USS Dewey (DLG-14, later DDG-45)
The Farragut-class destroyer, USS Dewey (DLG-14), was commissioned on December 7, 1959. She was the first U.S. Navy warship to be built from the keel up as a guided-missile destroyer. Dewey's first commanding officer was Commander Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., who later served as the 19th Chief of Naval Operations. In the following decade, she served in the Cuban Quarantine during the Cuban Missile Crisis and provided gunfire support during the Vietnam War. Following modifications, Dewey was reclassified and received the hull number (DDG-45) in June 1975. The destroyer is also noted for taking part in recovery operations following the U.S. Space Shuttle Challenger's explosion on January 28, 1986. Following Dewey's last deployment to the Persian Gulf, she was decommissioned on August 31, 1990, and was sold for scrapping in April 1994.
Image: 330-CFD-DN-SC-90-11750: USS Dewey (DDG-45), port beam, 1987. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
