USS Leftwich (DD 984)
USS LEFTWICH was the 22nd SPRUANCE - class destroyer and the second ship in that class
decommissioned. Stricken from the Navy list on March 27, 1998, the LEFTWICH was then
berthed at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF), Pearl Harbor, HI, until she
was sunk as a target on August 1, 2003, at 022° 48' 47.0" North, 160° 34' 00.0" West.
The USS LEFTWICH was homeported in Pearl Harbor, HI., and was the first ship in the Navy
named after Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel William G. Leftwich, Jr.
General Characteristics
Keel Laid: November 12, 1976
Launched: April 8, 1978
Commissioned: August 24, 1979
Decommissioned: March 27, 1998
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, two armored box launchers for Tomahawk
cruise missiles, Mk 46 torpedoes (two triple tube mounts), Harpoon missile launchers, one MK 29 Sea Sparrow
launcher, two 20mm Phalanx CIWS, one Mk 112 ASROC missile launcher
Crew: approx. 340
© Copyright Michael Dan Kellum 2010
USS Leftwich--With the passing of Bill Leftwich Jr., the honors and accolades came from all
quarters of the country. The USS Leftwich, a 563 - foot Spruance class multi-mission destroyer was
christened in his honor at the Pascagoula, Mississippi Naval Yard on May 27, 1978. Jane did the
honors by breaking a champagne bottle on the ship’s bow as Mattie and Bill’s sons, Bill and
Scott, looked on. Ross Perot, a fellow U.S. Naval Academy graduate, indicated that Secretary of
the Navy John Warner had a hand in getting the ship named for Bill Leftwich.
Sad to report that after 18 years on active duty the USS Leftwich was decommissioned on
March 27, 1998 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The ship was berthed at the Naval Inactive Ship
Maintenance Facility until she was taken out to sea and sunk as a target on August 1, 2003 at
longitude 0220 48’ 47.0” North, latitude 1600 34’ 00.0” West.7
