USS L. Y. SPEAR was the first ship in the L. Y. SPEAR - class of
submarine tenders designed and fitted to accommodate attack
submarines and service up to four submarines moored alongside
simultaneously. The L. Y. SPEARS was the first ship in the Navy
to bear the name. Decommissioned on September 6, 1996, and
stricken from the Navy list on May 3, 1999, the L. Y. SPEAR
spent the following years laid up at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard
in Portsmouth, Va. In July 2010, she was sold for scrapping to
ESCO Marine of Brownsville, Tx. |General
Characteristics:||Awarded: May 12, 1965| |Keel laid: May 5,
1966| |Launched: September 7, 1967| |Commissioned: February 22,
1970| |Decommissioned: September 6, 1996| |Builder: General
Dynamics' Quincy Shipbuilding Division, Quincy, Mass.|
|Propulsion System: two boilers, steam turbines, one shaft|
|Length: 643 feet (196 meters)| |Beam: 85 feet (25.9 meters)|
|Draft: 29 feet (8.8 meters)| |Displacement: approx. 23,300
tons| |Speed: 20 knots| |Armament: two 40mm guns, four 20mm
guns|