Decatur (DDG 31) - Naval Cruise Book

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jgfw The primary mission of DECATUR is to operate offensively with fast carrier strike forces providing anti-air and anti-submarine defense and to provide shore bombardment in support of amphibious assault operations. Associated tasks include the protection and screening of support forces and convoys against submarines, air and surface threats. DECATUR is equipped with a rapid fire 5 !54 gun forward, in addition to the single arm TARTAR missile launcher aft. Both systems can be used against air and surface targets. The ship has a three-di- mensional height finding radar, a long range air search radar, and a surface search radar. The Anti-Submarine Rocket CASROCJ and the conventional torpedo tubes, coupled with the long range modern sonar can meet any submarine threat. DECATUR is 420 feet long and has a maximum beam of 45 feet. Fully loaded she displaces 4000 tons with a navigational draft of 23 feet. She is designed to travel for extended periods at speeds up to 34 knots. Her main propulsion plant consists of four high pressure boilers C1200 lbs.j and two main engines driving twin four bladed propellers. Maximum power developed by the plant is 70,000 shaft horsepower. This ship's main generators are capable of producing 3000 kilowatts of power, while her evaporators will produce 24,000 gallons of fresh water daily. She accelerates and maneuvers in the best destroyer tradition while possessing superior riding characteristics. Modern air conditioned working spaces and living accomodations are provided for a crew of 350 officers and men. The DECATUR is flagship for Commander, Destroyer Division 132 and his staff.

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The frrst of a class of converted gu1ded m1ss1le destroyers DECATUR 1S the f1fth sh1p of the fleet to 9 bear th1s name She was 1ebu1lt by Boston Naval Sh1pyard after a freak co111s1on W1th the a1rcraft carrier LAKE CHAMPLAIN 1n May of 1964 Comm1ss1oned on Apr11 27 1967 DECATUR was transferred to the Pac1f1o Fleet and homeported 1n Long Beach where she Jomed Destroyer D1v1s1on 132 a part of Destroyer Squadron 13 and Cru1ser Destroyer Flot1lla 7 She completed her frrst WESTPAC dep1OyII1GHt OH Febfuafy 26 1969 under the command of Cdrs Lee Baggett and John B Allen . . . . . . . 9 ' I 9 9 1 x L . . . 1 ' - -

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THE DECATUR TRADITION 1 rQ'w'l' .r 1, . i. X 'I Stephen Decatur was born at Sinepauxent, Maryland, on 5 January, 1779. At the age of nineteen, he was pro- vided with a midshipman's warrant by Commodore Barry, I under whom he made his first cruise in frigate UNITED I STATES. Commanding the schooner ENTERPRISE at the outbreak of the Tripolitan War, Decatur captured the bomb ketch MASTICO on 23 December 1803. It was in this prize ketch, renamed INTREPID, that Decatur entered the harbor of Tripoli on 16 February 1804 and boarded ,the captured frigate PHILADELPHIA. Within twenty minutes, he and his men had swept the Tripo- litan crew overboard, and, with but one man wounded, had returned under fire of shore batteries,- their way lighted by the burning PHILADELPHIA. Horatio Nelson termed this ' 'the most bold and daring act of the age. During the attacks on Tripoli itself, Decatur com- manded a gtmboat division. In the first attack, 3 August 1804, he took one gunboat ' by furious hand-to-hand combat, and with but ten followers leaped aboard a second, personally to attack and kill the huge Tripolitan leader. Upon receipt of his Captain's commission in September 1804, then at age twenty-five, Decaturwas given command of frigate CONSTITUTION. shifting to CONGRESS in November, he held negotiations with the Bey of Tunis at the close of the Tripolitan War and re- turned to America with the Tunisian Envoy during September 1805. .Commanding UNITED STATES at the outbreak of war in 1812, Decatur captured MADARIN on 11 October, and on'25 October, in a battle gallantly sustained on both sides, he captured frigate MACEDONIAN, This victory earned Decatur the thanks, of Congress and several State Legislatures. Then, blockaded in New London for a year, he transferred to PRESIDENT at New York, remaining for defense of the city. He fell in with a British Squadron of five heavy ships on the morning of 15 January 1815 and silenced frigate ENDYMION after sailing side-by-side in two hours of furious combat. Because of the extensive damage suffered by PRESIDENT, it WELS impossible to execute an escape, thus Decatur was overhauled by other enemy frigates. Twice wounded himself, he lost twenty-four men with fifty-five wounded. He reluctantly surrendered but was soon paroled, landing in New London on 22 February 1815. Aboard flagship GUERRIERE toward the end of the war, he negotiated a treaty with the Bey of Algiers, ending tribute and exacting full payment for injuries to Americans. He exacted the same from the Bey of Tunis and the Bashaw of Tripoli shortly thereafter. From November 1815 until his death, Decatur served on the Board of Navy Commissioners. He died 22 March 1820, as the result of a duel' with Commodore James Baron. Loyalty to his country was the breath of life to Stephen Decatur. At a dinner in Norfolk in April 1816, he gave a stirring response to a toast: 6 ' Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she be always in the right, but our country, right or wrong.