Navy destroyer to go out in blaze of RIMPAC glory

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

A decommissioned Navy destroyer is being brought back into service for one final voyage — a one-way trip to the bottom of the ocean.

The USS Decatur, decommissioned in 1983 after 27 years of sea duty, will make its final appearance during RIMPAC 2004, the biennial multinational naval exercise north of Kaua'i.

The ship left Port Hueneme, Calif., last week and is being towed to Hawai'i. It is expected to arrive in a couple of weeks and will be moored at Pearl Harbor until July. That's when it has an appointment with a missile or two during an exercise involving military units from the United States and seven other countries.

At least a half-dozen former Navy ships have been blasted from the water in previous RIMPAC exercises.

During its day, the Decatur was a proud warship, serving as a spacecraft recovery ship in 1961, keeping Russian vessels at bay during the 1962 blockade of Cuba and engaging in Vietnam War missions from 1970 to 1973.

Although the Decatur was stricken from the regular Navy in the early '80s, its career was not over. The ex-Decatur, as the Navy now calls it, was part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet until it was converted in 1994 to a "self-defense test ship," conducting trials of systems for countering cruise missiles and other threats until last year.

Guy Herrington of Marydel, Md., a Decatur crewman from 1959 to 1963, said he was sad to learn the fate of his favorite Navy ship, but he was philosophical.

"It's like all of us. We grow old and pass away," he said. "I think it's a good thing for the Decatur. Why not go down with a missile shot?"

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.