USS Decatur (DDG-73)
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USS ''Decatur'' (DDG-73) is an '' Arleigh Burke-class'' ( Flight II)
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guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers which have a pr ...
in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
. She is named for the former naval officer Stephen Decatur, Jr. This ship is the 22nd destroyer of her class. USS ''Decatur'' was the 13th ship of this class to be built at
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in
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, and construction began on 11 January 1996. She was launched on 10 November 1996 and was christened on 8 November 1996. On 29 August 1998 she was commissioned at the
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in
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.


History

''Decatur'' was commissioned on 19 June 1998 in
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, with the official ceremony taking place 29 August 1998, at the
Tom McCall Waterfront Park Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 19 ...
in
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
. The guided missile destroyer arrived at her new home port of San Diego 4 September 1998. 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 Decatur Island is one of the San Juan Islands in Washington state, USA. Located just east of Lopez Island across Lopez Sound and just south of Blakely Island across Thatcher Pass, it is 3.524 square miles (9.127 km²) in area, and was nam ...
,
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, and
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, before returning to San Diego in early May. After a second visit to Washington in August, ''Decatur'' sent a boarding team of Damage Control Experts to assist MV ''Gardenia Ace''—a
car carrier Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...
—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
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land-attack missiles, the guided missile destroyer proceeded to the
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for Exercise Sharem 2000—a joint U.S. and
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n naval exercise—in late January. On 30 January, the warship visited
Chinhae Jinhae District () is a district of Changwon, South Korea. This region is served by the Korean National Railroad, and is famous for its annual cherry blossom festival every spring. The city front is on a sheltered, island-studded bay, and is alm ...
, South Korea, and over the next two weeks also stopped at
Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 373,797, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th-most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city i ...
and
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, Japan. She then sailed south through the
Taiwan Strait The Taiwan Strait is a strait separating the island of Taiwan and the Asian continent. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. Names Former names of the Tai ...
, made a three-day port visit to Hong Kong, and then commenced a
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
exercise with units of the
Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) () is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an estimated strength of 24,500 active service personnel, including the 10,300-strong Philippine Marine Corps. It operates 91 combat ...
. 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,
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and
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on 11 September, the destroyer put to sea for
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off the coast of the San Francisco Bay Area. Returning to San Diego on 23 September, the warship spent seven weeks preparing for her deployment with the battle group on 12 November. Between 17 December 2001 and 16 April 2002, ''Decatur'' escorted the
Amphibious Ready Group An amphibious ready group (ARG) of the United States Navy consists of a naval element—a group of warships known as an Amphibious Task Force (ATF)—and a landing force (LF) of U.S. Marines (and occasionally U.S. Army soldiers), in total abo ...
during which time her security team boarded three merchant ships, including one non-compliant boarding of MV ''Francisco Dagohoy'' on 10 April—in support of Maritime Interdiction Operations. ''Decatur'' returned to San Diego on 8 June 2002. ''Decatur'' departed on her third deployment overall, and second deployment to the Persian Gulf, in August 2003. She made stops in Pearl Harbor and Singapore before arriving in the Persian Gulf. In December, ''Decatur'' seized a
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on 15 December, discovering an estimated two tons of narcotics allegedly linked to an
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smuggling operation. The drugs had an estimated street value of 8 to 10 million dollars. In May 2004, ''Decatur'' entered dry-dock, her first dry-dock period since construction. In January 2006, ''Decatur'' departed for her fourth deployment (third to the Persian Gulf) as part of a Carrier Strike Group, led by the
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
. Throughout the deployment, she conducted Maritime Security Operations in the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf; participated in three major
anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...
exercises (including Arabian Shark and Valiant Shield); and as part of the French-led Task Force 473, conducted Arabian Sea operations with the . On 16 February 2007, ''Decatur'' was awarded the 2006 Battle "E" award. In June, ''Decatur'' tested her
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System The Aegis ballistic missile defense system (Aegis BMD or ABMD), also known as ''Sea-Based Midcourse'', is a Missile Defense Agency program under the United States Department of Defense developed to provide missile defense against short and inte ...
by launching a
RIM-161 Standard The RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) is a ship-based surface-to-air missile used by the United States Navy to intercept ballistic missiles as a part of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Although primarily designed as an anti-ballistic miss ...
(SM-3). It was the first such test from a US Aegis destroyer. In May 2008, ''Decatur'' departed on her fifth deployment overall, and fourth deployment to the
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. She spent a significant amount of time in
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, stopping in Hong Kong, Japan and
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before proceeding in to the 5th Fleet area for duties. She returned to San Diego in November 2008. ''Decatur'' deployed for the sixth time in May 2009, returning to San Diego in November 2009. In December 2010, Commander Shanti Sethi was promoted from Executive Officer to Commanding Officer. She is the 12th female commander in the U.S. Navy. In April 2013, ''Decatur'' was sent to the Western Pacific near the
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, to join two other destroyers, and , in response to growing threats and an increase in belligerent statements and actions by North Korea's leadership. As a show of force and as part of the drills, the U.S. sent bombers and other aircraft (including the
B-2 stealth bomber The Northrop B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying wing with a crew of two, th ...
, capable of carrying conventional or nuclear weapons), to the region, and both South Korea and the U.S. pledged to vigorously defend themselves. On 30 September 2018, ''Decatur'' and the Chinese destroyer were involved in a near-collision when the two ships came within of one another in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy accused ''Lanzhou'' of acting "in an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver in the vicinity of Gaven Reef".


Coat of arms


Shield

''The shield has background of dark blue. In the center is a red crown. Crossing in the center of the crown is an English officer’s sword and a seax.''
The traditional Navy colors were chosen for the shield because dark blue and gold represents the sea and excellence respectively. The seax signifies a series of victories by Stephen Decatur over sea forces of North African terrorist nations. The English officer's sword symbolizes Decatur's victory over HMS ''Macedonian'' during the war of 1812 in one of the greatest single ship actions of naval history. The celestial crown symbolizes anti-air warfare capabilities. The crown has five mullets for each of the ships named ''Decatur''. It also represents Stephen Decatur's engagements against the British during the war of 1812. The color gold represents excellence, while scarlet denotes courage and sacrifice.


Crest

''The crest consists of a ship’s mast and sail with a flying pennant.''
The ship's mast and sail represent the heritage of the ''Decatur'' name and the Navy of Stephen Decatur's time, with the first vessel to bear his name. The mast is also in reference to the traditional pine construction of the vessels of Decatur's Navy times. The pennant is to symbolize the senior naval authority which was earned by Commodore Stephen Decatur.


Motto

''The motto is written on a scroll of white that has a blue reverse side.''
The ships motto is "In Pursuit of Peace".


Seal

''The coat of arms in full color as in the blazon, upon a white background enclosed within a dark blue oval border edged on the outside with a gold rope and bearing the inscription "USS Decatur" at the top and "DDG 73" in the base all gold.''


References

*


External links


Official USS ''Decatur'' DDG-73 Website
*
U.S. Navy Christening Press ReleaseU.S. Navy Commissioning Press Release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Decatur (Ddg-73) Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Destroyers of the United States Ships built in Bath, Maine 1996 ships