USS Conyngham (DDG-17)

Figure 1:  A port bow view of the guided missile destroyer USS Conyngham (DDG-17) during underway replenishment by the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61), 1 August 1985. US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Conyngham (DDG-17), date and location unknown. Photograph courtesy of Len Gordon. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 3:  USS Harry E. Yarnell (DLG-17), left, and USS Conyngham (DDG-17), right, in the Mediterranean during 1965, coming alongside the USS Chikaskia (AO-54) for refueling. From the collections of Rear Admiral Edward L. Feightner, Charles Peterman, and Lieutenant Commander Al Gordon as compiled and edited by David Zanzinger. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 4:  USS Conyngham (DDG-17) at Genoa, Italy, on 29 August 1973. Photograph courtesy of Carlo Martinelli. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Conyngham (DDG-17) in the Mediterranean Ocean, 16 May 1976.  Photograph courtesy of  Richard Leonhardt. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  USS Conyngham (DDG-17) at Portsmouth, England, 7 July 1977. Photograph courtesy of Marc Piché. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:  USS Conyngham (DDG-17) at Portsmouth, England, 7 July 1977. Photograph courtesy of Marc Piché. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  USS Conyngham (DDG-17) at Genoa, Italy, on 1 October 1978. Photograph courtesy of Carlo Martinelli. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9:  15 August 1984, Pacific Ocean, an aerial port quarter view of the guided missile destroyer USS Conyngham (DDG-17) underway off the coast of Central America. Photograph courtesy of Fred Weiss. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10:  15 August 1984, Pacific Ocean, an aerial port quarter view of the guided missile destroyer USS Conyngham (DDG-17) underway off the coast of Central America. Photograph courtesy of Fred Weiss. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11:  A port bow view of the guided missile cruiser USS Belknap (CG-26) and the guided missile destroyer USS Conyngham (DDG-17) moored at a pier, with the city of Gaeta, Italy, in the background, 1 November 1989. Photograph courtesy of JO1 Burke and Bill Gonyo. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 12:  1 August 1984, Pacific Ocean, a silhouetted starboard beam view of the guided missile destroyer USS Conyngham (DDG-17) operating off the west coast of El Salvador. Photograph courtesy of Fred Weiss. Click on photograph for larger image.


Named after Captain Gustavus Conyngham (1744-1819), a naval hero from both the Revolutionary War and the early years of the US Navy, the 4,500-ton USS Conyngham (DDG-17) was a Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyer that was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned on 13 July 1963. The ship was approximately 437 feet long and 47 feet wide, had a top speed of 33 knots, and had a crew of 354 officers and men. Conyngham was heavily armed with two 5-inch guns, one Mk. 13 Tartar surface-to-air (SAM) missile system, one ASROC anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missile launcher, and 6 Mk. 32 ASW torpedo tubes. Later in her career, she also carried Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

Nicknamed “The Gus Boat, USS Conyngham certainly lived up to her motto “Ready to Serve.” After being commissioned, Conyngham played an important role in NATO during the Cold War and was sent on assignments all over the world. Conyngham completed 15 Mediterranean deployments, three to the Persian Gulf, seven to northern Europe, and 11 deployments to the Caribbean. The ship played a critical role during the crises in Cyprus (1964 and 1974), provided air cover for planes evacuating Americans from an insurrection in Amman, Jordan (1970), participated in US naval operations during the Arab-Israeli Yom-Kippur War (1973), was the escort combatant during the evacuation of Americans from Beirut, Lebanon (1976), and conducted operations in the Black Sea (1979).

During the 1980s, Conyngham served off the coast of Libya (1982), was awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal for providing naval gunfire support for US Marines stationed in and off the coast of Beirut (1983), and monitored maritime traffic off the coast of communist Nicaragua (also in 1983). During the busy year of 1983, Conyngham also was part of the aircraft carrier USS America (CV-66) battle group, which supported American forces making an amphibious landing on the island of Grenada to rescue American citizens there. While deployed to the Caribbean in 1986, Conyngham was even credited with four drug interdictions and was awarded the Coast Guard’s Meritorious Unit Commendation Medal.

The 1980s also saw a major American naval presence in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War. Conyngham escorted US-flagged merchant shipping through the Persian Gulf during the war as part of Operation Earnest Will.  During that deployment, she was based at Bahrain and during one of her more memorable missions, Conyngham assisted the severely damaged frigate USS Stark (FFG-31), which was hit by two anti-ship missiles that were launched by an Iraqi jet fighter. Conyngham was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her efforts in saving the crippled Stark. In 1988, Conyngham was deployed to northern Europe and Norway. In 1989, the ship completed her fifteenth deployment to the Mediterranean as part of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) aircraft carrier battle group.

Then on 8 May 1990, while conducting pre-deployment operations off the coast of Virginia, a major fuel oil fire erupted in Conyngham’s forward fire room and quickly spread into the ship’s superstructure. The raging inferno isolated the men forward and aft as the entire crew frantically tried to put out the blaze. The fire eventually was extinguished but, sadly, the blaze killed the Operations Officer (Lieutenant Commander A. Pope Gordon, Jr.) and wounded 18 others, some of them severely. The fire caused extensive damage and it was probably determined that it wasn’t worth repairing the 27-year-old warship. USS Conyngham was decommissioned five months later on 20 October 1990 and sold for scrapping on 15 April 1994. It was a sad end to the brilliant career of a warship that was extremely active during the Cold War.