From 1962 to 1976, Leahy operated as a unit of the Atlantic Fleet and from 1976 to 1993 as a unit of the Pacific Fleet. She made six Mediterranean deployments (Sixth Fleet), two UNITAS Latin America cruises and eight Western Pacific deployments (Seventh Fleet), completed three Panama Canal transits,[1] and crossed the equator over a dozen times. She traveled the seas from the easternmost end of the Mediterranean to the westernmost edge of the Indian Ocean. She steamed far north to Leningrad, Russia, and the Aleutian Islands; and far south for two passages through the Straits of Magellan. Over the course of her sixteen major deployments, Leahy made port calls on six continents—North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
Leahy served longer than any other ship of her class. After more than 31 years of active service all over the globe, the "Sweet 16" was decommissioned on 1 October 1993. After another 11 years in the reserve fleet, she was scrapped in Brownsville, Texas, in 2005.
Design and construction
Leahy was the first of a new "double-ender" class fitted with Terrier (later Standard ER) missile launchers fore and aft, and the first and only frigate class designed without a main gun battery for shore bombardment or ship-vs.-ship engagements. The gun armament was reduced in order to carry a larger missile load. One of the principal missions of these ships, like their predecessors, the Farragut class, was to form part of the anti-air (AAW) and anti-submarine (ASW) screen for carrier task forces while also controlling aircraft from the carrier by providing vectors to assigned targets.
Leahy carried over the propulsion plant of the Farragut class, fitted into a longer hull designed with a knuckled "hurricane" bow that reduced plunging in rough seas, thus keeping her forecastle dry as needed to operate the forward missile launcher. Other features included an expanded electrical plant and increased endurance. A major design innovation was the use of "macks"—combined masts and stacks—on which the radars could be mounted without smoke interference.[2]
After shakedown in the Caribbean, Leahy departed Boston on 19 September 1963 and reported to Charleston, South Carolina., where RADM E. E. Grimm, Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 6, selected her as his flagship. She then proceeded to the Jacksonville, Florida operating areas for type training. She briefly put into home port in November, then returned to the Caribbean to participate in AA warfare exercises.
On 2 January 1964, the DLG was again bound for the Caribbean for missile training, which ended 26 February. From 1 to 10 April, she joined in an amphibious exercise, "Quick Kick V," and on 1 June was permanently assigned to Destroyer Squadron 6.
Leahy departed for duty with the Sixth Fleet on 17 July as part of a Fast Carrier Task Group, which included the aircraft carrierForrestal, and participated in a coordinated fleet exercise, "MEDLANDEX-64," between the Balearic Islands and Sardinia. She then carried out independent training in the eastern Mediterranean before departing from Naples, Italy, on 22 September to join in NATO exercise "FALLEX-64." She returned to Naples on 26 October and, in November, participated in another fleetwide exercise, "POOPDECK-IV," which brought some 40 ships of Task Force 60 together off the coast of Spain.
Leahy departed from Barcelona, Spain, on 2 December 1964 for replenishment, and on 14 December drew the curtain on 32,750 nautical miles (60,653km) of steaming while deployed with the Sixth Fleet. She arrived at Charleston on 22 December and began a period of restricted availability in preparation for extensive tests to evaluate the Terrier Missile System. During these tests, which were completed in September 1965, Leahy was briefly deployed for the Dominican Republic Crisis from 28 April to 7 May 1965 as a unit of the Strike and Covering Force.
The vessel departed from Charleston on 30 November 1965 for the Mediterranean and relieved the destroyer William V. Pratt at Puerto Pollensa, Majorca, 9 December. During this second deployment with the Sixth Fleet, she operated throughout the Mediterranean participating in ASW, gunnery, and AA warfare exercises as well as major fleet tactical operations alongside other NATO ships.
Leahy returned home to Charleston on 8 April 1966. During June and July, she gave some 60 midshipmen from Annapolis at-sea training, and visited ports along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. Following this, Leahy conducted exercises with the navies of many South American countries as part of operation UNITAS VII. She sailed through the Panama Canal in early September, thence south and through the Straits of Magellan at the end of October.
The operation was completed on 6 December 1966 and the DLG returned to Charleston on 15 December. Leahy then prepared for massive modernization at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, arriving there on 27 January 1967 and decommissioning on 18 February. For over a year the ship received new AAW and ASW equipment, allowing her to utilize the most recent developments in the technology of naval warfare. The destroyer leader was placed in commission, special, on 4 May 1968 for the extensive period of testing her updated weapons systems. Leaving Philadelphia on 18 August, she arrived at her new home port, Norfolk, 3 days later.
A second shakedown cruise and training on the new weapons systems lasted into 1969. In August, Leahy took part in UNITAS X, which included ships from the navies of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Uruguay. She returned to Norfolk, VA shortly before Christmas.
In September 1970, while on a routine missile exercise, Leahy was ordered to make an emergency deployment to the eastern Mediterranean as part of a contingency force in response to the Jordanian Crisis. She remained there for more than seven months operating with the Forrestal battle group, returning home to Norfolk in May 1971. For her efforts, she received the first of her five Meritorious Unit Commendations. Leahy deployed once more to the Mediterranean in 1972 and, after an overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, again in 1974. During the 1974 deployment, she operated extensively with the America battle group and made port calls in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.
In 1975, Leahy deployed to the Mediterranean for a sixth time. Prior to entering the Mediterranean, she participated with the destroyer Tattnall (COMCRUDESGRU 12, RADM Langille, and staff embarked) in an historic port call at Leningrad in the USSR. Leahy and Tattnall were the first U.S. warships to visit the Soviet Union since World War II. During the five-day visit, Leahy hosted over 12,300 visitors. Her crew participated in a variety of athletic contests with local teams, and enjoyed visits to a hockey game and the Kirov Ballet. She also received a visit from Elizabeth Taylor, who was on location filming The Blue Bird. Leahy then made port calls in Helsinki, Finland and Portsmouth, England before making her way into the Mediterranean. During the deployment she visited Spain, France, Monaco (for the Fourth of July celebrations and Princess Grace's Red Cross Ball), Italy, Greece, and Turkey.
In January 1976, Leahy was transferred to the Pacific Fleet and, after transiting the Panama Canal, entered her new home port of San Diego. On 6 June 1976, she rescued 22 crewmembers off the research vessel Aquasition, which caught fire at sea and eventually sank. On 1 November 1976, she entered drydock for an overhaul at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which lasted a year. She did not make her first deployment to the Western Pacific until July 1978, when she served as part of the Constellation carrier battle group. She made stops at Okinawa, Yokosuka, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, and South Korea before returning to the United States in February 1979.
Leahy’s next deployment to the Western Pacific began in May 1980. By September, she was in the Arabian Sea supporting the Midway and Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier battle groups. In October, she entered the Persian Gulf to provide anti-aircraft support for Saudi Arabia against possible attacks by Iran. Her stay in the Persian Gulf was short and the Leahy returned to San Diego on 4 December. The ship began another overhaul in January 1981 that lasted into May.
Leahy in 1989
Leahy's next Western Pacific deployment began in March 1983 as part of a battle group with the newly reactivated battleshipNew Jersey. During the cruise, she visited ports in the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. In 1984, she operated with the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, then deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1985. In 1986, again escorting Carl Vinson, she deployed to the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf.
After a New Threat Upgrade modernization that lasted into 1988, Leahy returned to regular duty with the Pacific Fleet. In 1990, she served as the senior host ship for the Soviet Navy’s historic first trip to San Diego, which was also the first Russian visit to any west coast naval base. In April 1991, she arrived in the Persian Gulf shortly after the completion of Operation Desert Storm. In 1992, while serving part of the Kitty Hawk battle group, Leahy helped direct United Nations UNOSOM relief flights into Mogadishu, Somalia as part of Operation Restore Hope. In early 1993, Leahy was ordered to the northern Persian Gulf to take part in the newly authorized Operation Southern Watch, enforcing a "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq.
In 1993, Leahy won a Battle "E" for outstanding combat preparedness, as well as excellence awards in anti-aircraft warfare and anti-submarine warfare. At the time, she was the oldest conventional cruiser in the Navy’s inventory.
On 24 July 2004, Leahy was moved to the International Shipbreaking Limited yards in Brownsville, Texas to be dismantled. Scrapping started the first week of August 2004, 42 years after her 4 August 1962 commissioning. Three of her sisters, Gridley, England and Halsey, passed this way before her. Scrapping was completed 6 July 2005, 44 years after her 1 July 1961 launch date.
Operations with South American navies. Port calls in Puerto Rico, Colombia, Canal Zone, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Trinidad, St. Thomas.
Note: Cruise books were published for all major deployments except 1972 and 1975.[7] A Leahy Pictogram was published in August 1972 with deployment details and photographs of officers and crew.
Leahy's motto "Prompta et Parata" translates as "Prompt and Ready" from the Latin.[10] The words are most well known from Cicero's De Officiis as part of the phrase "... the good will of men, on the other hand, prompt and ready for the advancement of our interests, is secured through wisdom and virtue."
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This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.The entry can be found here.
Notes
↑ After decommissioning, a fourth transit was completed under tow to the shipbreaking yard in Brownsville.
↑ During the New Threat Upgrade overhaul in 1987, two more coins, a 1987 silver dollar and a 1972 silver dollar, were placed in the same spot. All three coins were removed prior to decommissioning.
↑ The motto of USSCleveland is "Promptus et Paratus", which also translates as "Prompt and Ready" – the difference being the Latin masculine singular form (-us) vs. the feminine singular or neuter plural form (-a). The United States Coast Guard motto is "Semper Paratus" – "Always Ready"
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