USS David R. Ray (DD-971)

History
United States
Name:	USS David R. Ray
Namesake:	HM2 David Robert Ray, USN
Ordered:	15 January 1971
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	23 September 1974
Launched:	23 August 1975
Acquired:	31 October 1977
Commissioned:	19 November 1977
Decommissioned:	28 February 2002
Struck:	6 November 2002
Motto:	Determined, Ready, Resourceful
Fate:	Sunk as a target on 11 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 round RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (removed 1980s)
Aircraft carried:	2 x SH-2F or 2 x SH-60B

USS David R. Ray (DD-971), was a Spruance-class destroyer named for United States Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class David Robert Ray who was killed in action in 1969 while assigned to a Marine Corps artillery unit during the Vietnam War and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

The David R. Ray was built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi and commissioned on November 19, 1977 in Pascagoula. The principal speaker at the event was James R. Sasser, U.S. Senator from Tennessee and the ships sponsor was Mrs. Donnie M. Ray, HM2 Ray’s mother. The David R. Ray was decommissioned in 2002 and sunk as a target in 2008.

On the voyage from Pascagoula to her new homeport of San Diego, the David R. Ray passed through the Panama Canal. David R. Ray, nicknamed "Sting Ray", crossed the equator for the first time on 16 May 1978. On 19 February 1979, she became the first ship to intercept a supersonic drone with the NATO RIM-7 Seasparrow Missile System. The ship first deployed on 8 September 1979 and made port calls in Pearl Harbor, Guam, Yokosuka, Inchon, Subic Bay, and Hong Kong. In 1982, David R. Ray went through her first major overhaul in Seattle, Washington. On 18 October 1983, David R. Ray began another "WESTPAC" to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. After port visits to Pearl Harbor, Subic Bay, Pusan, Chinhae, Hong Kong and Pattaya, the ship participated in a joint Thailand-U.S. naval exercise. Later, the Ray spent 54 continuous days underway, spanning from the northwest Indian Ocean to northernmost Sea of Japan following and performing surveillance operations (SURVOPS) on the newest Soviet carrier, "Novorossiysk".

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