USS Decatur (DD-936)

December 7, 1956 - June 30, 1983

4,619 tons

127,50 meters

13.80 meters

6.7 meters

364

Two steam turbines, 70,000 hp, two screws

The USS Decatur ( DD -936 ) (later DDG -31 ) was a destroyer Forrest Sherman class of United States Navy. It was named after Commodore Stephen Decatur. Through intensive renovations mid -1960s, she became the lead ship of Decatur class.

History

Construction and commissioning

As the sixth ship of the class, Decatur was placed at Bethlehem Steel in Quincy, Massachusetts, to Kiel on 13 September 1954. The launch took place on 15 December 1955 was christened the ship of Mrs. WA Pierce and Mrs. DJ Armsden, descendants of Commodore Decatur. Commissioned into the Navy took place on 7 December 1956.

Office hours

The first years spent Decatur in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, from 1958, she operated with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. In 1961 she operated during the unmanned space flight of Mercury - Atlas 4 in the Atlantic as a salvage vessel and took in the fall of 1962, participated in the naval blockade of Cuba. On May 6, 1964, the Decatur collided as a result of damage control with the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain and was heavily damaged in the superstructure. The damage has not been repaired since the ship was scheduled for an extensive modernization, which began in June 1965.

The restoration was done at the Boston Naval Shipyard, Massachusetts. The destroyer was named a starter for air defense missiles and a ASROC launcher instead of the two rear guns. As guided missile destroyer DDG -31 it was recorded in 1967 returned to active duty and assigned to the Pacific Fleet. In the following years she operated several times in the Western Pacific with the 7th Fleet and participated during the Vietnam War to operations off the Vietnamese coast in part. End of the 1970s she was then deployed to the Indian Ocean, as the situation in the Middle East deteriorated. In 1983 the ship was decommissioned and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

Whereabouts

The Decatur in 1988 struck off the register of ships, made still further career in the Navy. Until 2004, it served as a test ship for self-defense systems until it was replaced by the USS Paul F. Foster. The destroyer was sunk on 22 July 2004 in the Pacific Ocean during an exercise as a target ship.