Warship Wednesday 29 July 2026: The Lucky 13

Here at LSOZI, we take a break every Wednesday to explore the old steam/diesel navies from 1833 to 1964, profiling a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!” Warship Wednesday 29 July 2026: The Lucky 13 Photo by PH2 Correa, NARA 330-CFD-DN-SC-82-00143 Above we see the Charles F. Adams class guided-missile destroyer USS Hoel (DDG 13) steaming in the San Bernardino Strait with a bone in her teeth about 45 years ago in 1981. At the time, she was an aging Cold Warrior with six deployments to Vietnam, one of the few ships to earn a Combat Action Ribbon on the gunline during that conflict. She still had another major gun action ahead of her. If you gave a Forrest Sherman a missile launcher……