USS Goldsborough (DDG-20)
Encyclopedia

USS Goldsborough (DDG-20), named for Rear Admiral Louis M. Goldsborough
Louis M. Goldsborough
Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough was a rear admiral in the United States Navy during the Civil War. He held several sea commands during the Civil War, including the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron...

 USN (1805–1877), was a Charles F. Adams-class
Charles F. Adams class destroyer
The Charles F. Adams class is a ship class of 29 guided missile destroyers built between 1958 and 1967. Twenty three ships were built for the United States Navy, 3 for the Royal Australian Navy, and 3 for the West German Bundesmarine. The ships were based on the existing Forrest Sherman class, but...

 guided missile armed destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

.

Goldsborough was laid down by the Puget Sound Bridge and Drydock Company
Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company
Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company , was a shipyard in Seattle, Washington on Harbor Island at the mouth of the Duwamish River. Founded in 1898 as the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, the company that built Harbor Island, it was purchased by Lockheed in 1959...

 at Seattle in Washington on 3 January 1961, launched on 15 December 1961 by Mrs. Alan Bible, wife of U.S. Senator Alan Bible
Alan Bible
Alan Harvey Bible was a Nevada politician of the Democratic Party who served as a United States Senator from 1954 until 1974.-Biography:...

 of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 and commissioned on 9 November 1963, Captain Charles D. Allen, Jr., in command.

1960s

Goldsborough joined the U.S. Pacific Fleet 25 December 1963, as a unit of Cruiser-Destroyer Force with home-port at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

.

After shakedown out of Puget Sound, the new guided missile destroyer arrived Pearl Harbor 14 February 1964. Following qualification and acceptance tests, she sailed 18 April for Sydney, Australia, for the Coral Sea celebration and returned Pearl Harbor 1 June. She operated in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

an waters in the summer and early fall, then got underway 23 November for Yokosuka and her first West-Pac deployment. After operations strengthening the 7th Fleet during the escalating war in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, Goldsborough returned to Pearl for ASW training.

The guided missile destroyer headed for the Orient once more 9 February 1966 to bolster the 7th Fleet. In April she provided gunfire support for Operation "Binh Phu I" firing 594 rounds of 5" ammunition at Viet Cong troop concentration and buildings. During the last half of the month she screened attack carriers at Yankee Station
Yankee Station
Yankee Station was a point in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam used by the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 to launch strikes in the Vietnam War. While its official designation was "Point Yankee," it was universally referred to as Yankee Station...

. Next came SEATO exercises in May and duty as station ship at Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 in June. On 26 June Goldsborough was again off Vietnam on picket station. She sailed for Hawaii 16 July and reach Pearl Harbor on the 23d.

While in berth at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 an anti-submarine torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

 was discharged from the ship and landed on the pier on the 24th of November, 1965.

A month later she entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for overhaul and extensive modification to prepare for resumed action in 1967.

1980s

Seaman
Seaman
Seaman is one of the lowest ranks in a Navy. In the Commonwealth it is the lowest rank in the Navy, followed by Able Seaman and Leading Seaman, and followed by the Petty Officer ranks....

 Jose Cantu was the only fatality from Hurricane Iwa
Hurricane Iwa
Hurricane Iwa, taken from the Hawaiian language name for the frigatebird , was at the time the costliest hurricane to affect the state of Hawaii. Iwa was the twenty-third tropical storm and the twelfth and final hurricane of the 1982 Pacific hurricane season. It developed from an active trough of...

 in November 1982. Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 Ray Beard survived the incident after being washed overboard with a broken arm.

Admiral James D. Watkins
James D. Watkins
Admiral James David Watkins is a retired United States Navy officer and former Chief of Naval Operations who also served as U.S. Secretary of Energy during the George H. W. Bush Administration and chaired U.S. government commissions on HIV/AIDS and ocean policy. Watkins has also served on the...

, Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...

 visited the ship in January 1986. The Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 remarked how he had previously sighted the ship in 1964 from his submarine's periscope, Snook
USS Snook (SSN-592)
USS Snook , a Skipjack-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the common snook, an Atlantic marine fish that is bluish-gray above and silvery below a black lateral line....

, "Goldsborough looked formidable then, and still is a formidable warship now."

Goldsborough was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 on 29 April 1993 and sold to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 on 17 September 1993 as a parts hulk. The ship arrived in Sydney in early 1994, and a four-man team set about removing equipment for installation in the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

's Perth class destroyers
Perth class destroyer
The Perth class destroyers were three modified Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyers operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Ordered from Defoe Shipbuilding Company during 1962 and 1963, HMA Ships , , and were the first guided missiled-armed warships, and the first naval ships of United...

 (a derivative of the Charles F. Adams class). While in Australian hands, the team painted the number 40 on the bow, filling a gap in the number sequence for their three destroyers. After all usable equipment had been stripped, Goldsborough was sold to an Indian company in August 1994, and towed away for ship breaking
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...

.

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