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USS Lawrence (DDG-4)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Lawrence (DDG-4)

USS Lawrence (DDG-4), a 3370-ton Charles F. Adams guided-missile destroyer built at Camden, New Jersey, was laid down 27 October 1958 by New York Shipbuilding Corp.; launched 27 February 1960; sponsored by Mrs. Fernie C. Hubbard, great-great-grand-daughter of Capt. James Lawrence; and commissioned 6 January 1962, Comdr. Thomas W. Walsh in command.

After a shakedown cruise on the Great Lakes, USS Lawrence (DDG-4) proceeded to Norfolk for duty in the Atlantic Fleet. Following the rapid development of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, the warship deployed with Task Group 136.1, a surface quarantine group of cruisers USS Canberra (CAG-2), USS Newport News (CA-148), three guided-missile destroyers including USS Lawrence (DDG-4) and twelve escorts. After returning to Norfolk on 6 December, USS Lawrence (DDG-4) began the first of many Mediterranean cruises on 6 February 1963, steaming across the Atlantic to join the Sixth Fleet for operations in European waters, where she remained until 1 July.

Following two additional Mediterranean deployments, one in 1969-70 and another in 1971, the much-travelled destroyer made one Vietnam War tour in the Western Pacific in 1972-73, providing naval gunfire suport, dodging enemy return fire and serving as plane guard during aircraft carrier operations. Two more Sixth Fleet cruises followed in 1977-78 and 1979, and during the latter she briefly visited the Black Sea. USS Lawrence (DDG-4) also passed through the Mediterranean en route to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, deployments that took place in 1974-75, 1980 and 1983.

USS Lawrence (DDG-4) also saw frequent service closer to home, in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, and occasionally visited other waters. In 1986 she steamed around South America as part of Operation Unitas XVII, exercising with Latin American navies and visiting ports in Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil. USS Lawrence (DDG-4) was decommissioned in late March 1990 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register a few months later.

For a complete history of USS Lawrence (DDG-4) please see its DANFS page.