USS Tattnall (DDG-19) was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile-armed destroyer of the United States Navy. She was named for Commodore Josiah Tattnall III USN (1794–1871) – also commandant of the CSS Virginia, and an admiral in the Confederate States Navy – who made the adage "blood is thicker than water" a part of American history.
Tattnall was laid down by Avondale Marine at Avondale, Louisiana on 14 November 1960, launched on 26 August 1961 by Mrs. Mary Adams Mason and commissioned on 13 April 1963 at Charleston, S.C.
1960s Following commissioning, Tattnall conducted sea trials out of Charleston and tested her Tartar and RUR-5 ASROC missile systems in the Charleston, Jacksonville, FL, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, operating areas. Late in August, she returned to Charleston before departing again for shakedown training in the West Indies. The guided-missile destroyer returned to Charleston once again on 20 October for post-shakedown availability. Training, exercises, and local operations followed from early February until late April 1964. After a visit to New York City late in April, she resumed operations out of Charleston.
On 8 September, she got underway for her first overseas cruise during which she participated in NATO Exercise "Teamwork," an operation conducted in the Norwegian Sea and in the Bay of Biscay. The exercise ended early in October, and the warship put into Portsmouth, England, on the 3rd. Tattnall moved from there to Edinburgh, Scotland, for a two- or three-day visit in October, before heading back to the United States. On the 22nd, she reentered Charleston and resumed normal operations.
Following missile firings and gunnery practice in the San Juan operating area, Tattnall departed the western Atlantic on 7 December for her first deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. On 14 December, she reached the Straits of Gibraltar and became a unit of the 6th Fleet. While in the Mediterranean, she visited Tunis, Tunisia in northern Africa; Genoa, and Naples in Italy; Marseille and Théoule-sur-Mer in France; and Barcelona in Spain. She also participated in several exercises with other units of the 6th Fleet and with ships of foreign navies. On 4 March 1965, she retransited the Straits of Gibraltar and headed back toward the United States.
The guided-missile destroyer made Charleston on 14 March and began an availability period in preparation for her participation in projects for the Chief of Naval Operations. She completed the availability on 19 April and put to sea to conduct Fleet Research Project Number 69. She finished her work on the research project on 7 May and returned to Charleston. Tattnall resumed normal operations until 30 August when she put to sea to conduct the first of two additional tasks for the Chief of Naval Operations. This project, designated D/S 336, sought to insure her combat readiness prior to the second project, 0/S 102. During project D/S 336, Tattnall'''s crew averaged 10 to 12 hours a day at general quarters as they tracked single and multiple-plane air raids and simulated missile firings. Weather conditions hampered the gathering of data so that project D/S 336 was not concluded until 2 October. She put to sea again on 4 October for project O/S 102, a multi-phase test of the combat effectiveness of the Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyer. She completed the project early in December and returned to Charleston for availability, holiday leave, and preparation for another Mediterranean deployment.
On 15 February 1966, Tattnall departed Charleston once more to join the 6th Fleet. From 27 February to 3 March, she participated in Exercise "Fairgame IV," a Franco-American exercise conducted in the western Mediterranean. On 17 May, she conducted an intelligence surveillance of Russian warships. In June, she joined in another western Mediterranean exercise, "Deep Six." On this cruise, she added Rhodes, Majorca, Thessalonica and Volas, Greece, and Istanbul, Turkey, to her list of ports visited. On 1 July, the warship put to sea from Palma de Majorca and headed back toward Charleston, where she arrived on 22 August.
Upon arrival, Tattnall immediately began her first major overhaul since commissioning. She remained in Charleston Naval Shipyard from 22 August 1966 until 7 March 1967. After exiting the shipyard, she resumed local operations along the southern Atlantic coast of the United States and in the West Indies until early July. Following a week-long visit to New York City from 12 to 19 July, the guided-missile destroyer returned to Charleston to prepare for her third Mediterranean cruise. That deployment lasted through January 1968; and, by early February, Tattnall was back in Charleston. She resumed normal operations along the southeastern coast of the United States and in the West Indies until June, when she returned to Europe. After a stop in the Azores and a visit to Germany for the "Kiel Week" celebration, Tattnall reentered the Mediterranean for another tour of duty with the 6th Fleet. The warship remained in the Mediterranean until mid-November and then returned to the east coast and local operations.Tattnall continued to operate from Charleston until late July 1969, when she shifted home ports to Mayport, Fla. She arrived in Mayport on 29 July and conducted normal operations until September. From 2 to 24 September, the guided-missile destroyer participated in NATO Operation "Peacekeeper." On the 24th, she entered Amsterdam in the Netherlands for a week, then put to sea for hunter-killer operations and visits to the European ports of Hamburg, Bergen, Edinburgh, and Le Havre. She reentered Mayport on 10 December 1969.
1970s After four months operating out of Mayport, Tattnall steamed north to Chesapeake Bay, where she assisted in tests conducted at Randle Cliffs, Md., by scientists of the Naval Research Laboratory. She visited Newport, R.I., in mid-month and returned to Mayport on the 25th. Following five months of operations and exercises in the vicinity of Mayport, Tattnall steamed to Charleston for her second regular overhaul. She remained in Charleston Naval Shipyard until 24 March 1971, when she began post-overhaul trials. On 22 April, she headed back to Mayport and operations in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
On 16 September 1971, the ship departed Charleston bound for northern Europe and Exercise "Royal Knight." During that cruise, she visited Rosyth, Scotland, and Rotterdam in the Netherlands before returning to Mayport on 22 October.
In March 1972, Tattnall deployed to the Mediterranean once again. She conducted exercises with other units of the 6th Fleet and with ships of foreign navies. The guided-missile destroyer visited Valencia, Spain, Genoa and Naples in Italy, Patras and Athens in Greece, Kusadasi and Iskenderun in Turkey, Sousse, Tunisia, Menton, France, Palma de Majorca, Spain, and Sicily. On 28 August, she changed operational control to the 2nd Fleet and headed for Mayport, where she arrived on 5 September.Tattnall resumed operations from Mayport until 29 May 1973, when she got underway to participate in a joint American-French exercise conducted in the vicinity of Charleston. In late May and early June, she visited Norfolk, Va., and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. She returned to Mayport on 18 June. After a month in the Mayport area, Tattnall embarked upon her first UNITAS deployment to South America. She visited ports in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay in between operations and exercises conducted with units of those countries' navies. On 15 December, she returned to Mayport and resumed exercises in the western Atlantic and upkeep in her home port through July 1974.
On 22 July 1974, she began a two-month restricted availability at Charleston. The Tattnall returned to Mayport on 21 September to begin preparations for another Mediterranean deployment. The guided-missile destroyer departed Mayport on 25 November and changed operational control to the 6th Fleet at Rota, Spain, on 5 December. Tattnall participated in "special operations" on 9 December following a brief stop at Gaeta, Italy, she put into Barcelona for the holidays on 18 December.
On 6 January 1975, the warship sailed to Rapallo, Italy for an 8-day goodwill visit with local leaders followed by a brief stop in La Spezia to meet with senior Italian Navy officials. Tattnall enjoyed a tender availability while in Naples (18 January – 23 February), paused briefly to refuel at Augusta Bay, Sicily, then sailed to Sousse, Tunisia for another visit with local officials on 26 January. A storm in the Gulf of Hammemet forced her to sea on 27 January, but the warship promptly resumed her visit until her departure on 4 March, Tattnall sailed to Souda Bay, Crete (6–7 March) where the guided-missile destroyer successfully completed two of three missile firings. Following a routine visit to Palermo, Sicily (9–14 March), she participated in exercises with the en route to join Carrier Task Group 60.2 for operations simulating an opposed passage of the Strait of Messina. After a routine visit to Palma (19 March – 5 April), Tattnall and other units of TG 60.2 joined for ASW exercises en route to a training anchorage in Pollensa Bay, Majorca (6–9 April). The guided-missile destroyer refueled from Neosho (AO-143) while sailing to Barcelona (10–18 April) where she embarked Rear Admiral Nicholson, Commander, Carrier Striking Group Two for meetings with high ranking Spanish military and civilian dignitaries. Tattnall sailed to Sardinia on the 19th with units of TG 60.2 where she participated briefly in the amphibious exercise "Sardinia 75" on the 20th followed by naval gunfire exercises the next two days. Departing Sardinia, the guided-missile destroyer rendezvoused with and the Italian Navy destroyer Intrepido (D571) for ASW exercises. Tattnall successfully completed an Operational Readiness Examination and conducted exercises prior to passing through the Strait of Gibraltar en route to Rota, Spain (26 April-2 May). On the 5th, the Tattnall joined Leahy (DLG/CG-16) in Portsmouth, England to sail to Leningrad (12–17 May) in the Soviet Union for a visit in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe during World War II. The warships interrupted their return passage to Portsmouth, England (23–25 May) for fuel and debriefing with a two-day sojourn in Kiel Germany. Tattnall returned to Mayport on 6 June after brief stops in the Azores and Bermuda.
She remained in Mayport until sailing to Newport, Rhode Island on 6 August for three weeks of training midshipmen. Upon return to Mayport on the 29th, she prepared to shift her homeport to Philadelphia for the upcoming regular overhaul. Two days after her arrival in Philadelphia on 4 October 1975, the warship commenced the overhaul that included numerous modifications to her weapons, communication, and engineering equipment. With the overhaul completed as scheduled on 6 August 1976, Tattnall returned to Mayport on the 12th in advance of post-overhaul refresher training. She tested weapon systems in Port Everglades during the last week of August then returned to Mayport for further inspections and tests. On 20 September, a Cleveland television station news crew embarked to film for a documentary news program on life in the Navy. Tattnall tested the performance of her missile systems at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico then sailed to Guantanamo Bay for refresher training (8 October – 10 November). The guided-missile destroyer returned to Puerto Rico for naval gunfire support qualification prior to her return to her home port of Mayport on 20 November. She received a tender availability alongside and Christmas standdown.