Prior to her commissioning the Ingalls Shipyard held an open house for both the SPRUANCE and the TARAWA, the Navy's newest amphibious assault ship. Read more here:

Pre-commissioning tour booklet

USS SPRUANCE

The crew of the SPRUANCE was assembled starting in the summer of 1974, at Norfolk, VA. The bachelor crewmen were billeted at Essex Hall at the Naval Operations Base. The time was spent in trainers, classrooms, and making trips to Pascagoula, MS, to supervise certain aspects of construction, prepare division equipment and supplies, or to begin crew familiarization. The delivery of the ship, already delayed 9 months, suffered an additional delayed when the floating dry-dock carrying the SPRUANCE broke in March of 75. The ship was dropped stern first damaging the propellers. Fortunately, the ship did not rotate on her blocks and suffered only minor damage. Finally, the crew was transferred to Pascagoula in the Summer of '75 to make final preparations to receive the ship from Ingalls ship building.

On September 20, 1975, the SPRUANCE, festooned with red, white and blue bunting, was commissioned by RADM Julian T. Burke, Jr., Commander, Fifth Naval District. The ship's sponsor, Mrs. Raymond A. Spruance was in attendance and was accompanied by her son, Raymond A. Spruance, II. Finally, the Commanding Officer, CDR Raymond Harbrecht read his orders to take command of the ship, then gave his first order of command by bringing the ship to "life" and ordering the crew to "man the ship." With radars turning, the crew in their dress whites, boarded the SPRUANCE and "manned the rails." The commissioning pennant was two blocked and would not come down until the ship is decommissioned. The union jack and ensign were raised at the jack stay and flagstaff respectively. DD-963 was now officially the USS SPRUANCE.

The departure of USS SPRUANCE was earlier than anticipated when  Hurricane Eloise entered the Gulf and threatened to catch DD-963 at the pier. With driving rain and heavy seas, the crew set its first "Sea and Anchor" detail, cast off all lines and headed for open water. The seas calmed down, and the skies turned blue as the ship entered the straights of Florida. After a brief stay at Charleston, SC, the ship moved on to Norfolk, VA, where the CO reported to the Commodore of Destroy Squadron 10 (DesRon 10), which was a component of Cruiser/Destroyer Group 2. With the turnover of the SPRUANCE to the Navy now complete, she and her crew were able to commence Phase I training. Her first evolutions were a trip to the deperming crib in the Elizabeth River. Navy Ships develop magnetic fields because of their metal hulls. These fields can actually give an indication where a ship was built. Worse, these fields could be used to detonate mines. To reduce the ships magnetic signature, a ship must be "deperm'ed." This involves wrapping heavy cables around the ship, turning it into an electromagnet. By carefully altering the current in the cables the ships magnetic signature is erased. After the deperming, it was off to the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, to get her load-out of munitions.

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