USS ''Harry W. Hill'' (DD-986), named for Admiral Harry W. Hill USN, was a built by the

Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 employees, the second largest ...

Division of

Litton Industries Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States named after inventor Charles Litton Sr. During the 1960s, the company began acquiring many unrelated firms and became one of the largest conglomerates in the United States. A ...

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport– Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2 ...

History

In late November 1982 ''Harry W. Hill'' was detached from the battlegroup to shadow the Soviet aircraft carrier ''Minsk'', which was transiting the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

for her first deployment to the Far East, a matter of considerable interest to U.S. planners. As such, ''Enterprise'' assigned two intelligence specialists to ''Harry W. Hill'' to help in tracking the Russians. ''Harry W. Hill'' rejoined the battlegroup on 19–20 January 1983. ''Harry W. Hill'' deployed as part of operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, part of the 1990-1991

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

. On 14 January 1991, she collided with the Wichita class replenishment oiler while conducting underway replenishment operations in the Gulf of Oman. There were no personnel casualties or injuries reported. In 1994, ''Harry W. Hill'' was significantly damaged during a maneuver to re-float her and exit a dry dock. In the incident, she was caught by a gust of wind which caused the ship to smash into the dry dock. One of the steel wire control lines intended to control the ship parted, seriously injuring two crewmen in the process. The ship sustained damage to her rudders, screws, and controllable prop pitch systems. ''Harry W. Hill'' was the only ''Spruance''-class destroyer not to receive the armored box launchers nor the Mark 41

vertical launch system A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of ''cells'', which can hold one or mor ...

for firing

Tomahawk cruise missile The Tomahawk () Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations. Under contract fr ...

Fate

She was based at

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

for much of her career. ''Harry W. Hill'' was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy List on 29 May 1998. She was sunk as a target during RIMPAC 2004 on 15 July 2004.

Gallery

File:USS Harry W. Hill (DD-986) underway off San Diego in December 1984.jpeg, USS ''Harry W. Hill'' leaving

in December 1984 File:330-CFD-DN-ST-92-00446 (22193402445).jpg, USS ''Harry W. Hill'' on 8 June 1991 File:330-CFD-DN-SD-01-09004 (25687037801).jpg,

Jay L. Johnson Jay Lynn Johnson (born June 5, 1946) is a retired United States Navy admiral who served as the 26th Chief of Naval Operations from 1996 to 2000. He was later president and chief executive officer of General Dynamics. Early life Johnson was born ...

and crewmember aboard USS ''Harry W. Hill'' on 24 December 1997 File:A crew member from the destroyer USS HARRY W. HILL (DD-986 ) is reunited with a loved one following his ship's return to the station. The destroyer has returned from a WestPac deplo - DPLA - c6f12b7ca33ff5208450a3590db65ca9.jpeg, A sailor from the USS ''Harry W. Hill returning from a deployment on 8 June 1991

External links

*
navsite.de: USS ''Harry W. Hill''

''Photo Page 1'' webpage

Spruance-class destroyers Cold War destroyers of the United States Gulf War ships of the United States Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi 1978 ships Ships sunk as targets United States Navy ship names {{US-mil-ship-stub

History

Fate

Gallery

See also

External links