USS Spruance (DD-963)

The Spruance at sea in 1987
Overview
Order	June 23, 1970
Keel laying	November 27, 1972
Launch	November 10, 1973
1. Period of service
Commissioning	20th September 1975
Decommissioning	March 23, 2005
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 × Mark 45 lightweight guns , 2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS , 2 x Harpoon starters , 1 anti-aircraft missile starter, 2 torpedo tubes 324mm, 1  ASROC starter, later replaced by 61-cell VLS

The USS Spruance (DD-963) was a destroyer of the US Navy and the lead ship Spruance-class destroyer . The ship was named after Admiral Raymond A. Spruance .

history

The Spruance was laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding in 1972 and launched in 1973. In 1975 it was put into service.

The first transfer of the Spruance took place in 1979 and led the ship as escort of the USS Saratoga (CV-60) into the Mediterranean. The group later sailed the Black Sea to shade the Moskva River , which was being completed. In 1983 the Spruance was relocated as part of the Iran-Iraq war , ten years later the ship helped with the US embargo against Iraq. Operation Restore Democracy followed in 1994 off Haiti .

The last mission at the side of the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) ended in December 2004, the destroyer was officially decommissioned in 2005 and sunk in 2006 as part of a target exercise.

Web links

Commons : USS Spruance  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Unofficial site of Spruance (Engl.)
• Pictures on history.navy.mil (engl.)