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Moosbrugger was laid down 3 November 1975, launched 23 July 1977 and commissioned 16 December 1978. She arrived at her new home port at Charleston, South Carolina just prior to Christmas 1978 becoming the first of her class at that base. She conducted shakedown operations at Fleet Training Center, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She visited Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands during this time. Following shakedown, Moosbrugger returned to her builders for post-commissioning refits and upgrades. While at Pascagoula, she was ordered to conduct an emergency sortie in order to avoid the worst effects of Hurricane Frederic, spending several days in the Gulf of Mexico while the storm system passed. Following her return to port, Moosbrugger supplied electrical power to portions of the shipyard to allow her refit to complete. It was in this refit that a pair of moose antlers were installed on the ship, just below the bridge windows. Moosbrugger deployed to the Mediterranean Sea on 14 July 1980, acting as flagship for Commander, Destroyer Squadron 20 for the entire deployment. She conducted anti-submarine warfare and amphibious support operations during the deployment. Port visits included Rota, Spain, Naples, Italy, Cagliari, Italy, La Spezia, Italy, Marseilles, France, Benidorm, Spain, Cartagena, Spain, and Palma de Mallorca. She returned from this deployment on 11 December 1980. She was the test platform for the AN/SQR 19(V) Tactical Towed Array Sonar (TACTAS) in 1982. [edit]1990s When Sadam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990, USS Moosbrugger was almost immediately deployed from Charleston to the Mediterranean and Red Sea areas as part of Operation Desert Shield. In the months of coalition build-up prior to the beginning of hostilities, the Moosbrugger took onboard small contingents of U.S. Coast Guard personnel and Navy SEALS, both trained in maritime boarding, search, and seizure operations. The ship made ports-of-call in Saudi Arabia, Italy, and Majorca during this period. Moosbrugger spent Christmas 1990 in Haifa, Israel, departing the following day for the Suez Canal and Red Sea. When Operation Desert Storm began in January 1991, Moosbrugger was assigned maritime interdiction patrol at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba. Her assignment was to stop, board, and search merchant vessels flagged by nations sympathetic to Iraq; and to prevent any war materials found onboard from reaching Jordan and ultimately Iraq. When hostilities ceased, Moosbrugger made ports-of-call in Egypt, Crete, and Gibraltar before crossing the Atlantic for the United States. Moosbrugger was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for service during the Persian Gulf War. Moosbrugger relocated to Mayport, Florida, on 11 March 1995, from its previous home port of Charleston, South Carolina. The Spruance-class ship was the sixth of eleven ships scheduled for relocation to Mayport as a result of the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission decision. Moosbrugger deployed in 1996, along with La Moure County (LST-1194), John L. Hall (FFG-32) and Narwhal (SSN-671), to take part in UNITAS 96, a series of combined tactical at-sea operations, amphibious operations and in-port exercises with participating South American naval forces. During that deployment, Moosbrugger spent almost two weeks in Venezuelan waters conducting anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare and anti-air gunnery exercises in the Caribbean Sea. She then departed for Brazil for the next phase of UNITAS. Moosbrugger deployed in 1998, along with La Moure County, Doyle (FFG-39) and Boston (SSN-703), to take part in UNITAS 39-98, serving as the USCOMSOLANT flagship. UNITAS, Latin for unity, consists of at-sea operations, amphibious operations, riverine operations and in port exercises conducted with nine South American navies over a four-month period. The U.S. task group circumnavigated South America in a clockwise direction, returning to Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in November. The 40-year old operation promotes a cooperative maritime strategy in the region while supporting the U.S. policy of continued engagement in South America through forward presence. The navies of Canada, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and South Africa joined the United States and South American navies for the first phase of UNITAS. This phase was led by the United States and conducted in the vicinity of Puerto Rico. The U.S. Navy's longest running annual deployment began at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, as seven ships from four foreign navies joined a five ship U.S. task group. While in Puerto Rico, on 20 April 1998, Moosbrugger took part in Independent Deployer Exercise (INDEX) 98-2, off the coast of Puerto Rico. During the exercise, Moosbrugger fired two Sea Sparrows from her deck at guided target drones launched from the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads. The exercise also included target drones fired from A-4 Skyhawk aircraft. Following this, the task force then headed for Venezuela on July 18 as Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia each directed, in turn, their own phase of UNITAS. Overall, U.S. forces worked with host navies from Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The specific exercises conducted in each phase are determined by the host navy, making each phase unique. Exercises included all areas of modern naval warfare including anti-air, amphibious, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare.
