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The USS
FARRAGUT
(DLG-6) was
named for
David “Damn
the
torpedoes!
Full speed
ahead!”
Farragut,
who led the
U.S. Navy to
victory
during the
Civil War
Battle of
Mobile Bay.
He was the
first
admiral of
the U.S.
Navy.
Launched on
18 July
1958, the
FARRAGUT, a
COONTZ-class
guided
missile
destroyer,
was
commissioned
on 10
December
1960. She
was equipped
with
state-of-the-art
radar and
sonar
systems and
antiaircraft
and
antisubmarine
missiles.
She began
her regular
schedule of
deployments
with the
Sixth Fleet
in early
1962. Later
that year,
she was the
first
surface ship
to arrive on
the scene of
Astronaut
Scott
Carpenter’s
splashdown
at the end
of America’s
second
orbital
flight.
Midshipman
cruises were
another of
her regular
duties. Her
first took
her to New
York and
Quebec. The
FARRAGUT
began 1966
with the
annual
Springboard
Exercises in
the
Caribbean.
During the
summer’s
Mediterranean
tour, she
developed
serious main
engine
problems,
which
continued as
she returned
to duty as
DesRon 8’s
flagship.
With the
LUCE
(DLG-7),
KENNETH D.
BAILEY
(DDR-713),
SARATOGA
(CVA-60),
and ALBANY
(CG-10), she
headed for
home, where
she
underwent
boiler
repairs
alongside
the tenders
YELLOWSTONE
(AD-27) and
EVERGLADES
(AD-24). In
the spring
of 1967, she
deployed to
Northern
Europe with
a
hunter-killer
group
composed of
the ESSEX
(CVS-9),
STICKEL
(DD-888),
BRUMBY
(DE-1044),
COURTNEY
(DE-1021),
LESTER
(DE-1022),
and HARTLEY
(DE-1029)
for
operations
with the
naval and
air forces
of West
Germany,
Norway, the
Netherlands,
and Great
Britain.
On 1 May
1968, the
FARRAGUT
went into
the
Philadelphia
Naval
Shipyard as
the first
COONTZ-class
destroyer to
undergo for
AAW
Modernization,
which
included
installation
of the MK 76
Guided
Missile Fire
Control
System and
associated
AN/SPG-55B
radars, the
Navy
Tactical
Data System
(NTDS) for
directing
the ship’s
weapons
systems,
AN/SPS-48
three-dimensional
radar, and
an improved
communications
suit. Her
main
armament was
the Terrier
surface-to-air
missile twin
mount
located aft
in addition
to
antisubmarine
rockets,
triple
torpedo
tubes on
both sides,
and a
5-inch/54-caliber
rapid-fire
gun mount
forward. She
was underway
for sea
trials and
tests of her
new systems
in November
1969.
Newport,
Rhode
Island,
became her
new home
port in
April 1970,
and while
training off
Narraganset
Bay and the
Virginia
Capes,
difficulties
with her
engineering
plant ended
with a
partially
collapsed
de-aerating
feed tank
and a tow to
the Boston
Naval
Shipyard.
She was back
in service
and heading
out of
Norfolk on
17 July,
when a
collision
with an
unlighted
buoy sent
her to the
Portsmouth
Naval
Shipyard for
repair of
her port
screw and
inspection
of her
damaged
sonar dome.
Completion
of repairs
at the
Boston Naval
Shipyard
lasted until
March 1971.
The
following
September,
the FARRAGUT
took part in
NATO’s North
Atlantic
Operation
Royal
Knight,
during which
she proved
her ASW, AAW,
ECCM, and
communications
capabilities.
In August
1972, as
flagship of
Task Force
86, she set
out for
UNITAS XIII,
a
four-and-a-half-month
cruise
around South
America. She
and the
FORREST
SHERMAN
(DD-931),
TALBOT
(DEG-4), and
the
submarine
REMORA
(SS-487)
steamed more
than 25,000
miles,
visited
eighteen
Caribbean
and South
American
ports, and
participated
in ASW, AAW,
tactical
maneuvering,
and underway
replenishment
drills with
the various
nation’s
navies.
In October
1973, when
the ship
entered the
Philadelphia
Naval
Shipyard,
she became
the Atlantic
Fleet pilot
ship for the
1,200-pound
boiler
improvement
program, an
overhaul
completed in
January
1975. On 1
July 1975,
the
FARRAGUT’s
hull number
was changed
to DDG-37
when the
navy dropped
the
classification
of Destroyer
Leader.
She began
1977 with a
Mediterranean
cruise with
the JOHN F.
KENNEDY
(CVA-67),
MT. BAKER
(AE-4),
KALAMAZOO,
DEWEY
(DLG-14),
BASILONE
(DD-824),
and BLAKELEY
(DE-1072).
During
operations
with the
Sixth Fleet,
the FARRAGUT
served as
plane guard
for missions
over the
northern
coast of
Libya by
KENNEDY
aircraft.
She also
conducted
surveillance
on Soviet
ships and
submarines
off Tunisia
and
accompanied
the KENNEDY
into the
Adriatic
Sea. Early
that fall,
she entered
the
Portsmouth
Naval
Shipyard for
an overhaul
until 3
October
1978.
The FARRAGUT
deployed
with the
Sixth Fleet
in October
1980, and in
mid-November,
she and the
PATTERSON
(FF-1061)
led a convoy
through the
Suez Canal
and the
Straits of
Hormuz to
join the
Middle East
Force. She
patrolled
the Persian
Gulf,
monitoring
the volatile
situation in
the western
gulf with
the
PATTERSON,
FOX (CG-33),
and U.S. Air
Force units.
On 6
December she
suffered a
main engine
casualty
that could
not be
repaired at
Bahrain and
in the
spring of
1981, she
went into
the Norfolk
Naval
Shipyard for
repair of
her Number 2
main engine
until
February
1982.
Operating in
the
Caribbean on
3 June, she
joined the
Coast Guard
cutters
INGRAM and
BIBB to
assist with
two vessels
seized from
drug
smugglers.
She took one
under tow
and provided
a boarding
party for
the other
for the trip
to San Juan,
Puerto Rico.
This was the
first time
that a navy
ship
assisted the
Coast Guard
in
interdicting
drug
traffic.
By the end
of 1982, the
FARRAGUT was
engaged in
exercises in
the
Mediterranean
with the
GLOVER
(FF-1098),
EDWARD
McDONNELL
(FF-1043),
and HMS
GURKHA and
in
operations
off the
coast of
Libya with
the
AMERICA’s
(CV-66)
battle
group, which
included the
DALE (CG-19)
and KIDD
(DDG-993).
During
January and
February the
group
supported
the
Multinational
Peacekeeping
Force in
Beirut, and
the FARRAGUT
joined the
NIMITZ
(CVAN-68)
battle group
to support
Egyptian
Contingency
Operations
and to take
part in NATO
exercises
with the
ARKANSAS
(CGN-41) and
CONNOLE
(DE-1056).
On 22 March
she and the
CONNOLE
entered the
Black Sea
where they
immediately
came under
surveillance
by Soviet
ships and
aircraft,
which
hounded them
until they
left the
Black Sea
four days
later. In
April, the
FARRAGUT
joined the
CLIFTON
SPRAGUE
(FFG-16) to
conduct
surveillance
operations
in the
Soviet Gulf
of Sollum,
then,
returned to
patrol off
Beirut until
5 May.
On 16
September,
she was in
Norfolk
being
readied for
an overhaul
when a
welder’s
torch set
off a severe
fire that
caused
considerable
damage to
her after
main deck
spaces. She
finally got
underway for
Philadelphia
and her
overhaul
from 7
November
1983 to
November
1984.
The FARRAGUT
returned to
the
Mediterranean
in March
1986 to
patrol off
the coast of
Libya.
During 1987
she
participated
in the Coast
Guard’s
“Operation
Kilo” to
curtail drug
traffic in
the Gulf of
Mexico.
Exercises in
1988, with
the navies
of the
Canada,
Great
Britain,
France,
Belgium, the
Netherlands,
West
Germany, and
Norway, took
her above
the Arctic
Circle. On
30 December
1988 she got
underway for
her last
Mediterranean
deployment.
Upon her
return, her
crew began
the sad
preparations
for her
decommissioning
in October
1989. She
and the
COONTZ
(DDG-40)
were among
the first of
thirty-two
guided
missile
destroyers
of the
COONTZ and
CHARLES F.
ADAMS
(DDG-2)
classes
decommissioned
over the
next four
years.
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