USS Merrill (DD-976)
 The Merrill at sea in 1991 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Order | January 26, 1972 |
| Keel laying | June 16, 1975 |
| Launch | March 11, 1978 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | March 11, 1978 |
| Decommissioning | March 26, 1998 |
| Whereabouts | sunk as a target ship |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
9100 standard tons |
| length |
171.6 meters |
| width |
16.8 meters |
| Draft |
9.8 meters |
| crew |
30 officers, 350 sailors |
| drive |
2 propellers, driven by 4 gas turbines; 80,000 wave horsepower |
| speed |
33 knots |
| Armament |
2 guns |
The USS Merrill (DD-976) was a destroyer of the Spruance-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy .
history
The Merrill , named after Admiral Aaron Stanton Merril (1890–1961) was built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division in Mississippi, the keel was laid in 1975. Her home port was San Diego , California.
In August 1980, the ship rescued 62 Vietnamese refugees, more than 200 miles southeast of Saigon. During the next few years, the Merrill served as a test platform for the Tomahawk Cruise Missile program. At that time it was not part of the rotation principle in the formation of the Pacific Fleet.
The Merrill , assigned to the combat group around the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) , participated in Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf in 1988. During this time they successfully shelled the Iranian oil platform Sassan .
In 1989, the ship was stationed in the Middle East and supported Operation Earnest Will . In 1990 it was back in San Diego.
After the Second Gulf War , the Merrill was the second warship to call at the liberated port of Kuwait City after the Iraqi invasion.
As part of the restructuring of the Pacific Fleet in 1995 into six combat groups and eight squadrons, the Merrill was assigned to the 7th destroyer squadron. Therefore the home port also changed. After that, the ship was used in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific and was part of the Pacific Joint Task Force.
In 1998 the ship was removed from the shipping register. In 2003 it was sunk as a target for an exercise near Hawaii at 22 ° 43 ′ 53 ″ N , 160 ° 29 ′ 23 ″ W.
Web links
- USS Merrill at navybuddies.com (Engl.)
- Images of Merrill at navsource.org (Engl.)