ROCS ''Su Ao'' (蘇澳, DDG-1802) is a guided-missile

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

currently in active service of the Republic of China Navy. ''Su Ao'' was formerly American , which was decommissioned from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1998. For some time after the ship's 30 May 2003 purchase, ''Su Ao'' was tentatively named ''Ming Teh'' (明德), following the example of ''Chi Teh'' (紀德), but it was later decided to be named ''Su Ao'', after the Su-Ao naval base in eastern

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

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Kidd-class destroyers Kee Lung-class destroyers Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi 1979 ships Destroyers of the Republic of China {{mil-ship-stub