USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG-49) is an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, serving in the Bahrain Navy. This ship of was named for Lieutenant Robert G. Bradley (1921–1944), who was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously for his heroism on during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Robert G. Bradley entered service on 30 June 1984. The ship was homeported in Mayport, Florida. She was decommissioned in Mayport on 28 March 2014 and entered service with the Royal Bahrain Naval Force as RBNS Khalid bin Ali (91).

Namesake

thumb|left|Robert G. Bradley

Robert Graham Bradley was born in Washington, D.C., on 26 September 1921. He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy on 9 June 1939, and graduated on 19 June 1942. He completed instruction at the Atlantic Subordinate Command, Service Force, Norfolk, Va. (3 July – 27 October 1942), and on 29 October reported to New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, for the fitting out of light aircraft carrier . He served as a member of the ship's company when Princeton was commissioned on 25 February 1943, and while on board received promotions to lieutenant, junior grade and lieutenant (1 May 1943 and 1 July 1944, respectively), as she took part in operations ranging from the occupation of Baker Island (September 1943) to the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 1944).

On 24 October 1944 while Princeton steamed with Task Group 38.3 (part of Task Force 38) in Leyte Gulf off the east coast of Luzon, Philippines, a Japanese plane, tentatively identified as a Yokosuka D4Y1 Type 2 [Judy], attacked the ship. Its bomb penetrated the flight, hangar, and main decks and exploded, igniting an inferno that swept across the hangar deck. Explosions rocked the carrier, but Bradley, the ship's assistant first lieutenant, led a repair party and battled the blaze on the second and third decks. The intense heat compelled Bradley and his men to abandon their efforts, and after verifying that no wounded men remained behind, he entered the water at 10:05, rescued soon thereafter by . Their success in fighting the fire led many of the men to believe that if they could clear the smoke from Princeton's largely undamaged machinery spaces, they could raise steam and save the ship. Bradley's name appears on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.

Service history

Robert G. Bradley was laid down on 28 December 1982 at Bath, Maine, by Bath Iron Works Corp. and launched on 13 August 1983; sponsored by Mrs. Edna D. Woodruff, Bradley's mother; and commissioned on 30 June 1984. On February 4, 2024, this ship, as RBNS Khalid bin Ali, was commissioned into the Bahraini Navy.

References

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20061207000357/http://www.bradley.navy.mil/Site%20Images/Ship_Pic.jpg]
  • navysite.de: USS Robert G. Bradley
  • MaritimeQuest USS Robert G. Bradley FFG-49 pages