By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
EVERETT — A warship that will fight no more returned to its home port here Friday after a six-month mission, probably its last, off the coast of South America.
The USS David R. Ray, which was commissioned in 1977, is scheduled to go out of service in February.
Replacing it will be the first of what will probably be several Arleigh Burke-class ships to be assigned to Everett. The USS Shoup should arrive by summer.
As the Ray came in, tight security greeted those who came to greet the ship. An armed sailor and a guard dog stood at the end of the Naval Station Everett pier in a fortification of sandbags on Friday — something that wasn’t there when the ship left in May.
Although the Ray didn’t fire a shot in anger on its most recent deployment, it and its nearly 300-person crew rolled up a couple of accomplishments, including participation in at least two major drug busts, although Cmdr. Todd Malloy, the Ray’s commanding officer, declined to talk about them. The warship carried a contingent from the U.S. Coast Guard, which was authorized to search for drugs.
| Another homecoming
The Shadowhawks, a squadron of EA-6B Prowlers, returned to Oak Harbor on Friday after seven months at sea aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
The crew of about 190 based at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station had started home Sept. 10 from a deployment to the Persian Gulf. After the terrorist attacks the next day, however, the ship and its air wing were kept in the Gulf in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The Navy’s entire fleet of Prowlers is based on Whidbey Island. The aircraft are usually used to provide electronic jamming protection for fighter jets. |
"This is one of the most (accomplished) crews for training I’ve ever seen," Master Chief Anthony Wedo said. "It’s a pretty spectacular accomplishment."
The Ray plied waters of the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Besides serving in the war on drugs, the crew worked hard on training assignments.
"A primary goal that we set for ourselves on this deployment was to maximize crew training opportunities," said Cmdr. Steve Benner, the ship’s executive officer.
On the pier, expectant families were less interested in the crew training and sandbags than in seeing their loved ones.
One was Sarah Hastain, a 4-year-old who bounced up and down the pier and sported a painted American flag on her forehead.
Her mother, Kim Hastain of Everett, who was anxiously awaiting a reunion with 2nd Class Petty Officer Jason Hastain, said: "I’m just emotional about it. I just want him home. It’s been too long."
The six-month deployment will likely be the enlisted man’s last. He’s planning to leave the Navy after six years.
A Navy band played patriotic songs, and when the ship got alongside the pier, "God Bless the U.S.A." was piped over the ship’s loudspeaker system.
Malloy said he will remain in command through the decommissioning process, while several members of his crew are expected to transfer to the Shoup.
The ship is the ninth of 31 Spruance-class destroyers built in the 1970s and 1980s. The class is being phased out in favor of the new Arleigh Burke class of ships with the superior Aegis missile radar system for air defense.
The vessel is a veteran of Desert Shield in the early part of the Persian Gulf War, and it has been involved in a several firsts for the U.S. Navy.
It was built in Pascagoula, Miss., and commissioned in 1977. It had home ports in San Diego and Long Beach, Calif., before arriving in Everett in 1996.
In 1984, it was the Navy’s test platform for a rapid-fire, anti-aircraft missile system. It made headlines in the Persian Gulf in 1986 when it prevented the boarding of a U.S. cargo ship by an Iranian frigate.
In 2,000, the Ray again made history when it sailed into the Pacific to greet and escort two Chinese warships that were making a goodwill visit to Puget Sound.
The ship was named for a hospital corpsman, David Robert Ray from Tennessee, who was killed during the Vietnam War while treating wounded U.S. Marines.
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447
or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
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