USS Kinkaid (DD 965)

- decommissioned -
- sunk as a target -

USS KINKAID was the third of 31 SPRUANCE-class Destroyers and the second ship in that class to join the Pacific Fleet. USS KINKAID was last homeported in San Diego, Ca. Stricken from the Navy list on April 6, 2004, the KINKAID was sunk as a target on July 14, 2004, during RIMPAC 2004.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: June 1, 1970
	Keel laid: April 19, 1973
	Launched: May 25, 1974
	Commissioned: July 10, 1976
	Decommissioned: January 7, 2003
	Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding, West Bank, Pascagoula, Miss.
	Propulsion system: four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines
	Propellers: two
	Blades on each Propeller: five
	Length: 564,3 feet (172 meters)
	Beam: 55,1 feet (16.8 meters)
	Draft: 28,9 feet (8.8 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 9,200 tons full load
	Speed: 30+ knots
	Aircraft: two SH-60B Seahawk (LAMPS 3)
	Armament: two Mk 45 5-inch/54 caliber lightweight guns, one Mk 41 VLS for Tomahawk, ASROC and Standard missiles, Mk 46 torpedoes (two triple tube mounts), Harpoon missile launchers, one Sea Sparrow launcher, two 20mm Phalanx CIWS
	Crew: approx. 340

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS KINKAID. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

Click here to view the list.

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Click here to see which USS KINKAID memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS KINKAID Cruise Books:

WestPac Cruise Book 1982-83

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

The official crest of KINKAID is highly symbolic of the ship's namesake Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, one of America's great Naval Officers.

The blue globe with a seven-pointed star within represents the seven oceans of the world in which the ship is prepared to serve, and also alludes to Admiral Kinkaid's Seventh Fleet Command. The five rays of the sunburst denote the five major battles in which Admiral Kinkaid participated in the Pacific: Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, the Aleutians, and Leyte Gulf.

The four stars in the blue field and the three points in gold refer to the numerical designation of the Seventh Fleet, which Admiral Kinkaid commanded in support of General MacArthur's major operations in four areas: Hollandia, the Philippines; the Admiralties and Borneo. The stars also refer to Admiral Kinkaid's promotion to full Admiral.

The scarlet in the base of the shield alludes to Admiral Kinkaid's role as Commander of the North Pacific Fleet in the Aleutians where he directed the operations that ended the only enemy occupation of American soil. The color red is also symbolic of courage and the heat and action of battle.

The Ship's Motto "Steadfast and True" comes from two letters from and about Admiral Kinkaid. "Steadfast" was the word used by Fleet Admiral Ernest King to describe Admiral Kinkaid in a letter written to Mrs. Kinkaid in 1942. "True" is from a letter Admiral Kinkaid wrote to his wife in 1945, in which he said that above all else, he wanted to be remembered for having been true to his mission.

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Accidents aboard USS KINKAID:

Date	Where	Events
November 1989	Straits of Malacca	While returning from her Arabian Gulf deployment KINKAID collided with M/V KOTA PETANI in the Strait of Malacca. Fires broke out aboard both ships with the KOTA PETANI sustaining major damage as a result. The collision caused $15 million damage to KINKAID. One sailor was killed, 15 injured.

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History of USS KINKAID:

USS KINKAID was built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, where her keel was laid on April 19, 1973, she was launched on May 25, 1974, and commissioned at Pascagoula on July 10, 1976. Assigned to the Pacific Fleet and homeported in San Diego, the new SPRUANCE-class destroyer completed post-shakedown availability and work-ups through 1977, joining Seventh Fleet units for her first forward presence commitments in the Pacific. The ship's early operating pattern reflected the U.S. Navy's emphasis on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and carrier/ARG escort duties in the late Cold War.

By late 1978, KINKAID was bound west for a combined Western Pacific-Indian Ocean deployment amid rising regional tensions from the Horn of Africa to Iran. During this cruise she crossed the Equator (a "Golden Shellback" crossing recorded on October 11, 1978) and operated in the Arabian Sea as the revolutionary situation in Iran deteriorated. Between the late evening of February 22 and the early morning of February 23, 1979, KINKAID took part in a seaborne evacuation from the Iranian port of Chah Bahar, embarking 25 U.S. construction workers and carrying them to safety in Bahrain. The action, conducted alongside USS DECATUR (DDG 31) and USS TALBOT (FFG 4), earned the crew the Navy Expeditionary Medal and the Armed Forces Humanitarian Service Medal. It was one of the Navy’s first direct at-sea responses to the Iranian Revolution. KINKAID returned to San Diego in the spring of 1979 to reset for follow-on tasking.

From May 1980 to December 1980, KINKAID made another WESTPAC/Indian Ocean deployment, part of the expanded U.S. presence following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the continuing crisis in Iran. The ship performed plane-guard and escort services for carrier and amphibious formations, drilled intensively in ASW and anti-air warfare (AAW), and conducted logistics and liberty stops at Seventh Fleet hubs before returning to San Diego in late 1980 to commence upkeep and training.

KINKAID again deployed from January 1982 to June 1982 for WESTPAC, operating with Seventh Fleet carrier battle groups across the Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Indian Ocean. She completed multi-threat exercises with allied navies, visited standard regional ports, and returned to San Diego for a post-deployment maintenance period and work-ups for the next cycle. A subsequent WESTPAC beginning in May 1984 carried her back through the Western Pacific into the Indian Ocean at a time when multiple U.S. carriers rotated through the region. KINKAID supported sustained blue-water operations and periodic Persian Gulf presence while receiving destroyer tender support alongside units such as USS SAMUEL GOMPERS (AD 37). She closed the year with return transit to the West Coast and stand-down/maintenance.

Through 1985 and 1986, KINKAID remained a San Diego-based destroyer in a high-tempo training posture - COMPTUEX/JTFEX evolutions, independent steaming exercises, and Pacific work - service recognized at the squadron level with a Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation covering September 1985 to December 1986. Those years also saw incremental upgrades to sensors and combat systems typical of the class as the Navy refined the SPRUANCEs for blue-water ASW while integrating evolving area-air defense and strike warfare tactics alongside carrier groups.

In 1989, KINKAID deployed across the Pacific into the Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf for presence and escort duties as the Iran-Iraq War's cease-fire settled into an uneasy regional stability. Homeward bound from the deployment, before dawn on November 12, 1989, KINKAID collided with the Panamanian-flagged container ship M/V KOTA PETANI while transiting the Strait of Malacca. The impact killed the ship's navigator and injured 15 crewmembers. KINKAID sustained significant hull and topside damage but, under her own power, reached Singapore for temporary repairs. She then proceeded to Subic Bay, Philippines, for additional work before returning to San Diego for permanent repairs. Total damage was assessed at approximately $15 million. By the spring of 1990 she had completed the major repair period and reentered the local operating schedule to rebuild proficiency.

After post-repair training in 1990-1991 and routine Pacific operations thereafter, KINKAID entered 1992 with maintenance and pre-deployment preparations in San Diego, including time in the medium auxiliary floating dry dock STEADFAST (AFDM 14) in January 1992 for hull and machinery work. The ship conducted refresher training and a short Pacific Northwest/West Coast work-up sequence in mid-1992, then completed final exercises and loading for extended deployment.

On December 4, 1992, as famine and civil war ravaged Somalia, President George H. W. Bush announced the launch of Operation RESTORE HOPE (UNITAF). KINKAID was assigned to the RANGER (CV 61) carrier battle group alongside the AEGIS cruiser USS VALLEY FORGE (CG 50) and steamed to the Horn of Africa to provide naval air cover, maritime security, and logistics support for the initial lodgment and subsequent humanitarian relief. In theater, the destroyer performed plane-guard and screen duties for RANGER, supported at-sea logistics and underway replenishment cycles, provided naval gunfire support readiness as required, and helped secure sea lines into Mogadishu and Kismayo while amphibious and joint forces - among them the TRIPOLI (LPH 10) Amphibious Task Unit - moved food and aid ashore. Her assignment with the RANGER group in December 1992 and into early 1993 placed her on station through the crucial transition from forcible entry to sustained relief operations under the Unified Task Force.

Following turnover from UNITAF to follow-on UN operations in the spring of 1993, KINKAID departed the region and shifted back to Western Hemisphere tasking. On July 4, 1993, she made a three-day port visit to Acajutla, El Salvador - the first U.S. warship visit to the country in over a dozen years - during a period of two months of routine operations under Joint Task Force Four (JTF-4) headquartered in Key West, Florida, reflecting the Navy's growing counter-drug and maritime interdiction focus in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. KINKAID returned to San Diego in mid-August 1993 and entered post-deployment maintenance and leave, closing out the period with a fully restored Pacific Fleet destroyer at operational readiness for the next cycle.

The USS KINKAID deployed on November 10, 1994, as part of the USS CONSTELLATION (CV 64) Battle Group for a six-month deployment to the western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. It spent most of December in the Western Pacific. With the USS CONSTELLATION Battle Group, it entered the Arabian Gulf, on January 11, 1995, and departed it on March 23. The CONSTELLATION Battle Group conducted several exercises during the deployment, including Beachcrest '95, a routine annual exercise that included air combat, air control and air-to-ground combat support training in designated areas on Okinawa and Ie Shima; Nautical Swimmer 95-2 and Nautical Artist 95-2, naval air and surface exercises intended to improve interoperability between forces of the U.S. and friendly Gulf nations; Beacon Flash 95-1, a combined naval tactical air exercise to improve readiness with friendly Gulf nations; Eager Archer 95-1, an air training exercise between units of CVW-2 and Kuwait that provided dissimilar air combat training, formal joint strike training and in-flight refueling training for the Kuwaiti air force; and Sharem 110, a U.S. anti-submarine warfare training exercise in the Gulf of Oman involving several battle group units. The battle group also conducted exercises with units of the Royal Australian navy off the coast of western Australia. The USS KINKAID made its seventh deployment and supported the battle group by performing the anti-submarine warfare mission.

USS KINKAID underwent a period of overhaul in June 1995.

As a result of a reoganization of the Pacific Fleet's surface ships into six core battle groups and eight destroyer squadrons, the USS KINKAID was reassigned to Destroyer Squadron 21. The reorganization was scheduled to have been completed by October 1, 1995, with homeport changes to be completed within the following year.

In mid-1997, as part of the USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) Battle Group, the USS KINKAID took part in Pacific Joint Task Force Exercise 97-2 (JTFEX 97-2). The exercise was conducted off the coast of southern California and also included units from the Air Force, Army and Japan. USS NIMITZ, from July 20 through July 24, then conducted a warfighting demonstration called Surge Exercise (SURGEX), during which it demonstrated the firepower of the carrier/airwing team and its ability to sustain continuous operations in support of forces ashore in the initial four days of a conflict when a deployed carrier might be the only asset available to provide such support. During the exercise, USS COMSTOCK (LSD 45), USS KINKAID and USS FORD (FFG 54) practiced maritime interception operations. The USS KINKAID also escorted the civilian merchant ship VIKING SERENADE through the simulated "war zone".

USS KINKAID then deployed as part of the USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) Battle Group. After Western Pacific visits in Yokosuka, Japan, and Hong Kong, a planned visit to Singapore was canceled when Iraq violated a UN imposed "no fly" zone. With the NIMITZ directed to proceed to the region immediately to reinforce Operation Southern Watch operations, the USS KINKAID arrived in the Arabian Gulf on October 12 after transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

During NIMITZ's deployment in the Arabian Gulf, USS KINKAID was accused by Iran of spying on its military exercises. The USS KINKAID was, however, in port in Bahrain at the purported time Iran claimed the spying was taking place.

USS KINKAID returned on February 28, 1998, from her six-month Arabian Gulf deployment.

USS KINKAID was part of the USS CONSTELLATION (CV 64) Battle Group, as the USS CONSTELLATION officially relieved the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) in the Arabian Gulf in September 1999. The CONSTELLATION battle group then spend the next 10 weeks in the Arabian Gulf and conducted MIO boardings as well as flew combat air patrols over the Iraqi no-fly zones in support of Operation Southern Watch. During the period, USS KINKAID rescued the MV SIMA STAR, a container ship, from sinking 70 miles off the coast of Bahrain after taking on over 40 tons of water. KINKAID Sailors dewatered the fully loaded container ship, which was listing 15 degrees to the port side. After seven hours of battling poor ventilation and flooding below decks, KINKAID's rescue and assistance team was able to return the SIMA STAR to a five degree list, allowing its crew to sail into Bahrain Monday morning for repairs. USS KINKAID returned home on December 17, 1999, after the six-month deployment. During its 10-week patrol in the Arabian Gulf region, the Connie Battle Group flew more than 5,000 casualty-free sorties, including nearly 1,300 in support of Operation Southern Watch. These flights included nine separate combat strikes and more than 43 tons of ordnance expended on various Iraqi air defense sites in response to Iraqi aggression against coalition aircraft.

USS KINKAID began, on March 15, 2001, her scheduled six-month 2001 Western Pacific (WestPac) deployment while attached to the USS CONSTELLATION (CV 64) Battle Group (CVBG) and USS BOXER (LHD 4) Amphibious Ready Group (ARG). The entire battle group had trained the previous six months in preparation for this deployment through a series of increasingly challenging exercises and operations. These pre-deployment exercises culminated in February 2001 with the successful completion of Joint Task Force Exercise 01-1. Over the following six months, battle group ships conducted multi-national and joint operations with the navies of various allied countries and visit ports in Western Pacific and Persian Gulf nations. The ships and squadrons returned home in September 2001.

The US Navy Surface Force was scheduled to begin, in the summer of 2002, an initiative to test the effectiveness of deploying a single ship for 18-months while swapping out crews at six-month intervals. Called Sea Swap, this initial two-phased initiative would involve three SPRUANCE-class destroyers -- USS FLETCHER (DD 992), USS KINKAID and USS OLDENDORF (DD 972), and three ARLEIGH BURKE-class guided missile destroyers -- USS HIGGINS (DDG 76), USS JOHN PAUL JONES (DDG 53) and USS BENFOLD (DDG 65). For the DD phase, FLETCHER and her crew would deploy with their battle group, but after six months, only the crew would return. The ship would remain deployed and be manned by the crew from KINKAID. After completing their training cycle and decommissioning KINKAID, these Sailors would fly to a port in either Australia or Singapore to assume ownership of FLETCHER and steam her back on-station. After six months, they would be replaced by the crew from OLDENDORF who would have completed the same training and decommissioning schedule with their ship before flying out to relieve the KINKAID crew. After four more months on station, the OLDENDORF crew would then bring the ship (FLETCHER) back to the United States where it too would be decommissioned. Additionally, by executing this plan, the Navy would be able to eliminate the deployment of USS PAUL F. FOSTER (DD 964) because the additional on-station time generated by swapping out the crews meant a ship would already be in theater meeting that requirement.

On January 7, 2003, USS KINKAID was decommissioned in a ceremony on Pier 7 at Naval Station San Diego. This decommissioning ceremony was a little different from other ones, however. Instead of going their separate ways throughout the fleet after decommissioning, the KINKAID crew members relieved the officers and sailors aboard USS FLETCHER (DD 992) in Perth, Australia, as part of "Sea Swap."

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About the Ship’s Name, about Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid:

Thomas Cassin Kinkaid was born in Hanover, New Hampshire on April 3, 1888. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy graduating with the class of 1908.

After graduation from the Naval Academy he served in the battleships NEBRASKA and MINNESOTA until September 1913, when he reported to the Postgraduate School, Annapolis, for instruction in Ordnance Engineering. From 1916 to 1918 he served aboard the USS PENNSYLVANIA followed by a tour with the British Admiralty.

He was Gunnery Officer aboard USS ARIZONA 1918-1919 when it was an escort ship for President Woodrow Wilson, then en route to the Peace Conference at Versailles. Following a cruise to Asia Minor he was ordered to Washington, D.C. for duties with the Bureau of Ordnance, Navy Department, where he remained until July 1922.

From 1922 to 1930, Admiral Kinkaid served successively as Assistant Chief of Staff to the Commander, U.S. Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters; as Commanding Officer of USS ISHERWOOD; at the Navy Yard, Naval Gun Factory, Washington, D.C. and as Fleet Gunnery Officer and Aide on the Staff of Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet.

In 1930 he returned to Washington for duties in connection with the Treaty for the Limitation of Armaments, and in 1931 reported to the Secretary of State, then in Geneva, where he served as Technical Advisor in connection with studies relating to the Treaty.

From 1933 to 1938, Admiral Kinkaid served as Executive Officer of USS COLORADO, with the Navy Department as Officer-in-Charge of the Officer's Detailing Section and as Commanding Officer of the USS INDIANAPOLIS.

In November of 1938 he was designated Naval Attache and U.S. Naval Attache for Air at the American Embassy, Rome, with additional duty from March 1939 to March 1941 as Naval Attache to the Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

He commanded Destroyer Squadron Eight from June 1941 until his promotion to Rear Admiral in November. This assignment was followed with command successively of Cruiser Division Six, Pacific Fleet, and a Task Force which engaged in the Battle of Solomon Islands and the Santa Cruz Islands. In the Battle of Guadalcanal, November 12-15, 1942, he commanded a Task Force built around the USS ENTERPRISE Air Support Group and Battleships, the first surface officer ever to command a Carrier Task Force.

In January of 1943 he assumed command of the North Pacific Fleet and was responsible for ending the Japanese occupation of the Aleutians. From November 1943 to 1945, then Vice Admiral Kinkaid served as Commander, Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific Area. In this capacity he supported General MacArthur's landings in this area and engineered the defeat of the Japanese Fleet at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Promoted to full Admiral in April 1945 he continued to serve as Commander, Seventh Fleet until the war's end. After the war he returned to the United States and served as Commander, Sixteenth Fleet until his retirement in May 1950.

Admiral Kinkaid is the holder of four Distinguished Service Medals and numerous Campaign and Service Medals. In addition, he is an Honorary Companion of the Order of the Bath, awarded by King George VI of Great Britain; Grand Officer, Order of the Orange Nassau with Swords, bestowed by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and other decorations from Chile, Belgium and China.