Yard: Litton Ingalls, Pascagoula, Mississippi

Launched: December 1, 1979  Commissioned: August 29, 1981

Decommissioned: March31, 1998  Fate: Sold to Taiwan

Displacement: 9,783 tons  Length: 563 ft   Beam: 55 ft  

Propulsion: Four GE LM 2500-30 gas turbines 80,000 SHP  Speed: 33 knots

Armament: Two Mk26 Standard missile launchers,  Two Mk141 quad launchers,  Two Mk15 20mm Phalanx CIWS,  Two Mk45 Five 5-inch/54 guns,  Two Mk 32 triple tube mounts with six Mk46 torpedoes, One Mk112 ASROC 

Sensors: SPS-48E air search radar, SPG-60 gun fire control radar, SPS-55 surface search radar, SPQ-9A gun fire control radar, SQS-53 sonar, SLQ-32(V)3 Outboard II

Aircraft: One SH-3 Sea King or Two SH-2 Seasprite

 

From Wikipedia: A brief history of the DDG-994

Derived from the Spruance class, USS Callaghan (DD-994/DDG-994) was the second ship in a class of destroyers operated by the U.S. Navy. Kidd class vessels were designed for air defense in hot weather. She was named for Rear Admiral Daniel Judson Callaghan.

Originally named Daryush, Callaghan was ordered by the Shah of Iran, but was undelivered when the 1979 Iranian Revolution occurred. Subsequent to this, the U.S. Navy elected to commission her and her sister ships for service in the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea, as they were equipped with heavy-duty air conditioning and were also well suited to filtering sand and the results from NBC warfare.

She was commissioned in 1981.

Callaghan was decommissioned in 1998.

 

From www.jett.net/~wbbenton/destroyer1.html

(*Edited for continuity....) USS Callaghan DDG 994 was decommissioned on March 31st 1998 in Everret Washington... Out of the nine Commanding Officers of the DDG 994, four were in attendance. Commander Rennie, Retired Admiral John T.Hood, Admiral Rodney P. Rempt and Admiral William G Sutton. I had the privilege of meeting Admiral William Sutton when he was the Commander of the Callaghan in San Diego. Our Survivors Association was having a reunion in San Diego. Commander Sutton Attended our Reunion Dinner. Commander Sutton Opened the Callaghan up for complete inspection by the survivors of the DD 792 and their wives. The Five remaining former Commanders on the Callaghan were out of the country and on assignment. 

The USS Callaghan DDG 994, was one of four Destroyers being built for the Shah Pahlexi Of Iran. The four Kidd class destroyers were near complete when there was a government take over and the Shah was dethrone by the Ayatollah Khomeine of Iran. This left the United States with four Brand New Destroyers. One was named "The Callaghan" It had the latest in electronic equipment. Our Survivors Association was given Official Invitations to attend the Commissioning of the USS Callaghan 994 on August 29 1981. Many of our crew was able to attend, I unfortunately could not.

During the 16 and half years in service, The DDG 994 Made two complete around the World trips. Making port of calls everywhere. She completed every assignment with professionalism and dedication.  

In 1983 The USS Callaghan DDG 994 pause from its operating schedule to pay tribute to the officers and men of the crew of the USS Callaghan DD 792 and of the ship itself. It was on the Latitude and longitude given where the DD 792 went down. The ceremony included a 21 gun salute. A video tape was made of the ceremony and available to the surviving crew of the DD 792.

In late September and early October 1983, the DDG 994 was on scene for the search and rescue operation for the Korean Air Line Fight 007. The Callaghan stood nose to nose with the Russian warships seeking the little black box from the crashed airliner. The airliner was downed by an attack from a Russian Fighter. 

The Callaghan DDG 994 September 27th 1997, detected a high speed contact off Columbia waters. When the Sun rose the contact was visual and identified as a high speed cigarette boat. Callaghan pursed the contact for over three hours while the craft dumped its load of illegal drugs.. Once completed the craft was able to accelerate and out ran the Callaghan. It was pursued by one of our high speed crafts until the cigarette boat reach Columbia territorial waters. The Callaghan returned and picked up 3.5 metric tons of cocaine. The bales tested to be pure cocaine and had a street value at over $1 billion.

 

From Wikipedia:

Current status

Callaghan was sold to the Republic of China in 2004. She was originally to be named Ming Teh (DDG-1802), but it was later decided to name her Su Ao, after the Su-Ao naval base in eastern Taiwan, and become the second vessel of the new ROCN Kee Lung class destroyers.

After almost two years of refit and training in the U.S., Su Ao was commissioned on December 17, 2005 at Kee-Lung naval port in northern Taiwan.