The HULL’s 1982 WESTPAC deployment was her fifteenth and last. Under the watchful eyes of Soviet ships and aircraft, she operated in the Sea of Japan with the MIDWAY (CVB-41) and REEVES (DLG-24). En route to Singapore in October, she rescued five Vietnamese boys adrift in a battered fishing boat and awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal (see footnote). On 11 July 1983, the navy’s last Pacific Fleet destroyer armed only with guns was decommissioned at San Diego. The MULLINNIX (DD-944, the last all-gun destroyer in the Atlantic Fleet retired a month later. The HULL was struck from the navy’s list on 15 October 1983 and later sunk as a target.

(Courtesy Tin Can Sailors, Inc. Used with Permission)

The Humanitarian Service Medal was first authorized by Executive Order 11965 of 19 Jan 77.