The Last Chapter

By Ed Moosbrugger
Special to the Mirror

The USS Moosbrugger (DD-980), a multi-mission destroyer, was named after the late Vice Admiral Frederick Moosbrugger, who first gained fame as a destroyer commander in the Pacific during World War II.

At the Battle of Vella Gulf in the Solomon Islands in August 1943, destroyers under his command (ed.  CDR Frederick Moosbrugger) sank three enemy destroyers with no losses to the U.S. forces. He received the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism during the night battle, which Navy leaders called one of the most brilliantly planned and executed destroyer actions in history.

Later in World War II, he was commander of a group of ships screening the Joint Expeditionary Force during the assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. His group checked repeated attempts by enemy units, including submarines and suicide craft, to reach U.S. and allied attack forces.  (ed. CAPT) Moosbrugger was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for this service.

In the early 1950s, he saw action as a cruiser division commander in Korea.

(ed. VADM) Moosbrugger also had several shore commands, including superintendent of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and Commander Training Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet in San Diego, where he retired in 1956.

(ed. VADM) Moosbrugger died in 1974.

The USS Moosbrugger, a Spruance-class destroyer, was christened at Litton's Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., in August 1977 by Carol Moosbrugger (now Mrs. Carol Young), a granddaughter who was a student at St Monica High School in Santa Monica at the time.

The ship was commissioned in December 1978, during ceremonies in which Mrs. Julia F. Moosbrugger of Santa Monica presented to the ship on behalf of the family Adm. Moosbrugger's pennant from Destroyer Division 12, which he commanded during the Battle of Vella Gulf.

Several direct descendants of Adm. Moosbrugger live here (ed. in Santa Monica), including his son, Edward A. Moosbrugger, granddaughter Catherine Zielin, grandsons Edward J. and Earl Moosbrugger, and great-grandsons Christopher and Kevin Zielin and Edward W. and Mitchell Moosbrugger. Adm. Moosbrugger's half-brother, the late Charles Ritzer, was a long-time resident of Santa Monica.

Family members were invited to the decommissioning ceremony for the ship on December 8 at Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, Fla. During the ceremony, the ship returned Adm. Moosbrugger's Destroyer Division 12 pennant to the family.

Several family members went on the ship's last trip from Mayport to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where the ship was turned over to the Naval inactive ships (NAVINACTSHIPS) maintenance facility.

As the ship departed the pier at Mayport Naval Station on Dec. 9, it announced "The Moose Is Loose!" for likely the last time. On the afternoon of Dec. 11, it tied up in Philadelphia across the pier from the retired aircraft carrier America.

Fittingly, Philadelphia was Adm. Moosbrugger's hometown.

For Moosbrugger family members, the final ship trip brought a mixed sense of pride in Adm. Moosbrugger and the ship named in his honor combined with sadness that the Moosbrugger name was no longer on an active ship. Making it more difficult was the belief by many in attendance at the decommissioning that the ship still had a lot of life left in it.

The ship -- which proudly displayed a large set of moose antlers below the ship's bridge - - was decommissioned after 22 years of service that included action in Lebanon, Grenada and the Gulf War. It gained a strong reputation for its anti-submarine warfare capabilities and was mentioned in two of Tom Clancy's novels.

This year it served as flagship for a NATO force.

Even with the decommissioning of USS Moosbrugger, Adm. Moosbrugger's legacy lives on the seas with the USS Vella Gulf (CG-72), named after the battle he commanded. This guided missile cruiser was commissioned in 1993.

Story and photos reprinted by permission of the Santa Monica Mirror:

http://www.smmirror.com/volume2/issue28/santa_monica_family.html

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