearl Harbor on 29 October. The guided-missile destroyer spent the rest of the year in port undergoing routine inspections and maintenance.

Benjamin Stoddert began her last year in service with a surface warfare exercise in late January 1991, and her crew remained busy with training through the end of March. Departing Hawaii on 3 April, the warship cruised in southern California waters for the next five weeks, conducting antisubmarine warfare (ASW) drills and naval gunfire practice off San Clemente in addition to readiness training with the Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) battle group. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 May.

Following a series of inspections in June, the warship remained in port – save for a few days of local operations – as the crew prepared her for inactivation. On 3 September, the guided-missile destroyer began pre-inactivation procedures and unloaded all her fuel and ammunition. Benjamin Stoddert was decommissioned at Pearl Harbor on 20 December 1991, and her name was struck from the Navy list on 20 November 1992. On 7 September 1995, she was transferred to the Maritime Administration and was berthed with its National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, Calif., to await disposal. On 3 February 2001, while under tow to Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping, the old guided missile destroyer took on water and sank in the Pacific.

Honors
Benjamin Stoddert received nine battle stars for Vietnam service.

Combat Action Ribbon & Meritorious Unit Citation – 1972 WestPac

title: USS Benjamin Stoddert


text:
Tus, Iran

Tus was an ancient city in Razavi Khorasan Province in Iran near Mashhad. To the ancient Greeks, it was known as Susia (Σούσια). It was also known as Tusa. Tus was divided into four cities, Tabran, Radakan, Noan and Teroid. The whole area which today is only called Tus was the largest city in the whole area in the fifth century.

History
According to legend Tous son of Nowzar founded the city of Tous in the province of Khorassan next to today's city of Mashhad. It is said that the city of Tous was the capital of Parthia and the residence of King Vishtaspa, who was the first convert to Zoroastianism. It was captured by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE.

Tus was taken by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik and remained under Umayyad control until 747, when a subordinate of Abu Muslim Khorasani defeated the Umayyad governor during the Abbasid Revolution. In 809, the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid fell ill and died in Tus, on his way to solve the unrest in Khorasan. His grave is located in the region.

In 1220, Tus was sacked by the Mongol general, Subutai, and a year later Tolui would kill most of its populace, and destroying the tomb of Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the process. Decades later, Tus would be rebuilt under the governorship of Kuerguez.

The most famous person who has emerged from that area is the poet Ferdowsi, author of the Persian epic Shahnameh, whose mausoleum, built in 1934 in time for the millennium of his birth, dominates the town. Other notable residents of Tus include the theologian, jurist, philosopher and mystic al-Ghazali; early polymath Jābir ibn Hayyān; the poet Asadi Tusi; the powerful Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk; the medieval polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi; the prominent Usooli mujtahid (Twelver-Shi'a law interpreter) Shaykh Tusi; and the noted Sufi mystic and historian Abu Nasr as-Sarraj.

Registration of Ferdowsi's Tomb in UNESCO
Ferdowsi Tomb has been nationally registered in the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization and at the suggestion of the Cultural Heritage Organization and Ferdowsi Foundation, efforts have been made to pursue the registration of Ferdowsi Tomb in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Tus, Iran


text:
Appendicular skeleton

The appendicular skeleton is the portion of the vertebrate endoskeleton consisting of the bones and cartilages that support the paired appendages (fins, flippers or limbs). In most terrestrial vertebrates (except snakes, legless lizards and caecillians), the appendicular skeleton and the associated skeletal muscles are the predominant locomotive structures.

There are 126 bones in the human appendicular skeleton, includes the skeletal elements within the shoulder and pelvic girdles, upper and lower limbs, and hands and feet. These bones are homologous to those in the forelimbs and hindlimbs of all other tetrapods.

Etymology
The adjective "appendicular" comes from Latin appendicula, meaning "small addition". It is the diminutive of appendix, which comes from the prefix ad- (meaning "to") + and the word root pendere (meaning"to hang", from PIE root *(s)pen- meaning"to draw, stretch, spin").

The organization of the appendicular system
Of the 206 bones in the human skeleton, the appendicular skeleton comprises 126. Functionally, it is involved in locomotion (lower limbs) of the axial skeleton and manipulation of objects in the environment (upper limbs).

The appendicular skeleton forms during development from cartilage, by the process of endochondral ossification.

The appendicular skeleton is divided into six major regions:

 * Shoulder girdle (4 bones) - Left and right clavicle (2) and scapula (2).
 * Arms and forearms (6 bones) - Left and right humerus (2) (arm), ulna (2) and radius (2) (forearm).
 * Hands (54 bones) - Left and right carpals (16) (wrist), metacarpals (10), proximal phalanges (10), intermediate phalanges (8) and distal phalanges (10).
 * Pelvis (2 bones) - left hip bone and right hip bone (2).
 * Thighs and legs (8 bones) - Left and right femur (2) (thigh), patella (2) (knee), tibia (2) and fibula (2) (leg).
 * Feet and ankles (52 bones) - Left and right tarsals (14) (ankle), metatarsals (10), proximal phalanges(10), intermediate phalanges (8) and distal phalanges (10).

Through anatomical variation, the skeleton may have an accessory bone. Examples include sutural bones in the skull, cervical ribs, lumbar ribs, and a sixth lumbar vertebrae. Some occurrences are rarer than others.

The appendicular skeleton of 126 bones and the axial skeleton of 80 bones together form the complete skeleton of 206 bones in the human body. Unlike the axial skeleton, the appendicular skeleton is unfused. This allows for a much greater range of motion.

title: Appendicular skeleton


text:
USS Cochrane

USS Cochrane (DDG-21) was a Charles F. Adams-class destroyer guided missile destroyer built for the United States Navy in the 1960s.

Design and description
The Charles F. Adams class was based on a stretched Forrest Sherman-class destroyer hull modified to accommodate smaller RIM-24 Tartar surface-to-air missiles and all their associated equipment. The ships had an overall length of 437 ft, a beam of 47 ft and a deep draft of 15 ft. They displaced 4526 LT at full load. Their crew consisted of 18 officers and 320 enlisted men.

The ships were equipped with two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The turbines were intended to produce 70000 shp to reach the designed speed of 33 kn. The Adams class had a range of 4500 nmi at a speed of 20 kn.

The Charles F. Adams-class ships were armed with two 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun forward, one each forward and aft of the superstructure. They were fitted with an eight-round ASROC launcher between the funnels. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two triple sets of 12.75 in Mk 32 torpedo tubes. The primary armament of the ships was the Tartar surface-to-air missile designed to defend the carrier battle group. They were fired via the Mk 13 missile launcher and the ships stowed a total of 40 missiles for the launcher.

Construction and career
Cochrane, named for Vice Admiral Edward L. Cochrane, USN, was laid down by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company at Seattle, Washington on 31 July 1961, launched on 18 July 1962 and commissioned on 21 March 1964. In April 1975 Cochrane participated in Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam.

On 1 October 1980 Cochrane rescued 104 Vietnamese refugees 620 mi east of Saigon. Cochrane was decommissioned on 1 October 1990, struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 November 1992 and sold as scrap to International Shipbreaking, Incorporated, of Brownsville in Texas on 14 November 2000.

In Popular Culture
Cochrane appears in the original Hawaii Five-O (1968 TV series) season 8 episode Murder: Eyes Only.

Cochrane also appears in the 1987 Kevin Costner film "No Way Out."

title: USS Cochrane


text:
Talk:Erinyes

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 29 March 2021 and 11 June 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Eurydice07.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 20:48, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled
Inspiration for the brides of Dracula, perhaps? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.231.23.183 (talk • contribs) 05:20, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

What does "Erinyes" mean in Greek?
What does "Erinyes" mean in Greek? Also, what is the singular form? "Erinye"? 83.95.193.113 17:45, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
 * The Greek singular form is ̓Ερινύς (Erinys)- in modern Greek the singular form is Ερινύα-, and the word translates roughly to "Murky, Dark, Misty". The Latin names for them are a bit more explicit: Furiae ("Rage, Madness, Fury") and Dirae ("Ill-Omened, Forboding"). -Silence 17:56, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

Newton's Third Law removal
I've removed the link to Newton's Third Law (the law of reciprocal actions). Although I appreciate the metaphor inherent in the link (the Erinyes enact vengeance, i.e., are the force of reciprocity), unless there is a good reason to include Newtonian physics, I submit that it has little to do with this article. If someone chooses to re-add the link, please accompany with explanatory text; otherwise it seems very out-of-left-field. Ryan McDaniel 16:38, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Alecto's link to Moral Turpitude?
Is it appropriate for Alecto's description under the "Three Sisters" heading to link to Moral Turpitude an american legal concept? As far as I know, the Erinyes have no connection to the legal concept, other than in a general symbolic sense, certainly not a specific legal one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.160.182.112 (talk) 17:12, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Psychological Trauma?
I removed the links in "See also" to the articles on psychological trauma and post traumatic stress disorder as they are entirely unrelated. Anyone planning on re-linking them please include an explination as to why. I'd like to remind you that the erinyes are mythological and, in mythology, afflict wrong doers with punishment. Context and direct connection aside (which clearly favor the removale of these links) PTSD and psychological trauma most commonly afflict the victim of such acts, and as such are unrelated even remotely. (FossaFerox 06:59, 13 July 2006 (UTC))

Stop the Madness!
Does anyone else agree that the "Erinyes in popular culture" section in this article is getting bloated and silly? For Pete's sake, the article has more writing there than in the rest of the article. And so far as I can tell, the only qualification for mention is that a song / video game / TV ad uses the word "fury" at least once. If there is no outcry, I propose to delete it all in a few days. Mlouns 05:41, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
 * And while I'm at it, the "Erinyes in later culture" looks uninformative and ripe for deletion as well. The Sartre reference probably belongs in the Oresteia article, and the rest are mostly just one-line cites. Mlouns 05:57, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Last call -- If I don't hear a protest, the whole pop culture section is going very soon. Mlouns 06:17, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
 * You might want to put a reference to the Sandman series ninth volume 'The Kindly Ones'. There are several references to the Furies in other volumes as well - in the second Desire says "I'll bring the kindly ones down on your head" and one of the offshoot mini series' is about the furies.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.72.87.130 (talk) 06:53, 6 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I have added it to the article (without reading this discussion first), but I think they are the main subject of the book, they are even it its name (the kindly ones), altough they are merged with other mythological figures, but I think it is important enough to at least mention it in the article... --Have a nice day. Running 01:35, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

editing glitch
the box that has links to other things it says greek mythology on the top of it well it's over the text and you can't read the first few sentences of this page i don't know how to fix it but someone should —Preceding unsigned comment added by Charlieh7337 (talk • contribs) 00:40, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Merging Pages
Is it necessary to have seperate articles for the Erinyes as well as one for each one? suzumebachi٭secret~ ~ ~ 18:44, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Meaning of Alecto
This page states that the name Alecto means "unceasing", yet her page states that it means "the implacable". Which is correct? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.203.14.51 (talk) 21:42, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Lost Information
After the spam edit on 04:04, 30 September 2009 a whole chunk was lost, but never got restored. it looks like some of the other references have changed, though, could someone check that out and restore it? 67.161.246.72 (talk) 02:59, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Bullfinch, bull... well, you get the idea
I have removed a piece of careless misquotation from the article. The "legend" recounted about the Furies here is actually from the 18th century German writer Friedrich Schiller's poem "The Cranes of Ibycus." If you still think it worthy to cite the poem then excellent, but Schiller should get the credit.

It has some of the most hauntingly melodic German I've ever read:

in schwarzer Mantel schlägt die Lenden,

Sie schwingen in entfleischten Händen

Der Fackel düsterrote Glut,

In ihren Wangen fließt kein Blut.

Und wo die Haare lieblich flattern,

Um Menschenstirnen freundlich wehn,

Da sieht man Schlangen hier und Nattern

Die giftgeschwollenen Bäuche blähn.

At any rate you can read more over on the German Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.180.25.183 (talk) 05:19, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

logic question
In reference to the play, it states that by giving the 'Furies' red robes it thus ends the red color scheme of the play. That strikes me as counterintuitive. Chznarles (talk) 11:12, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

Parentage
This article says that "According to a variant account, they emerged from an even more primordial level—from Nyx, "Night"." Who is the source of this account exactly? ICE77 (talk) 14:49, 12 April 2011 (UTC)
 * According to Aeschylus the Erinyes are the daughters of Night (Eumenides 321) see this gbook preview, theoi, translation of Eemenides line 321 -France3470 (talk) 18:23, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Cool, thanks. Let's add this source to the article then. ICE77 (talk) 22:24, 13 April 2011 (UTC))

Sartre, Les mouches
In "Les mouches" by Sartre (loose adaptation of Sophocles' "Elektra"), the Erinyes are personified by flies (hence the title, meaning "the flies" in French). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.230.30.143 (talk) 15:15, 13 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Comment to: Have you read about the Seraphim? They can be found in the Book of Isaiah. Furies, Fates or Hesperides? Isaiah, Hesiod or Virgil? FUSTER1965 (talk) 18:02, 7 January 2017 (UTC)

Ἐρινύες, A. K. A...
The page states that the Erinyes were also sometimes known as χθόνιαι θεαί. While I see where they get the adjective χθόνιος, it seems to me that this is a modern concept whereas the Greek terminology implies that we are dealing with an ancient name for the Erinyes. Furthermore, the general term for goddess in Greek would be ἡ θεός, not θεά/θεή, so as it stands now I would say that, given the unusual form of the name, it either needs a direct citation from an ancient author referring to them as such, or that the alternative name should be deleted. Does anybody know where the A.K.A. has come from/who can provide it with the correct reference? Niels van der Salm (talk) 20:04, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Section for origin myth?
I'm not sure whether the origin myth, currently in the heading of the article should deserve its own section, it would require some significant reformatting. I might do it if I don't get a response in the next couple of days. GrassHopHer (talk) 19:32, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

When were they "first" called the Eumenides?
Aeschylus's Oresteia is by consensus dated up to 80 years before Euripides's Orestes. The third play of the trilogy is titled Eumenides. In this third play itself, most of the events take place that are described in the second paragraph of the Aeschylus section of the extant page. At the play's end, the Furies are re-dubbed the Kindly Ones, the Eumenides.

It seems that the Aeschylus section should be revised to reflect which of the plot details are sourced by this third play, and the claim in the Euripides section, that the first equation of the Furies with the Eumenides occurs in his play the Orestes, should be removed. --98.233.184.247 (talk) 04:20, 17 July 2014 (UTC)
 * There seems to be considerable scholarly debate concerning this issue which our article doesn't seem to adequately reflect. Although Aeschylus play has come down to us as the Eumenides this may not have been the original title used by Aeschylus, — the word "Eumenides" does not appear anywhere in the surviving text — and some scholars have attributed the first identification to Euripides' Orestes, see for example Sarah Iles Johnsto, p. 268 and Robin Mitchell-Boyask, "The Furies". Paul August ☎ 13:10, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Sartre, Nausea
John-Paul Sartre has a reference: ' Norns ', in his "Nausea"., p52, Penguin Classics, Penguin Books Ltd., Baldick, R. 2000. It's alluding to the Cyclops. Close to this search is Furiæ. He, Satre, does not go any further, with his classical references, to bridge the subject of Satyr(s) or Siren(s). Myself, I think that Antoine Roquentin is being followed. FUSTER1965 (talk) 16:51, 7 January 2017 (UTC)

Three hellish Furies, stained in blood...
In Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy of Dante The Inferno" (translation by, Marvin. R. Vincent, 1904) Canto IX lines: 30-40., p.57., he writes about the Furies, as such: '....Three hellish Furies, stained with blood....little snakes for hair...'. Dante then goes on to describe them as the 'Erinnyes' and names three, with the same names as Virgil's furies from the Æneid. Written in Greek, the English adjective 'selfish' is: εγωιστικός, phonetically, the tonal value is very similar to both Erinnyes and Erinyes; the Greek word is referenced as, selfish and egotistic. Similarly, the English adjective 'hellish' (Grk: καταχθόνος) is referenced as, infernal, hellish and Stygian. All of the above, puts me in mind of Medusa and her sisters, in Hesiod's "Theogony". FUSTER1965 (talk) 05:50, 8 January 2017 (UTC)

add also
Modern English + Modern Greek: Erinya singular, also correct
 * Eumenides or Eumenids plural
 * Eumenida or Eumenid singular, the spirit-soothing version of the word
 * (the Pacific Ocean was a violent ocean for the old ships, we call these nouns or names placative) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:2149:8450:8A00:D52B:9765:E45B:4A51 (talk) 01:48, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

Requested move 13 November 2019

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: No consensus. (non-admin closure) Cwmhiraeth (talk) 13:50, 10 December 2019 (UTC)

– Per WP:COMMONNAME. As of this writing, both "Furies" and "The Furies" redirect to Erinyes and, while numerous links flow to "Furies", only eight links flow to "The Furies", which should be the main title header of the disambiguation page since, among the dab page's 18 entries, 13 are titled "The Furies", not simply "Furies". — Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 20:23, 13 November 2019 (UTC) —Relisting. Steel1943  (talk) 23:39, 1 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Erinyes → Furies
 * Furies (disambiguation) → The Furies
 * Support first per WP:COMMONNAME. Oppose second; The Furies should be a WP:PRIMARYREDIRECT to Furies.ZXCVBNM (TALK) 20:48, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Support first oppose second per zxcvbnm Randy Kryn (talk) 21:22, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Strongly oppose. This is an article about Greek goddesses, featured primarily in Greek mythology and Greek literature.  The article should not be moved to a Roman name when the Greek title is well-known, the literary sources in which they appear are Greek, practically no Roman literature is cited, and most of the Roman literature that exists is likely to consist primarily of translations of Greek myths.  This move would be like moving "Odysseus" to "Ulysses" or moving "Aphrodite" to "Venus", simply because the Roman names are, or once were, regularly substituted for the Greek in English-language materials.  If there were sufficient Roman literature here to support an article on the Furies in Roman myth and culture, it would be a separate article, as is done for all other Roman deities who were either derived from or became identified with Greek deities through syncretism.  At the present, the only Roman literature cited is Servius, listing different names applied to them.  In addition, the article has been at its present title since its creation in 2004; and because we have redirects, there is no danger of people not finding it because they're searching under the Roman name, or any of the alternatives appearing in literature.  P Aculeius (talk) 13:25, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Once again, the central issue here is English WP:COMMONNAME and comparisons with Odysseus / Ulysses or Aphrodite / Venus are not directly applicable because those names have entered standard English usage. A glance at Aphrodite (disambiguation), Venus (disambiguation), Odysseus (disambiguation) or the Ulysses disambiguation page will display numerous other uses for those terms, while Erinyes stands alone, with a hatnote indicating that the English common name "Furies" redirects here. For other uses, see Furies (disambiguation). —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 14:38, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
 * A quick Google search reveals that "Erinyes" is in standard English usage, and has occurred in a significant number of English-language sources for at least a century and a half. Whether a disambiguation page for other uses is necessary is completely irrelevant to this discussion.  A more apt question would be, "do we have a significant number of Greek deities listed under their Roman names, even though practically all of their mythology and literature is from Greek sources, with little or no contribution from Roman mythology or literature?"  P Aculeius (talk) 16:29, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

 * Strongly oppose This article is about the Greek goddesses of vengeance. Their name in standard English usage is the Erinyes—not the Furies, which is rather the name, in English, of the Erinyes Roman counterparts. (And of course Erinyes has entered standard English usage, just do a Google search.) Yes the Roman goddesses, the Furies, might be better known but that doesn't meant that the name of the Greek goddesses is the Furies (because it isn't). Just like the name of the Greek goddess of the hunt, in English, isn't Diana, but Artemis, and the name of the Greek god of war isn't Mars, but Ares, although in both case, the name of the Roman counterparts are arguably better known. Paul August ☎ 19:31, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
 * A few quick supporting sources, the corresponding articles in all the three general reference works I have at my desk: The Oxford Clasical Dictionary, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology (Pierre Grimal), Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology (Edward Tripp), are all titled "Erinyes". Paul August ☎ 19:51, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
 * However, it is still about the English common name. As already pointed out by P Aculeius, above,
 * Thus, your examples of Artemis / Diana (mythology) and Ares / Mars (mythology) are as inapplicable as the previously-mentioned Aphrodite / Venus (mythology), since all of those have their own separate entries. Granted, there is no separate entry for Ulysses (mythology), which is arguably a better known name than Odysseus, but the word "odyssey" is such a well-known English term that its familiarity transfers to Odysseus, with no analogous case existing for Erinyes.
 * Ultimately, even when both Greek and Roman names are part of standard English usage, Greek names are indeed generally used but, when it comes to a Greek name, such as Erinyes, that is almost completely unfamiliar to most English speakers, in comparison to a name, such as Furies or the Furies, that is no longer considered a Roman name, but a word in standard English usage, per the Furies (disambiguation) page, then the choice would seem to be tilted in favor of what does appear to be WP:COMMONNAME. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 20:24, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes it is about the English common name, and the English common name for the *Greek* goddesses is Erinyes, per the three sources I've given (I could give more). The Erinyes and the Furies, (although counterparts) are simply not the same thing. What you seem to be suggesting is that we ought to call both the Roman goddesses, and the Greek goddesses by the same name. Why would we do this when there are perfectly good English names for each, i.e Erinyes for the Greek goddesses and Furies for the Roman goddesses. Paul August ☎ 21:43, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Pluto and Nox (Nyx), in Virgil's Aeneid.
In the virgil version, Pluto and Nox (Nyx) are the parents of the furies.

When she had spoken these words, fearsome, she sought the earth: and summoned Allecto, the grief-bringer, from the house of the Fatal Furies, from the infernal shadows: in whose mind are sad wars, angers and deceits, and guilty crimes. A monster, hated by her own father Pluto, hateful to her Tartarean sisters: she assumes so many forms, her features are so savage, she sports so many black vipers. Juno roused her with these words, saying: ‘Grant me a favour of my own, virgin daughter of Night(Nox), this service, so that my honour and glory are not weakened, and give way, and the people of Aeneas cannot woo Latinus with intermarriage, or fill the bounds of Italy. (Aeneid 7.323 - Verg. A. 7.334 ).

Men speak of twin plagues, named the Dread Ones, whom Night(Nox) bore untimely, in one birth with Tartarean Megaera, wreathing them equally in snaky coils, and adding wings swift as the wind." ( Aeneid 12. 845 - 12. 848 ff )

please read pages 138, 167 and 294 https://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/AeneidTrKline2002.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by Victorygreymon123 (talk • contribs) 19:18, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Erinyes