USS Decatur (DDG-73)

The fifth USS Decatur (DDG-73) was laid down on 11 January 1996 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; launched on 9 November 1996, sponsored by Mrs. Joan E. Shalikashvilli, wife of John M. Shalikashvilli, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and commissioned 19 June 1998, Commander Pete Gumataotao in command.

Following a combination shakedown and transit cruise to the west coast, during which Decatur visited San Juan, Puerto Rico; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; and Portland, Oregon; the guided-missile destroyer arrived at her new home port of San Diego on 4 September. She spent the remainder of the year conducting acoustic trials and combat system evaluations. Decatur then spent three months in a post-shakedown availability in the Southwest Marine Yard.

In April 1999, the warship conducted a short cruise to the northwest, visiting Decatur Island, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia, before returning to San Diego in early May. After a second visit to Washington in August, Decatur helped Bunker Hill in assisting MV Gardenia Ace--a car carrier--which had suffered a fire in her engine room.

Upon completion of her final missile tests and sea trials, Decatur commenced her first western Pacific deployment on 7 January 2000. After stopping at Pearl Harbor to load Tomahawk land-attack missiles, the guided-missile destroyer proceeded to the Yellow Sea for Exercise Sharem 2000--a joint U.S. and South Korean naval exercise--in late January. On the 30th, the warship visited Chinhae, South Korea, and over the next two weeks also stopped at Yokosuka and Nagasaki, Japan. She then sailed south through the Taiwan Strait, made a three-day port visit to Hong Kong, and then commenced a South China Sea exercise with units of the Philippine Navy.

In early March, Decatur visited Malaysia and Guam before sailing south across the equator to Fiji in April. After visits to American Samoa, and numerous ports in Australia, the guided missile cruiser returned to San Diego on 8 June.

Following upkeep and voyage repairs, the warship operated locally out of San Diego for the rest of the year. In February 2001, Decatur began various battle group and missile training off the west coast. Following the terrorist plane hijackings and crashes in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on 11 September, the cruiser put to sea for Operation NOBLE EAGLE in southern California waters. Returning to San Diego on the 23d, the warship spent seven weeks preparing for her deployment with the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) battle group on 12 November.

The warships steamed west and, after stops at Hong Kong and Singapore, transited the Strait of Malacca on 11 December. Sailing northwest into the Indian Ocean, the battlegroup moved into Central Commands AOR to participate in Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, the liberation of Afghanistan. Between 17 December 2001 and 16 April 2002, Decatur escorted the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) Amphibious Ready Group -- during which time her security team boarded three merchant ships (including one non-compliant boarding of M/V Francisco Dagohoy on 10 April -- in support of Maritime Interdiction Operations. During this period, the warship made three short port visits to Manama, Bahrain. Departing the region on 2 May, the warship sailed for home, stopping in Phuket, Thailand; Bali, Indonesia; Dili, East Timor; Apra, Guam; and Pearl Harbor before arriving in San Diego on 8 June 2002. Decatur spent the rest of the year in upkeep or training out of San Diego.

During a second deployment to the Arabian Gulf in 2003, Decatur seized a 40-foot dhow on 15 December, discovering an estimated two tons of narcotics allegedly linked to an al-Qaida smuggling operation. The drugs had an estimated street value of 8 to 10 million dollars.

See USS Decatur for other ships of the same name.

External links