USS Bigelow

[2] Bigelow received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for participating from 24 October 1962 to 21 November 1962.

[3] Bigelow saw extensive service in the Vietnam War and also served as a NASA recovery ship for the Mercury and Gemini III programs.

[citation needed] While operating off Vietnam on 20 April 1967, an explosion in a gun mount injured six sailors, 1 killed.

She was sold for scrap to the Fore River Shipyard and Iron Works at Quincy, Massachusetts, on 11 December 1992.

When the Fore River Shipyard went bankrupt she was resold to N. R. Acquisition Incorporated of New York City by the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court.

Left to Right: Ainsworth , Bigelow , and Coronado pier-side in Mina Salman , Bahrain in the summer of 1981. Coronado , the flagship of the U.S. Middle East Forces at the time, was painted white as is tradition for flagships since the Great White Fleet .