1970s
After four months operating out of Mayport, Tattnall steamed north to Chespeake Bay, where she assisted in tests conducted at Randle Cliffs, Md., by scientists of the Naval Research Laboratory. She visited Newport, R.I., in mid-month and returned to Mayport on the 25th. Following five months of operations and exercises in the vicinity of Mayport, Tattnall steamed to Charleston for her second regular overhaul. She remained in Charleston Naval Shipyard until 24 March 1971, when she began post-overhaul trials. On 22 April, she headed back to Mayport and operations in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
On 16 September 1971, the ship departed Charleston bound for northern Europe and Exercise "Royal Knight." During that cruise, she visited Rosyth, Scotland, and Rotterdam in the Netherlands before returning to Mayport on 22 October.
In March 1972, Tattnall deployed to the Mediterranean once again. She conducted exercises with other units of the 6th Fleet and with ships of foreign navies. The guided-missile destroyer visited Valencia, Spain, Genoa and Naples in Italy, Patras and Athens in Greece, Kusadasi and Iskenderun in Turkey, Sousse, Tunisia, Menton, France, Palma de Majorca, Spain, and Sicily. On 28 August, she changed operational control to the 2nd Fleet and headed for Mayport, where she arrived on 5 September.
Tattnall resumed operations from Mayport until 29 May 1973, when she got underway to participate in a joint American-French exercise conducted in the vicinity of Charleston. In late May and early June, she visited Norfolk, Va., and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. She returned to Mayport on 18 June. After a month in the Mayport area, Tattnall embarked upon her first UNITAS deployment to South America. She visited ports in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay in between operations and exercises conducted with units of those countries' navies. On 15 December, she returned to Mayport and resumed exercises in the western Atlantic and upkeep in her home port through July 1974.
On 22 July 1974, she began a two-month restricted availability at Charleston the Tattnall returned to Mayport on 21 September to begin preparations for another Mediterranean deployment. The guided-missile destroyer departed Mayport on 25 November and changed operational control to the 6th Fleet at Rota, Spain, on 5 December. Tattnall participated in "special operations" on 9 December following a brief stop at Gaeta, Italy, she put into Barcelona for the holidays on 18 December.
On 6 January 1975, the warship sailed to Rapallo, Italy for an 8-day goodwill visit with local leaders followed by a brief stop in La Spezia to meet with senior Italian Navy officials. Tattnall enjoyed a tender availability while in Naples (18 January-23 February), paused briefly to refuel at Augusta Bay, Sicily, then sailed to Sousse, Tunisia for another visit with local officials on the 26th. A storm in the Gulf of Hammemet forced her to sea on the 27th, but the warship promptly resumed her visit until her departure on 4 March, Tattnall sailed to Souda Bay, Crete (6–7 March) where the guided-missile destroyer successfully completed two of three missile firings. Following a routine visit to Palermo, Sicily (9–14 March), she participated in exercises with the Forrest Sherman (DD-931) en route to join Carrier Task Group 60.2 for operations simulating an opposed passage of the Strait of Messina. After a routine visit to Palma (19 March-5 April), Tattnall and other units of TG 60.2 joined Sturgeon (SSN-637) for ASW exercises en route to a training anchorage in Pollensa Bay, Majorca (6–9 April). The guided-missile destroyer refueled from Neosho (AO-143) while sailing to Barcelona (10–18 April) where she embarked Rear Admiral Nicholson, Commander, Carrier Striking Group Two for meetings with high ranking Spanish military and civilian dignitaries. Tattnall sailed to Sardinia on the 19th with units of TG 60.2 where she participated briefly in the amphibious exercise "Sardinia 75" on the 20th followed by naval gunfire exercises the next two days. Departing Sardinia, the guided-missile destroyer rendezvoused with Gato (SSN-615) and the Italian Navy destroyer Intrepido (D-571) for ASW exercises. Tattnall successfully completed an Operational Readiness Examination and conducted exercises prior to passing through the Strait of Gibraltar en route to Rota, Spain (26 April-2 May). On the 5th, the Tattnall joined Leahy (DLG/CG-16) in Portsmouth, England to sail to Leningrad (12–17 May) in the Soviet Union for a visit in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe during World War II. The warships interrupted their return passage to Portsmouth, England (23–25 May) for fuel and debriefing with a two-day sojourn in Kiel Germany. Tattnall returned to Mayport on 6 June after brief stops in the Azores and Bermuda.
She remained in Mayport until sailing to Newport, Rhode Island on 6 August for three weeks of training midshipmen. Upon return to Mayport on the 29th, she prepared to shift her homeport to Philadelphia for the upcoming regular overhaul. Two days after her arrival in Philadelphia on 4 October 1975, the warship commenced the overhaul that included numerous modifications to her weapons, communication, and engineering equipment. With the overhaul completed as scheduled on 6 August 1976, Tattnall returned to Mayport on the 12th in advance of post-overhaul refresher training. She tested weapon systems in Port Everglades during the last week of August then returned to Mayport for further inspections and tests. On 20 September, a Cleveland television station news crew embarked to film for a documentary news program on life in the Navy. Tattnall tested the performance of her missile systems at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico then sailed to Guantanamo Bay for refresher training (8 October-10 November). The guided-missile destroyer returned to Puerto Rico for naval gunfire support qualifiation prior to her return to her home port of Mayport on 20 November. She received a tender availability alongside Yosemite (AD-19) and Christmas standdown.
Following participation in the major fleet exercise "Caribex 2-77", from 29 January to 10 February 1977, Tattnall departed on a seven-month deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean on 30 March. She returned to Mayport on 21 October.
Tattnall began 1978 as part of the 2nd Fleet "Ready Alert Group" and twice interrupted her holiday leave period on 4 and 7 January to get underway on less than 24 hours notice. During the second of these sorties, she rendezvoused with Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) off Puerto Rico on the 10th. Tattnall conducted an underway replenishment alongside the carrier before returning to Mayport a week later. In February, the warship participated in readiness exercises in the Caribbean. During her passage south, she served as flagship for Commander Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 14 and also enjoyed a port visit to Martinique (14–21 February). The guided-missile destroyer returned to Mayport at the beginning of March to prepare for her upcoming deployment to the North Atlantic. On 1 April, Tattnall transferred to DESRON 12 and then sailed to Fort Lauderdale for first week of the month for a Chief of Naval Operations project on mine warfare. The warship preparations for deployment included a propulsion examination, naval gunfire support qualification, and highly successful supply management inspection. On 11 June, she completed sea trials and departed Mayport the next day for a deployment with the Standing Naval Forces, Atlantic (SNFL).
Following refueling stops at Bermuda and the Azores, Tattnall relieved Pharris (FF-1094) on 23 June 1978 at the Dutch Naval Base at Den Helder, Netherlands. By the end of August, Tattnall visited Rosyth (30 June-4 July and 14–17 July), Rothesay (13–19 August), and Glasgow (12–22 August) in Scotland; Tromso (21–24 July) and Haakonsvern Naval Base, Bergen (31 July-6 August) in Norway; and Zeebrugge (26 August-1 September). On 1 September, the warship, along with other SNFL units, provided screening and gunfire support to amphibious units in the Shetland Islands and Jutland as part of the NATO exercise "Northern Wedding". Tattnall continued her screening duties after a gale forced many of the ships in the exercise to sea before she detached to refuel at Den Helder on the 16th. The exercise ended when the guided-missile destroyer rejoined the amphibious force off Scotland the next day and put into Portsmouth, England on the 19th Engineering problems delayed her departure until 14 October when she rejoined SNFL forces anti-aircraft exercises off western Scotland. Tattnall visited Rotterdam, Netherlands (20–26 October); Aarhus (2–5 November) and Copenhagen (10–14 November) in Denmark; Kiel, Germany (18–21 November); and Lisbon, Portugal (2–5 December) before she arrived back at her homeport on 16 December for holiday leave and upkeep.
Tattnall received a visit from the Navy Inspector General when the holiday standdown drew to a close on 19 January 1979. An availability (22 January-15 February) alongside Yosemite (AD-19) followed and after successful completion of inspections, the warship got underway on the 16th to join Independence (CV-62) for a week of exercises hampered by bad weather off Jacksonville and the Virginia Capes. The guided-missile destroyer completed her Navy Technical Proficiency Inspection (12–13 March) in between two stints as an Engineering Training School Ship (26 February-8 March and 26 March to 6 April). On 8 April, members of Tattnall’s Rescue and Assistance Detail helped bring a fire that caused significant damage under control in Manley (DD-940) while the pair berthed in Mayport. On 30 April, she entered drydock in Jacksonville Shipyards for painting and minor repairs and returned to Mayport on 12 May ahead of a Command Inspection (21–22 May). On 22 June, over two hundred of the crew's family enjoyed a dependents cruise. On 9 July, Tattnall set sail from Mayport for midshipman training in Norfolk from 13 to 26 July. Upon return to Mayport, she provided support to the Senior Officers Ship Maintenance and Repair course and conducted a training availability with Fleet Training Center Mayport (6–10 August). On 20 August, the guided-missile destroyer joined Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) 3-79 during which she fired her surface-to-air, surface-to-surface missiles and successfully launched an anti-submarine rocket (ASROC), and a Mark 46 torpedo. She returned to Mayport on the 27th to prepare for an upcoming inspection, but Hurricane David forced the warship to sea on 2 September. Following satisfactory completion of the material inspection, Tattnall set sail from Mayport on 1 October for Puerto Rico. During two-weeks of exercises there, which included naval gunfire support qualification at Vieques Island, she served as flagship for DESRON 26.
On 29 October, Tattnall began preparations for her deployment to the Middle East, but the context of her deployment changed considerably after a group of militant university students took over the American diplomatic mission in Tehran on 4 November 1979, thus precipitating the Iranian Hostage Crisis that would last until 20 January 1981. Following a combat system review and inspections, the warship conducted sea trials (19–20 November) during which the ship played host to a troop of Mayport-area Boy Scouts and two participants in the Secretary of the Navy's Guest Cruise Program. As Tattnall completed her long days of preparation for her 27 November departure from Mayport, the ship learned that she had earned six Battle Efficiency Awards for the previous year. During the passage across the Atlantic, the warship fired three missiles during exercises and conducted a "blue water" turnover with Mahan (DDG-42) near the Azores. After reaching Rota, Spain on 9 December, Tattnall joined Forrestal (CV-59) and Task Group 60.2 for MULTIPLEX 1-80 (14–20 December) then sailed to Genoa, Italy for holiday leave and upkeep.
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