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Photo # NH 98453-KN:  USS Fox underway in the Pacific, December 1988

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Fox (DLG-33, later CG-33), 1966-____

USS Fox, a 5340-ton Belknap class guided missile frigate built at San Pedro, California, was commissioned in May 1966. Following a year of outfitting, evaluation work on her advanced weapons systems and training for her crew, in June 1967 she began the first of well over a dozen overseas deployments. For nearly the rest of that year she served in the Western Pacific, mainly taking part in Vietnam War operations. Among her activities were control of air traffic, including guiding U.S. fighter airplanes in successful combat with enemy MiGs, and search and rescue efforts by a helicopter based on her deck. Fox also helped USS Forrestal when that big aircraft carrier was ravaged by fire on 29 July 1967.

During the remainder of the Vietnam War era Fox made four more WestPac cruises (October 1968-March 1969, June-October 1970, August 1971-January 1972 and January-July 1973, performing much the same tasks as during her first. Her 1970-1971 tour also took her into the Sea of Okhotsk, an area of increasing interest as the Soviet Union expanded its naval power at the height of the Cold War. More than two years in the U.S. West Coast region followed during which, at the end of June 1975, Fox was reclassified as a guided missile cruiser, with the new designation CG-33.

Fox steamed westwards again late in 1975 for a deployment that was mainly spent in the Indian Ocean. She exercised with the Australian and Iranian navies, kept an eye on Soviet naval activities and called on several nations before returning home in mid-1976. For the rest of her career, the cruiser was a frequent visitor to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. Her cruise there in January-June 1978 included operations in the Red Sea and another passage through the Sea of Okhotsk, while that in September 1980-April 1981 featured a spell as flagship in the Persian Gulf during a severe crisis in U.S. relations with revolutionary Iran.

Between those tours Fox was modernized, receiving Harpoon surface-to-surface guided missiles in place of her three-inch guns, plus other upgrades to her combat capabilities. Further WestPac/IO deployments took place in 1982 (during which she helped rescue more than a hundred Vietnamese refugees), 1985-1986, 1987 (including protecting Persian Gulf shipping during heavy fighting between Iran and Iraq), 1988-1989, 1991-1992 and 1993. Fox concluded her last overseas cruise near the end of 1993 and immediately began inactivation preparations. Decommissioned in mid-April 1994, she was sold for scrapping in 1995. However, the troubled state of the U.S. shipbreaking industry in the 1990s caused her to be repossessed, and kept her intact in Navy custody into the 21st Century.

USS Fox was named in honor of Gustavus V. Fox (1821-1883), who served as a U.S. Navy Officer from 1838 until 1856 and as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1861-1866.

This page features virtually all the views we have of USS Fox (DLG-33, later CG-33) plus selected views related to her construction.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 98449

USS Fox (DLG-33)


Underway, circa mid-1966.
Probably photographed during trials. This view was released for publication on 27 July 1966.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98450

USS Fox (DLG-33)


Underway, circa mid-1966.
Probably photographed during trials. This view was released for publication on 27 July 1966.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 118KB; 590 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98451

USS Fox (DLG-33)


View of the ship's midships area, port side, taken while she was underway, circa mid-1966.
Probably photographed during trials. This view was released for publication on 27 July 1966.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98452

USS Fox (DLG-33)


Operating in the Pacific Ocean, 12 April 1971.
Photographed by PH2 L.D. Adzima.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98453-KN (color)

USS Fox (CG-33)

Underway in the Pacific Ocean, 16 December 1988.
Photographed by PH3 John Cross.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98454-KN (color)

USS Fox (CG-33)

Underway, circa the mid-1980s.
Possibly photographed in February 1986.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 152KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98455

USS Fox (DLG-33)


Ready for launching, at the Todd Shipyards Corporation Los Angeles Division shipyard, San Pedro, California, 21 November 1964.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 114KB; 600 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98456

USS Fox (DLG-33)


Afloat just after launching, at the Todd Shipyards Corporation Los Angeles Division shipyard, San Pedro, California, 21 November 1964.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 68358-KN (Color)

Insignia: USS Fox (DLG-33)

Cloth jacket patch featuring the emblem adopted in 1965, shortly before the ship was placed in commission.
The motto is one associated with the English branch of the Fox family and dates back to the early 19th Century. Freely translated, it might be rendered as "action without words".
The colors of the shield are those of the National ensign, symbolic of courage, loyalty, and honor. Moreover, they are the colors of Gustavus Vasa Ericson, King of Sweden in the 16th Century, to whom it is believed that Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox traced his lineage.
The running fox and battle helmet are an adaptation of the heraldic device of a coat of arms of the English branch of the Fox family. The fleet fox represents the ship's speed, agility and cunning. The knight's helmet symbolizes military purpose and readiness, with its closed visor reiterating the message of the motto.

Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 185KB; 575 x 765 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 21 April 2003