DD–978 · SPRUANCE-CLASS DESTROYER

USS Stump

United States Navy · 1978–2004

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THE SHIP

A record of service.

USS Stump · DD–978
Spruance-class destroyer

Commissioned: 19 Aug 1978
Decommissioned: 22 Oct 2004
Length · class baseline: 563 ft 4 in
Beam · class baseline: 55 ft
Propulsion: 4 × LM2500 turbines
Power / shafts: 80,000 shp / 2

THE NAMESAKE · DD–978

Admiral Felix Stump

Commander of U.S. Pacific Command from 1953 to 1958.

Namesake reference: USS Stump · DD-978

ORIGIN & DESIGN

Built at Pascagoula.

USS Stump (DD-978) was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi as part of the Spruance class. Designed around antisubmarine warfare, the ships combined gas-turbine propulsion with a flight deck and hangar for embarked helicopters.

Commissioned U.S. Navy service spanned 1978–2004. The record below describes the launcher configuration; the photographs preserve individual moments at sea and in port.

THE SHIP AT A GLANCE

The VLS generation

Later service included a 61-cell Mk 41 vertical launching system (VLS), replacing the original trainable ASROC launcher forward.

Equipment changed during each ship’s service. This is a later-service summary; photographs may show earlier configurations.

Shared design, individual service

Two 5-inch/54 Mk 45 guns; Harpoon; NATO Sea Sparrow; torpedo tubes; Phalanx close-in defense in later service.

Built by Ingalls Shipbuilding at Pascagoula, Mississippi. The class combined gas-turbine propulsion, helicopter facilities, and an emphasis on antisubmarine warfare.

Explore the class design

PHOTOGRAPHS & ARTIFACTS

From the Stump collection

USS Stump underway, viewed from the port bow, 1988.PHAA Martin P. Norman / U.S. Navy; DN-SC-90-03831 · Source record

USS Stump during exercises at Fort Story, Virginia, June 1994.Ocean Park Volunteer Fire and Rescue / NavSource · Source record

THE RECORD · NHHC ARCHIVE

USS Stump in the archival record

SPRUCAN is preserving high-resolution source material documenting USS Stump and the people, machinery and operations surrounding her. The images below are publication derivatives from preservation files acquired from the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Archival record identifiers are shown while individual dates, locations and descriptions are being verified against source metadata. Preservation masters remain separate from these web copies.

NHHC archival image NH-106897-KN — **NH-106897-KN**
Naval History and Heritage Command archival image.

Why these surviving pieces matter →

Wikipedia: DD-978 service record · Dates cross-checked September 22, 2026.