and shake. The crew was given a break with a port call in Travemünde, Germany. The ship completed its operations in the Baltic, always under the watchful eyes of Soviet corvettes and long range bombers, and headed North to Oslo, Norway for one final port of call before returning home.

More exercises and training followed, with stops at GITMO and Rosie Roads (with a side trip to St Croix for some binocular liberty). The SPRUANCE then headed on a flag waving tour to Africa with the USS GUAM (LPH 9). Ports of call included Casablanca, Morocco; Dakar, Senegal; Monrovia, Liberia; Gabon, Libreville; and Tema, Ghana. Prior to arriving at Ghana, the SPRUANCE made a quick stop at 00° latitude, and 000° longitude, to initiate a crew full of Pollywogs into the Royal Order of Emerald Shellbacks. After the African tour it was South to Brazil to take part in the UNITAS naval exercises. The Spruance returned to her homeport with a stop at Barbados, on the way.

In October of '78, the Spruance would make her first deployment to the Mediterranean. The ship had already performed a change out of its LM2500 engines pier-side in Norfolk, VA. Another change out was performed while in the Med.  In March 1979 the SPRUANCE conducted surveillance of the MINSK and KIEV. She returned home on April 4th and headed for the yards for a 6 month refit. Following this yard period she was transferred to Mayport, Florida as part of the KENNEDY battle group.

The SPRUANCE's final deployment was begun on 7 June 2004. She joined JTFEX 04-2 off the Eastern Seaboard. She joined the HMS INVINCIBLE task group, which had ships from the French, Italian, Dutch and German navies. Following the conclusion of these exercises SPRUANCE took part in SUMMER PULSE 04 in the Easter Atlantic, and also took part in the MAJESTIC EAGLE exercise. She concluded this deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She returned to her homeport on 7 December 2004 to begin preparations for decommissioning in March of 2005.

Her last cruise under her own power was made on January 15th when she sailed for Yorktown, VA to offload her munitions. When she returned to Mayport on the 18th, her engines were shutdown or the last time. The next time she got underway on March 24th, she was under tow and headed to NSY at Philadelphia.

back | top