USS Berkeley (DDG-15)

USS Berkeley (DDG-15)

USS Berkeley (DDG-15) was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Major General Randolph C. Berkeley, USMC (1875–1960), a Medal of Honor recipient for actions during the U.S. occupation of Veracruz (1914).

She was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden in New Jersey on 1 June 1960, launched on 29 July 1961 sponsored by Mrs. James B. Berkeley, Major General Berkeley’s daughter-in-law; and commissioned on 15 December 1962 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Commander Wyatt E. Harper in command.

Berkeley was decommissioned on 30 September 1992 at a ceremony in San Diego, California, and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. She was turned over to the Hellenic Navy on 1 October, and recommissioned as HHMS Themistocles (D-221). The ship remained in Greek service until her decommissioning on 18 February 2002 and was sold for scrap in 2004.