USS O'Brien (DD-975)

History
United States
Namesake:	CAPT Jeremiah O'Brien and his five brothers: Gideon, John, William, Dennis and Joseph.
Ordered:	26 January 1972
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	9 May 1975
Launched:	8 July 1976
Acquired:	14 November 1977
Commissioned:	3 December 1977
Decommissioned:	24 September 2004
Struck:	24 September 2004
Motto:	Loyalty, Unity, Freedom
Fate:	Disposed of as a target on 9 Feb 2006.
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
Aircraft carried:	2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

USS O'Brien (DD-975) was a Spruance-class destroyer built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi. It was named for Captain Jeremiah O'Brien and his five brothers: Gideon, John, William, Dennis and Joseph. The O'Briens were crew members on board the sloop Unity, which captured HMS Margaretta at the entrance to Machias harbor on 12 June 1775. O’Brien was decommissioned on 24 September 2004, and was later sunk as part of a training exercise in 2006.

The destroyer has completed seven major deployments to the Western Pacific/Indian Oceans and seven deployments to the Persian Gulf.

During her third deployment (13 January 1984 – 1 August 1984), which included 81 consecutive days at sea in the Indian Ocean, O'Brien took part in two refugee rescue missions, earning the Humanitarian Service Medal. The first rescue took place in the Gulf of Thailand on 29 April 1984, and the second in the South China Sea on 23 May 1984, (I'm disputing this second one as the O'Brien was with Battle Group B in the North Arabian Sea at this time). Ports visited: Subic Bay, Philippines; Pusan, ROK; Fremantle, Australia; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, (Hong Kong, Singapore, and Phattya Beach, Thailand were canceled due to the USS Midway's (CV-41), catapults breaking down in the North Arabian Sea, and Battle Group Bravo's orders to relieve her on station one month early).

O'Brien's fourth western pacific deployment (January 1986 – June 1986) took the destroyer further north. Operations included joint U.S./Korean naval exercises TEAM SPIRIT 86 and TAE KWAN DO 86-1. Ports visited: Subic Bay and Manila, Philippines; Okinawa, Sasebo and Yokosuka, Japan; Pohang and Pusan, Korea; Hong Kong

...
Wikipedia