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The FARRAGUT-class
frigate
COONTZ (DLG
9) was named
in honor of
Robert
Edward
Coontz for
his service
in World War
I and,
later, as
commandant
of the U.S.
Navy
shipyard in
Puget Sound,
Chief of
Naval
Operations,
and
Commander-in-Chief
of the U.S.
Fleet. The
new
guided-missile
frigate was
launched 6
December
1958 at the
Puget Sound
Naval
Shipyard and
commissioned
15 July
1960.
Following
post-shakedown
training in
April 1961,
the COONTZ
reported to
the
Cruiser-Destroyer
Force U.S.
Pacific
Fleet and
joined the
First Fleet
as flagship
of DesDiv
152, home
ported in
San Diego.
She left San
Diego in
August 1961
to join a
fast carrier
task force
of the
Seventh
Fleet.
Covering
55,000
miles, she
proved her
excellence
in missilry
during her
seven-month
Pacific
tour.
Stateside
again in
March 1962,
she served
as flagship
of DesRon 17
and from
August to
November was
also
flagship of
Cruiser-Destroyer
Flotilla 11.
That summer
she returned
to the
Seventh
Fleet and in
October was
on stand-by
for the
recovery for
Wally
Schirra’s
Mercury
Atlas 8
orbital
flight. Back
in the U.S.
in May 1963,
she
demonstrated
the kill
capability
of the
Terrier
surface-to-air
missile for
President
John F.
Kennedy.
The COONTZ
was
overhauled
and her
missile
weapons
systems
extensively
modernized
from October
1963 to
April 1964
at the Long
Beach Naval
Shipyard.
She returned
to the
Western
Pacific in
August 1964
as DesRon 17
flagship and
by December
1964, was in
the South
China Sea
supporting
operations
in Vietnam.
In February
1965, she
returned
home and
that summer
boarded
midshipmen
for a
training
cruise. The
year ended
with a yard
period
during which
she became
the first of
her class to
receive a
helicopter
landing and
handling
upgrade.
She
completed a
six-month
deployment
in the
Western
Pacific from
January to
August 1966
during which
she spent
two 30-day
periods on
search and
rescue duty
as well as
carrier
operations
and special
assignments.
The COONTZ
was again
underway for
a fifth
WestPac tour
in August
1967 and
during
search and
rescue
missions in
the Tonkin
Gulf
participated
in the
rescue of
nine
aviators.
She was back
in San Diego
in February
1968. Most
of that year
was spent in
operations
with the
First Fleet
evaluating
the first
automatic
test system
to be
installed in
the surface
fleet. By
year’s end,
she was back
on Yankee
Station and
spent
Christmas on
the gun
line. She,
then,
returned to
the Gulf of
Tonkin for
another
search and
rescue
mission.
When North
Korean jets
shot down an
EC-121
aircraft,
the COONTZ
was rushed
into the Sea
of Japan.
She returned
to San Diego
in May 1969
for West
Coast
operations
and upkeep
that
continued
until her
WestPac
deployment
in March
1970.
In January
1971,
shortly
after her
last Seventh
Fleet tour,
the COONTZ
left San
Diego for
the Atlantic
and a major
overhaul and
modernization
at the
Philadelphia
Naval
Shipyard.
Back on
active duty
in March
1972, she
headed for
her new home
port,
Newport,
Rhode
Island.
Following
tests and
operations
in the
Caribbean
and a cruise
to South
America and
Africa, she
got underway
in July 1973
for her
first
Mediterranean
deployment.
In January
1974, the
COONTZ
changed her
home port to
Norfolk and
a second
tour with
the Sixth
Fleet that
November.
She was
redesignated
guided-missile
destroyer
(DDG-40) on
1 July 1975.
Deployed in
January 1976
with the
Standing
Naval Forces
Atlantic,
she
participated
in NATO
operations
and
exercises in
Caribbean,
U.S.,
Canadian,
and Northern
European
waters.
Routine
operations
and NATO
exercises
took her
into 1983
and a cruise
to West
Africa, the
Mediterranean
and Black
Seas, the
Caribbean,
and Central
America. She
was in the
Caribbean in
October
1983, when
she was
ordered to
join
Operation
Urgent Fury,
the
liberation
of Grenada.
During the
amphibious
assault, she
provided
gunfire
support and
small boat
interdiction
for ten
consecutive
days.
Following a
Mediterranean
deployment,
she took
part in
operations
with the
U.S. Air
Force in the
Gulf of
Mexico and
with the
Coast Guard
for
quarantine-operations
exercises in
the
Caribbean
through
1986. In
February
1987 she was
deployed to
the Persian
Gulf and
duty with
the Middle
East Forces
to ensure
the safe
passage of
all U.S.
vessels and
maintain a
U.S.
presence
during the
escalating
Iran-Iraq
war.
This history
and
following
entry from
the USS
COONTZ MEF
2-87
Cruisebook,
are adapted
from the USS
COONTZ
Association’s
website
(address
below).
On 17 May
1987, at
approximately
9 pm, the
USS STARK
(FFG-31) was
attacked by
an Iraqi F-1
Mirage
fighter jet
50 miles
from the
Persian Gulf
state of
Bahrain,
where the
USS COONTZ
was moored.
Details were
few except
that two
missiles had
hit the
STARK’s port
side. That
night, the
CONYNGHAM
(DDG-17) and
WADDELL
(DDG-24)
steamed
through
heavy fog to
aid the
STARK’s crew
in fighting
the flooding
and
devastating
fires. Fire
crews from
the two
ships “found
melted
bulkheads,
warped
decks, and
ruptured
fire mains.”
The stricken
ship was
listing 15
degrees to
port.
By the
morning of
the 18th,
further
assistance
was on the
way from
Bahrain with
fresh fire
parties and
medical
support
aboard the
LASALLE and
a 43-man
fire party
from the
COONTZ
aboard a
Desert Duck
helicopter.
“The
combined
fire parties
fought the
fires and
flooding
aboard the
STARK for
more than 18
hours,” as
several men
from the
COONTZ
removed the
dead. With
the fires
out and the
flooding
contained,
the
CONYNGHAM
towed the
STARK to
Bahrain for
repairs. On
20 May 1987,
several
members of
the COONTZ’s
crew
reported to
Bahrain
International
Airport for
a memorial
service for
the STARK
sailors lost
in the
attack. In
addition to
providing
crowd
control,
they served
as an honor
guard to
load the 37
flag-draped
caskets onto
a cargo jet
bound for
West
Germany.
The COONTZ
returned to
Norfolk in
August 1987
where she
operated as
part of the
Second Fleet
until her
decommissioning
in
Philadelphia
on 2 October
1989. She
was
ultimately
scrapped by
Metro
Machine of
Philadelphia
in March
2003 and the
scrap metal
sold to
Camden Iron
and Metal in
Camden, New
Jersey.
Not all of
her went to
the scrap
yard,
however.
Pieces were
rescued, and
several
years later,
her transom
was
installed as
a memorial
to the ship
and her
namesake
Adm. Robert
E. Coontz,
in a park in
Hannibal,
Missouri,
Admiral
Coontz’s
hometown. In
addition,
former
officers and
crew and
other
supporters
are
petitioning
the
Secretary of
the Navy to
name another
destroyer in
honor of
Admiral
Robert E.
Coontz and
those who
served in
the
DLG-9/DDG-40.
For more
information
on the
petition and
the USS
COONTZ
Association
visit their
website at
usscoontz.tripod.com.
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