USS Comte De Grasse (DD 974)

- decommissioned -
- sunk as a target -

USS COMTE DE GRASSE was the twelfth ship in the SPRUANCE - class and the fourth ship of that class decommissioned. USS COMTE DE GRASSE was homeported in Norfolk, Va., and was the third ship to bear the name of the famous French Admiral Francois Joseph Paul DeGrasse. Her sponsor was Madam Valery Giscard D'Estang, wife of the former, and then President of France. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on June 5, 1998, the destroyer was finally sunk as a target on June 7, 2006, in the Atlantic.

General Characteristics:	Keel Laid: April 4, 1975
	Launched: March 26, 1976
	Christened: May 22, 1976
	Commissioned: August 5, 1978
	Decommissioned: June 5, 1998
	Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding, West Bank, Pascagoula, Miss.
	Propulsion system: four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines
	Propellers: two
	Blades on each Propeller: five
	Length: 564,3 feet (172 meters)
	Beam: 55,1 feet (16.8 meters)
	Draft: 28,9 feet (8.8 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 9,200 tons full load
	Speed: 30+ knots
	Aircraft: two SH-60B Seahawk (LAMPS 3)
	Armament: two Mk 45 5-inch/54 caliber lightweight guns, two armored box launchers for Tomahawk cruise missiles, Mk 46 torpedoes (two triple tube mounts), Harpoon missile launchers, one MK 29 Sea Sparrow launcher, two 20mm Phalanx CIWS, one Mk 112 ASROC missile launcher
	Crew: approx. 340

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS COMTE DE GRASSE. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Click here to see which USS COMTE DE GRASSE memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS COMTE DE GRASSE Cruise Books:

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Accidents aboard USS COMTE DE GRASSE:

Date	Where	Events
August 2, 1979	Norfolk, Va.	USS COMTE DE GRASSE incurs extensive smoke damage in a three-hour engine room fire while berthed at Norfolk, Va.

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CLICK HERE to read about the History of USS COMTE DE GRASSE

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About the Ship’s Name, about Admiral De Grasse:

French sea power, which George Washington termed "the pivot upon which everything turned," compelled the capitulation of the British Army at Yorktown, thus setting the final course for success in America's struggle for independence. Knowledge that a powerful French Fleet, under Admiral De Grasse, was sailing from the West Indies for the Chesapeake, led the General's Washington and Rochambeau to break camp around New York and march south. The subsequent naval battle off the Virginia Capes, in which DeGrasse drove off the British Fleet of Rear Admiral Thomas Graves, sealed the fate of General Lord Cornwallis entrenched at Yorktown, with his back to the sea. Hemmed in on the land side by the allied armies, and cut off from support or evacuation by water, Cornwallis surrendered over seven thousand troops on 19 October 1781. The final victory went to the holder of the sea lines of communication.

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USS COMTE DE GRASSE Image Gallery:

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