USS Caron (DD-970)

Missing image USS_Caron.jpg USS Caron (DD-970)
Career
Ordered:	15 January 1971
Laid down:	1 July 1974
Launched:	24 June 1975
Commissioned:	1 October 1977
Decommissioned:	15 October 2001
Fate:	Accidentally sunk in the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area on 4 December 2002.
Struck:	5 June 2002
General Characteristics
Displacement:	9,036 tons full load
Length:	529 ft waterline; 563 ft overall (161, 172 m)
Beam:	55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft:	29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion:	4 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines; 80,000 shp (60 MW); 2 x shafts.
Speed:	32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	6,000 nautical miles at 20 knots; 3,300 nautical miles at 30 knots (56 km/h).
Complement:	19 officers, 315 enlisted
Armament:	1 × 61 cell MK41 Vertical Launching System 2 × 5 inch (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns 1 × 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher 2 × quadruple Harpoon missile canisters 2 × triple 12.75 inch torpedo tubes (Mark 46 torpedos) 2 × 6 canister Super Rapid Bloom Offboard Chaff Systems
Aircraft:	2 × SH-60B Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.
Radars:	AN/SPS 40B/C/D air search AN/SPS 55 surface search Mark 86 GFCS with AN/SPG-60 and AN/SPQ9A SWG-3 Tomahawk weapon control system Mark 91 missile FCS Mark 116 ASW FCS
Sonars:	AN/SQS 53A bow mounted sonar
EW:	AN/SLQ 25 Nixie AN/SLQ32(V)2
Motto:	"Vision, Victory, Valor"

USS Caron (DD-970), named for Hospital Corpsman Third Class Wayne Maurice Caron (1946-1968), assigned to Headquarters and Service Company, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, First Marine Division, killed in action at Quang Nam Province in the Republic of Vietnam on 28 July 1968, and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, was a Spruance class destroyer laid down by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula in Mississippi.

Contents

1 Ship's history 2 Soviet collision 3 Ship's crest 4 External Links

Ship's history

• 1 July 1974 - Laid down.
• 1 October 1977 - Commissioned.
• August 1979 - Soviet planes stage a mock missile attack against Caron in the Black Sea
• 10 March 1986 - Departs Norfolk, Virginia with USS America (CV-66) battlegroup deploying to the Mediterranean Sea as part of Operation Attain Document, a freedom of navigation exercise in the Gulf of Sidra.
• 23 March 1986 - Operating with USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) and USS Scott (DDG-995), Caron moves south of the Libya-claimed "Line of Death". This prompted a reaction from Libya resulting in two days of low intensity conflict in which Caron did not fire any weapons.
• 22 February 1988 - Lightly rammed by Soviet Mirka II class light frigate (FFL 824) in the Black Sea (see Soviet collision below).
• 15 February 1990 - Completed regular overhaul.
• 14 January 1991 - Participated in Operation Desert Storm from this date until end of conflict.
• 14 October 1993 - Began participation in UN sanctions enforcement against Haiti.

• April 1995 - NATO mine countermeasures exercise off Denmark.
• January to July 1996 - Deployed to Persian Gulf upholding UN sanctions against Iraq and aiding in Operation Southern Watch.
• February to August 1998 - Deployed to Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf, operating with USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74).
• April 1998 - Participated in Exercise Shark Hunt 98 off the coast of Spain.
• January to 4 June 1999 - Completed regular overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding. This overhaul included modifications to accomodate female crew.
• June to December 2000 - Deployed to Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf, operating with USS George Washington (CVN-73).
• 15 October 2001 - Decommissioned.
• 4 December 2002 - Accidentally sinks off the coast of Puerto Rico as a result of explosives tests.

Soviet collision

In February 1988, Caron operating with USS Yorktown (CG-48), entered the Soviet Union's 12 mile territorial waters limit in the Black Sea off the Crimean Peninsula without permission. Under international law, this act was permissible if the transiting foreign ship is progressing from one point in international waters to another point in international waters via the shortest course possible. Caron had onboard a ships signal exploitation spaces system, operated by a crew of 18 personnel in support of the U.S. National Security Agency. This system was capable of recording data on Soviet defense radars and communications.

In response, the Soviets deployed a destroyer and a Mirka II class light frigate to intercept the U.S. ships and lightly rammed both Caron and Yorktown. No significant damage resulted to any of the ships involved. The move was intended to intimidate the U.S. as a measure to encourage them not to engage in such flexing of international law in the future.

Ship's crest

The design of the shield and crest of the coat of arms is based on service of Wayne Maurice Caron, Hospital Corpsman Third Class, United States Navy, who heroically sacrificed his life on 28 July, 1968 while aiding wounded Marines on the field of fire in Vietnam. The Medal of Honor was awarded him posthumously. Caron is named in his honor.

The light blue center section and the white five-pointed star allude to the Medal of Honor ribbon; the star is also inverted in reference to the silhouette of the Medal of Honor pendant. The one light blue and the two Navy blue sections refer to the courage, steadfast determination and selfless dedication of Petty Officer Caron in performance of duty while serving as Platoon Corpsman with Company K, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, 1st Marine Division. The sweep of his unit through an open rice field in Quang Nam Province is indicated by the scarlet base and the embattled gold chevron. Navy blue and gold and scarlet and gold are the colors of the Navy and Marine Corps.

The Navy blue caduceus is the insignia worn on the white uniforms by Hospital Corpsmen, United States Navy. This insignia and the crossed bayonets (in the colors of the Marine Corps) allude to the medical services customarily provided the Marine Corps by the Navy. In particular, the caduceus and bayonets symbolize the combat operation in which Petty Officer Caron, though grievously wounded, was killed while giving medical assistance to his wounded comrades.

External Links

• Naval Vessel Register entry for Caron (http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/DD970.htm)
• navsource.org: USS Caron (http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/970.htm)
• united-states-navy.com: USS Caron (http://www.united-states-navy.com/dd/dd970.htm)

Spruance-class destroyer

Spruance | Paul F. Foster | Kinkaid | Hewitt | Elliot | Arthur W. Radford | Peterson | Caron | David R. Ray | Oldendorf | John Young | Comte de Grasse | O'Brien | Merrill | Briscoe | Stump | Conolly | Moosbrugger | John Hancock | Nicholson | John Rodgers | Leftwich | Cushing | Harry W. Hill | O'Bannon | Thorn | Deyo | Ingersoll | Fife | Fletcher | Hayler

Kidd (Modified Spruance)-class destroyer Kidd | Callaghan | Scott | Chandler

List of destroyers of the United States Navy List of destroyer classes of the United States Navy