USS Comte De Grasse (DD-974) Ship's Crest Mug

USS Comte de Grasse (DD-974) carried the name of one of history's most consequential naval officers. In September 1781, Admiral François-Joseph Paul de Grasse led the French fleet to decisive victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake, cutting off British resupply to Cornwallis at Yorktown and making American independence all but inevitable. Nearly two centuries later, this Spruance-class destroyer — commissioned August 9, 1978 — honored that legacy across Cold War seas, patrolling the world's oceans in the name of the liberty de Grasse helped win. Decommissioned in 1998, her service record reflects the finest tradition of a name steeped in the birth of a nation.