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The SPRUANCE
(DD-963) was
the lead
ship of her
class of 31
destroyers
when she was
launched on
10 November
1973 at the
Ingalls
shipyard in
Pascagoula,
Mississippi.
The navy’s
first ship
to be named
in honor of
Admiral
Raymond A.
Spruance,
whose
victory at
the Battle
of Midway
was the
turning
point of the
Pacific war,
she was
commissioned
on 12 August
1975 in
Pascagoula,
Mississippi.
Her early
career as
the navy’s
latest ASW
weapon
included
cruises in
the Northern
and Southern
Atlantic,
the
Mediterranean,
the Black
Sea, and
Persian Gulf
with port
calls in
Africa,
Europe, and
the Middle
East. During
a 1986-87
modernization,
she was
equipped
with a
vertical
missile
launching
system. In
January 1989
heavy winds
forced the
destroyer
aground on a
coral reef
near Andros
Island in
the Bahamas.
The same
wind damaged
her
foremast.
She was
finally
pulled free
by the USNS
MOHAWK
(T-ATF-170)
and USS
GRASP
(ARS-51).
There were
no injuries,
but repairs
cost $1.4
million.
War with
Iraq in
January
1991brought
the SPRUANCE
to the Red
Sea as part
of the
carrier
SARATOGA
(CV-60)
Battle
Group. She
operated
with the
cruiser
PHILIPPINE
SEA,
flagship of
a
cruiser-destroyer
escort group
that
included the
SAMPSON
(DDG-10)
and
MONTGOMERY
(FF-1082),
as well as
the
battleship
WISCONSIN
(BB-64), the
SOUTH
CAROLINA
(CGN-37),
BIDDLE
(CG-34),
THOMAS C.
HART
(FF-1092),
and DETROIT
(AOE-4). For
this
operation,
she was
armed with
Tomahawk
missiles,
which,
according to
Desert
Victory
author
Norman
Friedman,
played an
essential
role in
disabling
the Iraqi
air-defense
system. From
their
positions in
the Red Sea,
the ships of
the SARATOGA
Battle Group
could strike
targets in
western Iraq
and Baghdad.
The SPRUANCE
returned to
the Red Sea
in May 1993
to conduct
board and
search
operations
to enforce
UN sanctions
against
Iraq.
Thereafter,
she joined
the Sixth
Fleet
making
stops in
Spain,
Italy, and
Crete. She
returned to
the Red Sea
in late June
as flagship
of the task
force
commander
and took
part in
exercises
with the
Egyptian and
Jordanian
navies. On
10 September
1993, the
SPRUANCE
made the UN
multinational
force’s
18,000th
ship
interception
since the
sanctions
were
initiated in
August 1990,
when she
stopped the
Maltese
cargo ship,
EARLY STAR.
She was
found to be
empty and
was
permitted to
go on her
way. In
October, the
SPRUANCE was
relieved as
flagship by
the USS
HAYLER
(DD-97) and
headed for
home. She
had
completed
more than
170
boardings
during her
deployment.
A different
mission took
her to the
Caribbean in
July 1994 to
take part in
Operation
Restore
Democracy
and assist
the U.S.
Coast Guard
in enforcing
the UN’s
embargo on
Haiti. The
SPRUANCE
transported
nine hundred
Haitians to
Guantanamo
Naval
Station.
Routine
operations
took her
into mid
1996 when
she
participated
in BALTOPS
96, an
exercises in
the Baltic
Sea
involving 47
ships and
aircraft
from 12
squadrons
representing
the U.S.,
Great
Britain,
Belgium,
Denmark,
Estonia,
Finland,
Germany,
Lithuania,
Latvia, The
Netherlands,
Poland,
Russia, and
Sweden.
The
following
year, the
SPRUANCE
joined the
USS JOHN F.
KENNEDY
(CV-67)
Battle Group
for a
seven-month
deployment
in the
Mediterranean.
She was the
flagship of
DesRon 24
for visits
to 13
foreign
ports and
engaged in
five
multinational
exercises in
the
Mediterranean
and Black
Seas. She
was
Presidential
Support Ship
representing
the U.S.
Navy for
the
fifty-second
anniversary
of the
Allied
landings in
southern
France and
hosted
military and
diplomatic
VIPs during
Ukranian
Independence
Day
celebrations.
While
operating in
the Black
Sea she
participated
in an
exercise to
train
military
forces in
providing
humanitarian
aid to
victims of a
simulated
earthquake
in southern
Ukraine.
She spent
another busy
year in 1999
deployed
again with
the JOHN F.
KENNEDY
Battle Group
in the
Mediterranean
and Arabian
Gulf. She
left the
battle group
to relieve
the USS
PETERSON
(DD-969)
representing
the Standing
Naval Forces
Mediterranean
and then
returned to
the states,
where she
had to
contend with
the effects
of
Hurricanes
Floyd and
Gert off the
east coast
of Florida.
She ended
the year in
the
Mediterranean.
In June
2000, the
SPRUANCE
began a dry
dock period
in
Jacksonville,
which was
the first
time in ten
years a U.S.
Navy ship
had dry
docked
there. She
went into
the floating
dry dock
SUSTAIN,
which was
brought
especially
from Norfolk
to the St.
John’s
River. She
was back at
the naval
station in
Mayport in
August and
ready for
action. On
24 September
2001, she
began
exercises at
the Vieques
Island
firing range
with the
JOHN F.
KENNEDY
Battle
Group,
training in
naval
surface fire
support and
air-to-ground
bombing. She
was with the
battle group
in late
January and
again in
February for
Joint Task
Force
Exercises
off the East
Coast and on
Florida and
North
Carolina
training
ranges.
In February
2002, she
began her
deployment
to the
Mediterranean
and Arabian
Gulf. She
would have
one final
deployment
with the
KENNEDY
battle group
in June 2004
before she
was
decommissioned
at Mayport
on 23 March
2004 and
transferred
to
Philadelphia.
On 8
December
2006 the
SPRUANCE was
sunk as a
target off
the Virginia
Capes. She
was the
longest
serving ship
of her
class. |
