Back home for good

By JIM HALEY Herald Writer

EVERETT A U.S. Navy destroyer that put a big dent in the international
cocaine business arrived home Thursday with a big bang.

The USS Callaghan fired a 21gun salute in Port Gardner Bay before pulling
up to a Naval Station Everett pier for a bittersweet homecoming with
friends and family.

There was excitement as the vessel and its crew of about 350 returned after
six months at sea. And there was joy that the ship had proved itself by
confiscating 3.5 tons of cocaine last month off the Colombian coast.

But there was sadness, too, for what is expected to be the last big
homecoming for the ship commissioned in August 1981.

Cmdr. James Rennie, commanding officer, said he decided on the 21gun
salute because the Callaghan, a victim of shrinking defense budgets, is to
be decommissioned March 31.

The Callaghan and its twin, the destroyer USS Chandler, changed home ports
from San Diego to Everett 13 months ago. It's likely the Chandler will be
decommissioned in 1999, the Navy has said.

Decommissioning may create difficulties for crew members who came here
expecting a long stay in the Northwest, especially those who may have
purchased homes, Rennie said.

Many of the crew members are uncertain whether they will remain or be
transferred to other parts of the country.

The Navy recently announced that another destroyer, the USS Fife, and a
frigate, USS Rodney M. Davis, will be transferred to Naval Station Everett
next March as the Callaghan is leaving.

The Callaghan will be in "standdown" status for about a month, with many
crew members taking vacations. Rennie said the ship will make one more port
visit at Vancouver, British Columbia, in December, before going into
overhaul at the pier in Everett.

The work will include removing some gear and leaving the ship in a
condition that would allow the Navy to haul it out of mothballs and back
into service, if it's needed.

Rennie said he went through decommissioning while assigned to another ship,
and that "it's not a fun process."

He compared it with the commissioning of a new vessel, when the crew runs
to position and the engines breathe life into a ship.

"At a decommissioning ceremony, the people walk off, instead of running
on," Rennie said. "It's not quite a funeral."

For the time being, the Callaghan is alive and well.

Last week, the ship and its crew captured national headlines by pulling
into San Diego to deliver 3.5 tons of cocaine scooped from the ocean while
chasing smugglers off the coast of Colombia.

The Callaghan's twin, the Chandler, is on a similar antidrug mission off
the coast of Central America.

Despite the prospect of decommissioning, the people waiting on the pier
Thursday morning had only thoughts of reunion.

Clevonne Porter squealed when she finally spotted her husband, Petty
Officer 3rd Class Troy Porter. He was away when their 10monthold son,
Trevon, took his first steps.

"Oh, to see him now, I know he's home," she said.

Laura Phillpott's face was glazed with sadness in April when her husband,
ship Executive Officer Lt. Cmdr. Scott Phillpott, pulled away from the pier
on the Callaghan.

The homecoming was a far different occasion.

"It feels just wonderful," she said. "I'm happy to have him back ... It was
a very hard six months, but we survived it and this beautiful gray ship is
back."