Namesake Presley O'Bannon Laid down 21 February 1977 Decommissioned 19 August 2005 Construction started 21 February 1977 Draft 8.84 m Builder Ingalls Shipbuilding | Ordered 15 January 1975 Commissioned 15 December 1979 Struck 19 August 2005 Launched 25 September 1978 Beam 17 m | |
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USS O'Bannon (DD-987), a Spruance-class destroyer, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon (1776–1850), an early hero of the US Marine Corps.
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O'Bannon was laid down on 21 February 1977 by the Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss.; launched on 25 September 1978; and commissioned on 15 December 1979, Commander Marshall R. Willenbucher in command.
Homeport
Originally assigned to Naval Base Charleston, South Carolina; when it was closed by the Congressional BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) committee in 1994 transferred to Naval Station Mayport, Florida.
Deployments and Ports of Call
UNITAS XXXII: Cartagena, Columbia; Rodmin, Panama; Manta, Ecuador; Lima, Peru; Valparaíso, Chile; Talcahuano, Chile; Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Puerta la Cruz, Venezuela
Baltops '92: Edinburgh, Scotland; Kiel, Germany (with bus rides to Berlin); Karlskrona, Sweden; Denmark; Norway; Severnmorsk, Russia (with bus rides to Murmansk, Russia)
MEF 3-97 (started 15 July 1997) Lajes, Azores (24JUL97), Palma, Spain (28-30JUL97), Rota, Spain, Kos, Greece (3-5AUG97), Dubai United Arab Emirates (5-7SEP97), ASU Bahrain (18-23SEP, 10-14OCT, 21-22OCT97), Muscat,Oman 30OCT-01NOV97), Dubai, UAE 3-8NOV97), Media, Portugal.
In 1995 the ship was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 14.
UNITAS XL-99: Cartagena Columbia; Rodmin, Panama; Manta, Ecuador; Lima, Peru; Valparaíso, Chile; Viña del Mar, Chile; Coquimbo, Chile; ?Bahia Blanca?,Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Puerta la Cruz, Venezuela.
Fate
Originally scheduled to remain in service through 2010, decommissioning of the Spruance-class destroyers was accelerated as a cost-saving measure, and by June 2005 O'Bannon was the last Spruance destroyer in service in the Atlantic Fleet.
O'Bannon was decommissioned on 19 August 2005 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. In 2004 O'Bannon was to be sold to Chile, but in 2005 she was scheduled to be transferred via FMS to the Turkish Navy. In the end she was sunk off the coast of Virginia at 3:23pm on 6 October 2008 in a training exercise by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier group, using missiles, guns and finally a Mk 82 bomb.