USS Gridley (DLG-21) - 1990s

1990s

From February 1990 until March 1991, Gridley received the New Threat Upgrade at Southwest Marine Shipyard in San Diego, California. During the US$55 million overhaul, all engineering, berthing and food service areas were upgraded, and the ship's combat systems were dramatically enhanced. Improvements to the air search radars and Combat Direction System improved the ship's ability to detect and engage multiple air threats with its SM-1ER and SM-2ER surface-to-air missiles.

Following an extensive operational evaluation and qualification phase, Gridley deployed to the Persian Gulf, the ship operated in support of Independence (CV-62). Gridley rescued the disabled merchant vessel Adel 11 in the North Arabian Sea in June 1992. When Operation Southern Watch, the enforcement of a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq, commenced in August, Gridley was the first ship on station off the coast of Kuwait. She provided coastal radar coverage and air-defense protection for ships in the northern Persian Gulf.

Gridley returned to San Diego, California, in October 1992 and was overhauled at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company from January through April 1993. During that time, the ship was back fitted to accommodate the new SM-2ER block III missile. The modification gave the ship the capability to defeat the sea-skimming cruise missiles which have proliferated worldwide in the 1990s. In July 1993, Gridley fired several of the new missiles on the Pacific Missile Test Center range, scoring three successful hits. That same month, the ship rendezvoused with Constellation (CV-64) in Acapulco, Mexico, escorting her back to San Diego, California, after the carrier's three-year Service Life Extension Program overhaul at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

After a final port visit to San Francisco, California, in October 1993 Gridley returned to San Diego, California, where she was decommissioned, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, and transferred to the Maritime Administration for temporary lay-up on 21 January 1994. She was laid up in the Suisun Bay, California, reserve to await disposal. She was scrapped in 2005.