WELCOME ABOARD

USS Somers: DDG-34

Welcome to the USS Somers, homeport on the Web. I served on the Somers from January of 1981, until she was decommissioned in November of 1982. It was a short period of time, yet one that is full of fond memories. Lets hope that this page brings back some fond memories for you, too.

"A DESTROYER"

" A Destroyer is a lovely ship, probably the nicest fighting ship of all.

Battleships are a little like steel cities or great factories of destruction. Aircraft carriers are floating flying fields. Even cruisers are big pieces of machinery, but the destroyer is all boat.

 In the beautiful lines of her, in her speed and roughness, in the curious gallantry she is completely a ship, in the old sense. " John Steinbeck

The one and only

SUPER SOMERS

I originally joined the Navy in July of 1980, and after Boot Camp and "A" school, I joined the Somers in January of 1981. During my tour, I had many great experiences with the Somers. In April of 1981, we invited family members of crew members aboard for a cruise to Hilo, on "The Big Island" of Hawaii. We enjoyed 5 days of Big Island hospitality and scenery while we took part in Hilo's annual Merrie Monarch Festival.

In May/July of 1981, Somers took a cruise to the West Coast, visiting San Francisco and San Diego. (With many of the crew making a liberty visit to Tijuana. ) After San Diego, we were supposed to travel to Stockton, California to join the crew of USS Somers (DD-381) at their ship's reunion. Stockton even had a big Fourth of July celebration planned around our arrival. Unfortunately, boiler problems prevented this from happening.

Boiler problems continued to dog the ship, and we were delayed on Westpac for several months. Our deployment with the USS Coral Sea battle group was cancelled. However, in early November 1981, we headed Southwest with the USS Constellation battle group for what turned out to be the ship's final WestPac

Upon return from Westpac, we were preparing for more local operations, when we were informed that the Somers was to be decommissioned. The Navy felt that the newer ships in the fleet could do the job of the Forrest Sherman/DDG-31 class more efficiently. Somers was decommissioned on 19 November, 1982.

Click here to read the ship's farewell message from Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.

Somers Links

Do you have any pictures or "Sea Stories" about the Somers? I'd love to add them to the page. . Please drop me a line. I will try to updatethe page as often as possible, so I will get back to you as soon as possible.

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"It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier,
Who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag."

Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC

Copyright © - 2006 Alan A. Cantu.