Callaghan (DDG 994) - Naval Cruise Book

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Commander James M. Rennie COMMANDING OFFICER Commander James M. Rennie hails from Wilmington. Delaware where he graduated from John Dickinson High School. Attending college at the U.S. Naval Academy, he majored in Physics and graduated with the class of 1978. Commander Rennie served at sea in USS MCCANDLESS (FF 1084) as Navigator and Main Propulsion Assistant; USS KIDD (DDG 993) as Combat Information Center Officer; USS HAWES (FFG 53) as Operations Officer; and USS SHREVEPORT (LPD12) as Operations Officer and Engineer Officer. He commanded USS EXCEL (MSO 439); served as Chief Staff Officer in Patrol Hydrofoil Missile Squadron TWO and as Flag Secretary for Commander U.S. SEVENTH Fleet. Ashore, Commander Rennie served on the U.S. Navy Rifle Team at the U.S. International Team tryouts, as Navigation Instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy, and as Space, Information Warfare and Command Control Training Officer on OPNAV Staff. He holds a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. Commander Rennie is authorized to wear the Meritorious Service Medal (with two gold stars). Navy Commendation Medal (with two gold stars). Navy Achievement Medal (with gold star), Bat- tle Efficiency Ribbon, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (with four bronze stars), Expert Rifle Medal, and Expert Pistol Medal. Commander Rennie is married to the former Kim Marie Bowie of Lewiston, Maine. The Ren- nie’s have three daughters; Kristen, Susan, and Sara. 4 co

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CALLAGHAN Legacy USS CALLAGHAN (DDG 994) is the second KIDD-class Guided Missile Destroyer and the second ship of the fleet to bear the name. Her namesake, Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan, a San Francisco native, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for preventing a far superior Japanese force from attacking Guadacanal in 1942. His outnumbered cruisers and destroyers fought in the most violent night combat action in history near what is called Iron Bot- tom Sound”. Rear Admiral Callaghan was killed by a direct hit on the bridge of his flagship, USS SAN FRANCISCO. Shortly thereafter, on November 27, 1943, the first USS CALLAGHAN (DD 792), a FLETCHER class destroyer, was commissioned. Her short but exciting life was highlighted by submarine at- tack, air attack, escort duty, search and rescue missions, and typhoons. The ship finally met her fate in the early morning hours of July 29, 1945, when a Kamikaze crashed amidships less than ninety minutes before the ship was scheduled to head for home from duty off Oki- nawa. Today’s USS CALLAGHAN (DDG 994) is far more capable than her predecessor. She is designed to meet and defeat threats from the air, other ships, or subma- rines with state of the art combat systems and a jet en- gine propulsion system capable of high speeds. USS CALLAGHAN is homeported in Everett, Wash- ington and serves in Destroyer Squadron Nine. She will be decommissioned to inactive reserve duty on March 31, 1998. 3

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Commander Rennie took command of the USS CALLAGHAN during her port visit to Victoria, Canada in February, 1997. After completion of the workup cycle, Cdr Rennie directed CALLAGHAN into her last deploy- ment. Through several successful battle exer- cises and counter-narcotic confrontations, Cdr Rennie made the Bridge and CIC his sec- ond home. However should any CAL- LAGHAN sailor be asked about her final captain, he will most likely respond in the captain's own words, “HONK. HONK!! . CO 5