USS Cushing (DD-985)

USS Cushing (DD-985)

USS Cushing anchored off of Thailand's Phuket Island in August 2004.
History
United States
Namesake:	Commander William B. Cushing, U.S. Navy (1842–1874)
Ordered:	15 January 1974
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	2 February 1977
Launched:	17 June 1978
Acquired:	4 September 1979
Commissioned:	21 September 1979
Decommissioned:	21 September 2005
Struck:	21 September 2005
Motto:	Non Sibi Sed Patriae Not for self but for country
Nickname(s):	"Dirty Cush"
Fate:	Sunk as target 14 July 2008
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Spruance-class destroyer
Displacement:	8,040 (long) tons full load
Length:	529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall
Beam:	55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft:	29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion:	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MW)
Speed:	32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) 3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement:	19 officers, 315 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-40 air search radar AN/SPG-60 fire control radar AN/SPS-55 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar Mk 23 TAS automatic detection and tracking radar AN/SPS-65 Missile fire control radar AN/SQS-53 bow mounted Active sonar AN/SQR-19 TACTAS towed array Passive sonar Naval Tactical Data System
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures Mark 36 SRBOC Decoy Launching System AN/SLQ-49 Inflatable Decoys
Armament:	2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns 2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns 1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher (removed) 1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher 2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters 2 x Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes) 1 x 61 cell Mk 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk missiles 1 × 21 cell RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher
Aircraft carried:	2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

Coordinates: 23°44′42″N 160°20′04″W / 23.745126°N 160.334473°W / 23.745126; -160.334473

USS Cushing (DD-985), named after William Barker Cushing, was the fifth ship of the United States Navy to bear the name. Cushing was a Spruance-class destroyer (now replaced by the Arleigh Burke-class) built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi. Cushing operated out of Yokosuka, Japan for the last several years of her career. Cushing was the last Spruance-class destroyer to remain in active service, until decommissioned on 21 September 2005.

Cushing was laid down 27 December 1976 by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on 17 June 1978 and commissioned on 21 September 1979. Cushing was the last U.S. warship to transit the Panama Canal prior to control of the canal being handed over to Panama in 1979.

Prior to its formal commissioning, Cushing departed her builders in Mississippi in order to avoid the oncoming Hurricane Frederic. She remained in the Gulf of Mexico with a crew of U.S. Navy sailors and ship builder personnel. After the passage of the storm, she returned to her builders yard for final outfitting and was quickly commissioned with her crew in dungarees in the helo hangar and deck prior to departure for her first homeport of San Diego, California where she was formally commissioned on 21 September 1979 in its home port.