USS Conolly (DD-979)

History
United States
Namesake:	Richard Lansing Conolly
Ordered:	15 January 1974
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	29 September 1975
Launched:	3 June 1977
Acquired:	25 September 1978
Commissioned:	14 October 1978
Decommissioned:	18 September 1998
Struck:	18 September 1998
Motto:	Leading The Way
Fate:	Sunk as target, 29 April 2009
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Spruance-class destroyer
Displacement:	8,040 (long) tons full load
Length:	529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall
Beam:	55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft:	29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion:	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MW)
Speed:	32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) 3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement:	19 officers, 315 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-40 air search radar AN/SPG-60 fire control radar AN/SPS-55 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar Mk 23 TAS automatic detection and tracking radar AN/SPS-65 Missile fire control radar AN/SQS-53 bow mounted Active sonar AN/SQR-19 TACTAS towed array Passive sonar Naval Tactical Data System
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures Mark 36 SRBOC Decoy Launching System AN/SLQ-49 Inflatable Decoys
Armament:	2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns 2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns 1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher (removed) 1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher 2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters 2 x Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes) 2 x quadruple ABL Mark 43 Tomahawk missile launchers
Aircraft carried:	2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

USS Conolly (DD-979), named for Admiral Richard Lansing Conolly USN, was a Spruance-class destroyer built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Conolly was laid down 29 September 1975, launched 19 February 1977 and commissioned 14 October 1978.

From August to December 1980, Conolly deployed as part of the Middle East Force. She deployed as part of this force again from October 1981 to February 1982. In September 1982, she deployed to the Mediterranean including operations off the coast of Lebanon.

In June 1983 Conolly deployed again participating in UNITAS XXIV, an annual exercise working with partner navies in South America. Conolly made multiple port visits and worked with a variety of South American navies before returning home in December of the same year. Conolly was the flagship for the cruise, with the staff of Commander, South Atlantic (COMSOLANT), Rear Admiral Clint Taylor, USN, embarked.

Due to equipment casualties in the engineering plant while on the east coast of Chile, the crew had to repair in place the pneumatic clutch-brake assemblies on the two forward gas turbine engines, the second repair having to be completed at sea en route Montevideo, Uruguay. Once in port, the damaged LM-2500 Gas Turbine Main Engine was replaced in 82 hours, using a large floating crane in the port facility.

In addition to the UNITAS cruise, Conolly left Brazil in November and sailed, initially in company with Jesse L. Brown, east to conduct a West African Training Cruise (WATC). Conolly visited Liberville, Gabon; Lagos, Nigeria; Monrovia, Liberia and finally Dakar, Senegal, before transiting west to Roosevelt Roads, PR for a refueling stop before returning to her homeport of Norfolk, VA in mid-December, 1983.

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