USS Paul F. Foster (DD-964), named for Vice Admiral Paul F. Foster, USN (1889–1972), is a built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was commissioned on 21 February 1976 and decommissioned on 27 March 2003. She is now ex-Paul F. Foster (EDD-964), serving as a Self Defense Test Ship for experimental U.S. Navy weapons and sensors and the last Spruance-class destroyer that is still afloat.
History
1970s
As the initial Spruance-class destroyer assigned to the Pacific Fleet, Paul F. Foster had many milestone firsts, including successfully firing a NATO Sea Sparrow missile, demonstrating the feasibility of landing H-46 helicopters, and determining the operational limits of the SH-3 helicopter.
Operating out of San Diego, Paul F. Foster became the first Spruance-class destroyer to deploy to the Western Pacific in March 1978. The ship deployed again in 1979 and 1982, serving in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. She is the only ship of her class that exists as of 2025, as all of her sister ships were either scrapped or sunk after decommissioning. Arthur W. Radford (DD-968), the last remaining Spruance Class other than Paul F. Foster, was sunk to create an artificial reef off Cape May, New Jersey on 10 August 2011.
On 8 April 2011, Wired.com reported that ex-Paul F. Foster had successfully used the Maritime Laser Demonstrator for the first time in a sea-to-sea target test, sinking a small inflatable motorboat at a range of one mile in rough seas.
On 17 November 2011, ex-Paul F. Foster demonstrated the use of shipboard alternative fuel, while underway in the Pacific Ocean on a 50–50 blend of an algae-derived, hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76. The ship arrived Thursday morning to the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Port Hueneme in Southern California after traveling for 17 hours on a maiden trip from San Diego.
On 18 July 2016, ex-Paul F. Foster performed a test launch of the LRASM Anti-ship missile from her Mark 41 Vertical Launching System while underway in the Pacific Ocean.
In December 2023, it was announced by BAE Systems that the Navy had contracted with them to refurbish ex-Paul F. Foster, extending her service life as self-defense test ship. Refurbishment took place between April and December 2024 at a cost of $22 million.
Awards
According to the Navy unit Awards site, Paul F. Foster received the following awards:
{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|colspan="3"|
|-
|
|
|
|-
|
|
|
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
| colspan=3| Combat Action Ribbon
| colspan=4| Navy E Ribbon
|colspan=3| Navy Expeditionary Medal
|-
|colspan=3| Navy Unit Commendation
|colspan=4| Meritorious Unit Citation
|colspan=3|Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
|-
|colspan=3|Southwest Asia Service Medal
|colspan=5|Kuwait Liberation Medal
|}
See also
- List of destroyers of the United States Navy