USS David R. Ray (DD-971), was a Spruance-class destroyer named for United States Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class David Robert Ray who was killed in action in 1969 while assigned to a Marine Corps artillery unit during the Vietnam War and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

The David R. Ray was built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi, and commissioned on November 19, 1977, in Pascagoula. The principal speaker at the event was James R. Sasser, U.S. Senator from Tennessee and the ships sponsor was Mrs. Donnie M. Ray, HM2 Ray’s mother. The David R. Ray was decommissioned in 2002 and sunk as a target in 2008.

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