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Photo # NH 76318-KN:  USS Decatur (DDG-31).  Painting by Jack Vogelman, 1967

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Decatur (DD-936, later DDG-31), 1956-2004

USS Decatur, a 2780-ton Forrest Sherman class destroyer built at Quincy, Massachusetts, was commissioned in December 1956. In 1957, she made her shakedown cruise through the Caribbean area, ran special trials, and steamed to northern Europe. Early in 1958 the new destroyer again crossed the Atlantic to begin her first Sixth Fleet tour in the Mediterranean Sea. Decatur made more such deployments during the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as serving as a spacecraft recovery ship in September 1961 and taking part in Cuban Quarantine operations in November and December 1962. On 6 May 1964, her superstructure was was heavily damaged in a collision with the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain (CVS-39). The unrepaired Decatur was placed "in commission, in reserve" later in the year to await modernization, and was formally decommissioned in June 1965.

During the next two years Decatur was extensively modified at the Boston Naval Shipyard, Massachusetts. She was reclassified as a guided-missile destroyer in September 1966, receiving the new hull number DDG-31, and was recommissioned in April 1967. In September of that year she transferred to the Pacific Fleet, her assignment for the remainder of her commissioned service. Decatur's first Seventh Fleet deployment, in the Western Pacific, took place between July 1968 and February 1969. In this, and her next two Far Eastern tours in 1970 and 1971-72, she engaged in Vietnam War operations and visited southern Pacific nations. Further "WestPac" cruises took place in 1973, 1974-75, 1976-77 and 1978-1979. The last deployment also took her into the Indian Ocean, an area of increasing interest to the U.S. Navy as the Persian Gulf region became unstable.

In 1981 and again in 1982, Decatur steamed across the Pacific for more duty with the Seventh Fleet and, in 1983, in the Persian Gulf. At the end of June 1983, several weeks after returning from her last deployment, she was decommissioned and placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. USS Decatur was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in March 1988. Her name was cancelled sometime thereafter. However, the ship had a long career ahead of her as Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS), a role for which she was converted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Once this work was completed in 1994 she was employed along the Pacific Coast, conducting trials of various systems for countering anti-shipping cruise missiles and other threats. Taken out of service in 2003, she was sunk as a target on 21 July 2004.

USS Decatur was named in honor of Commodore Stephen Decatur (1779-1820), one of the United States Navy's greatest heros and leaders of the first two decades of the 19th Century.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning USS Decatur (DD-936, later DDG-31).

For more images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Decatur (DD-936, later DDG-31) -- Part II; and
  • Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS), formerly USS Decatur (DDG-31).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 98174

    USS Decatur (DD-936)


    Underway at sea, during her first Mediterranean deployment, 2 May 1958.
    Photographed by Caswell.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

    Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98175

    USS Decatur (DD-936)


    Underway on 13 April 1963.
    Photographed by PH2 Joel S. Cary.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

    Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     


    The following views show USS Decatur after her conversion to a guided-missile destroyer (DDG-31):

    Photo #: NH 105939

    USS Decatur
    (DDG-31)

    Undergoing an inclining experiment, to determine her stability characteristics following conversion to a guided-missile destroyer, May 1967.
    Photographed at the Boston Naval Shipyard, Charlestown, Massachusetts.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 565 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 76318-KN (Color)

    USS Decatur (DDG-31)

    Painting by Jack Vogelman, October 1967.

    Courtesy of USS Decatur, 1972.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 134 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98176

    USS Decatur (DDG-31)


    Underway in the Pacific Ocean, 5 July 1972.
    Photographed by PH3 D.L. Pierce.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

    Online Image: 135KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98177

    USS Decatur (DDG-31)


    Underway off San Diego, California, 24 June 1976.
    Photographed by PH3 Burgess.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

    Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 545 pixels

     
    Photo #: USN 1167865

    USS Decatur (DDG-31)


    Underway in the Pacific Ocean, 24 June 1976.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

    Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 620 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1167865.

     
    Photo #: NH 105937

    USS Decatur
    (DDG-31)

    Anchored off Coronado, California, during Operation "Varsity Knight", 7 August 1976.
    Note that one twin-cell section of her ASROC launcher is elevated and pointing toward the city.
    Photographed by PH3 C.M. Phelps.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

    Online Image: 116KB; 900 x 735 pixels

     


    In addition to the views referenced above, the National Archives appears to hold several other photographs of USS Decatur (DD-936, later DDG-31). The following listing describes some of these images:

    The images listed below are NOT in the Naval History and Heritage Command's collections.
    DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


  • Photo #: USN 1036589
    USS Decatur (DD-936) passing through an open bridge to enter the harbor at Marseille, France, 25 April 1958.
    Starboard quarter surface view of Decatur. The ship fills less that half of the image's width. The open bridge sections are in the center, behind Decatur's forward superstructure, and at right. A small tug is in the foreground.

  • Photo #: USN 1039801
    USS Decatur (DD-936), with the shore visible in the left background. Photo was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 8 January 1959.
    Port bow surface view, with the light on the other side of the ship.

  • Photo #: USN 1044848
    USS Decatur (DD-936) underway in the Mediterranean Sea, 6 October 1959. Taken by a USS Saratoga (CVA-60) photographer.
    Port bow low aerial view, seen from about the height of the top of the ship's mainmast.

  • Photo #: USN 1049811
    USS Decatur (DD-936) underway at sea, July 1960.
    Starboard broadside aerial view, taken by PH1 Ken Bumpus, of USS Essex (CVS-9).

  • Photo #: USN 1076742
    USS Decatur (DD-936) underway at sea, 16 July 1960.
    Starboard side aerial view, somewhat toward the bow.

  • Photo #: USN 1076778
    USS Decatur (DD-936) underway at sea, 9 December 1960.
    Port bow surface view. The ship fills less than half of the image's width.


  • Photo #: USN 1167864
    USS Decatur (DDG-31) underway in the Pacific, 24 June 1976. Photographed by PH3 J.J. Burgess
    Port bow aerial view, relatively tight on the bow.

  • Photo #: USN 1167863
    USS Decatur (DDG-31) underway in the Pacific, 24 June 1976. Photographed by PH3 J.J. Burgess
    Starboard broadside aerial view, with the ship's stern possibly outside the left edge of the image.

  • Photo #: USN 1168648
    USS Decatur (DDG-31) anchored off Coronado, California, during Operation "Varsity Knight", 7 August 1976. Photographed by PH3 C.M. Phelps
    Port bow low aerial view, taken from about the height of the ship's mast tops (radar antennas are above the horizon line).


    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval History and Heritage Command.

    The images listed above are NOT in the Naval History and Heritage Command's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".

  • For more images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Decatur (DD-936, later DDG-31) -- Part II; and
  • Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS), formerly USS Decatur (DDG-31).


    NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 16 November 2002
    New images added 3 January 2009