View source for USS O'Hare

{{Short description|Gearing-class destroyer}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=File:USS O'Hare (DD-889) underway at sea, circa in the 1960s (NH 106992).jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''O'Hare'' underway in the 1960s
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1972}}
|Ship name= ''O'Hare''
|Ship namesake=[[Edward O'Hare]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Consolidated Steel Corporation]]
|Ship laid down= 27 January 1945
|Ship launched= 22 June 1945
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= 29 November 1945
|Ship decommissioned= 31 October 1973
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=2 June 1975
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=DDR-889, 1953
|Ship identification=*[[Maritime call sign|Callsign]]: NBIM
*{{ICS|November}}{{ICS|Bravo}}{{ICS|India}}{{ICS|Mike}}
*[[Hull number]]: DD-889
|Ship motto=*''Custodia Pacis''
*(Hold Peace)
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honors=
|Ship fate=Loaned to [[Spain]], 31 October 1973
|Ship notes=Sold to Spain, 17 May 1978
|Ship badge=[[File:USS O'Hare (DD-889) insignia.png|150px]]
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country= Spain
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Spain|naval}}
|Ship name= ''Méndez Núñez''
|Ship namesake=[[Casto Méndez Núñez]]
|Ship acquired=31 October 1973
|Ship commissioned= 
|Ship decommissioned=3 April 1992
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=1992
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honors=
|Ship identification=[[Hull number]]: D-63
|Ship fate= [[Ship breaking|Scrapped]], 1992
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class= *{{sclass|Gearing|destroyer}}
*[[Churruca-class destroyer (1972)|''Churruca''-class]] [[destroyer]]
|Ship displacement= {{convert|2425|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship length= {{convert|390|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|41|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft= {{convert|18|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth=
|Ship propulsion=[[General Electric]] geared turbines, 2 shafts, {{convert|60000|shp|MW|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship speed= {{convert|32|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= {{convert|4500|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|20|kn|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=267
|Ship armament=*6 × [[5"/38 caliber gun]]s (3×2)
*12 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm AA guns]] (2×4, 2×2)
*11 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm AA guns]] (11×1)
*10 × [[American 21 inch torpedo|21 inch (533 mm)]] [[torpedo tube]]s (2×5)
*6 × [[depth charge]] projectors
*2 × depth charge tracks
|Ship armor=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''O'Hare'' (DD/DDR-889)''' was a  {{sclass|Gearing|destroyer}} of the [[United States Navy]], named for [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]] [[Edward O'Hare|Edward "Butch" O'Hare]], [[Medal of Honor]] recipient, who was shot down at [[Battle of Tarawa|Tarawa]] on 27 November 1943.

''O'Hare'' was laid down at the [[Consolidated Steel Corporation]] at [[Orange, Texas]] on 27 January 1945; [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 22 June 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Selma O'Hare, the mother of Lieutenant Commander O'Hare, and [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 29 November 1945.

==Service history==

===1946&ndash;1963===
In February 1946, following shakedown, ''O'Hare'' became an active unit of the Navy. After spending 1946 in operations ranging from [[New Brunswick]] down to the [[Florida Keys]], she embarked her first group of midshipmen for a cruise to [[Latin America]] during the summer of 1947. Departing [[Naval Station Norfolk|Norfolk, Virginia]], early in May 1948 she sailed to the [[Mediterranean]] temporarily serving under the [[United Nations]]' flag as an evacuation ship off [[Haifa]], Israel, from 24 June through July, during the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]]. Several goodwill visits took place before departure for home in September at the conclusion of this first deployment with the [[United States Sixth Fleet|Sixth Fleet]].

Eight additional such tours of duty, prior to the end of 1962, permitted ship's company to gain a great deal of familiarity with the area. Midshipman cruises and [[NATO]] maneuvers added new vistas and dimensions to her training exercises as did several rescue operations. Twice in 1952 this destroyer received commendations for her efforts after ships had collided at sea, while in 1957 and again in 1961 [[naval aviator|aviators]] from the [[Aircraft carrier|carriers]] {{USS|Randolph|CV-15|2}} and {{USS|Franklin D. Roosevelt|CV-42|2}} respectively were plucked from the sea. Meanwhile, to update and increase her value to the Navy, ''O'Hare'' was converted during 1953 to a [[radar picket]] ship ('''DDR-889''') and in 1958 received installation of the electronic data system. The next major modification, in 1963, a [[Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization|FRAM Mk I]] overhaul, restored her original designation.

===1963&ndash;1973===
The increasing tempo and scope of the [[Vietnam War]] brought ''O'Hare'' an assignment to WestPac duty. Steaming from Norfolk, on 1 June 1966, she assumed station as a gun support ship along the coast of Vietnam on 15 July, firing missions in all four Corps areas in the [[South Vietnam|South]]. ''O'Hare'' served as [[plane guard]] for aircraft carriers on "[[Yankee Station]]" in the [[Gulf of Tonkin]], participated in "[[Operation Sea Dragon (Vietnam War)|Sea Dragon]]" operations, patrolled on [[search and rescue]] duties off  [[North Vietnam]]. ''O'Hare'' returned home on 17 December via the [[Suez Canal]], completing a circumnavigation of the world. In March 1968, along with {{USS|Charles R. Ware|DD-865|6}} from Mayport, ''O'Hare'' deployed to the Indian Ocean via Africa and made 17 port calls in the Middle East. In January 1969 with [[Destroyer Squadron 32]] (DesRon&nbsp;32) she again deployed to the Mediterranean.

''O'Hare'' deployed to Vietnam on 1 December 1972, remaining on gunfire support duty there until the cease fire of March 1973. She then became the last U.S. Navy ship based on the [[United States East Coast]] to circumnavigate the world after a Vietnam deployment during her return to the United States. She became a "blue-nosed" ship during the voyage when she crossed the [[Arctic Circle]] on 17 September 1972, and passed through the [[Panama Canal]] on 6 December 1972.

''O'Hare'' was [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] on 31 October 1973, and transferred on loan to the [[Spanish Navy]]. The ship was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] on 2 June 1975.

==  ''Méndez Núñez'' (D-63) ==
{{stack|[[File:Spanish destroyer Méndez Núñez (D63) underway in Chesapeake Bay, in 1973.jpg|thumb|''Méndez Núñez'' (D63) underway in Chesapeake Bay, in 1973.]]}}
{{Main|Churruca-class destroyer (1972)}}

''O'Hare'' was sold outright to [[Spain]] on 17 May 1978. In the [[Spanish Navy]], she served as ''Méndez Núñez'' (D-63), in honor of [[Vice Admiral]] [[Casto Méndez Núñez]] (1824–1869), and was the third ship in Spanish navy with this name.

''Méndez Núñez'' was stricken and scrapped in 1992.

== References ==
*{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/o/ohare-.html|http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd889txt.htm}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|USS O'Hare (DD-889)}}
* {{navsource|05/889|USS O'Hare}}
* [http://www.ussohare.com/  USS ''O'Hare'' veterans' website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814012036/http://www.ussohare.com/ |date=2014-08-14 }}

{{Gearing class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohare (Dd-889)}}
[[Category:Gearing-class destroyers of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Orange, Texas]]
[[Category:1945 ships]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Cold War destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Vietnam War destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Gearing-class destroyers of the Spanish Navy]]