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| 109k | A native of Waukegan, Illinois, Richard Lansing Conolly attended Lake Forrest Academy, Lake Forrest, Illinois prior to his appointment in 1910 to the Naval Academy. After graduation in 1914 he was ordered to Mexican waters where he served in USS Virginia. He continued duty in that battleship until May 1915, when he reported aboard USS Montana for torpedo instruction. In November 1915 he rejoined Virginia, and in March 1916 he was assigned to USS Vermont as Torpedo Officer of that battleship for two months. Transferred in May 1916 to USS Smith, he was aboard that destroyer when the United States entered World War I, in April 1917, and served aboard Smith while she performed escort duty in European waters out of Brest, France. He was awarded the Navy Cross for services while attached to Smith in connection with salvaging the transport Westbridge, torpedoed by a German submarine in August 1918, as follows: "For distinguished service in the line of his profession on the occasion of the torpedoing of the Westbridge, when he, with a party of eight others remained on board for five days steering by hand and handling the lines from the tugs, while the ship was towed four hundred miles to port."
Detached from Smith in November 1918, he returned to the United States. Until August 1920, he had consecutive duty in connection with fitting out, and as Executive Officer in turn of the destroyers Foote, Worden, and Hunt. From August 1920 until June 1922 he was under instruction in electrical engineering at the Postgraduate School, Annapolis, Maryland, and Columbia University, New York, where he received a Master of Science. He continued instruction at various Naval activities until September 1922 and in November of that year joined USS Mississippi. In March 1924 he was transferred to USS New York, and served as assistant Engineer Officer of that battleship until September 1925. After duty as an instructor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Physics at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, September 1925 until June 1927, he returned to sea as Engineer Officer of USS Concord. In August 1929 he assumed command of USS Du Pont (DD-152). He completed the junior course at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island in May 1931, and remained on the staff for two years. In May 1933 he reported as Aide and Flag Secretary on the staff of Commander Cruisers, Scouting Force and in April 1935 was ordered to USS Tennessee. He served as Navigator of that battleship until June 1936, after which he again had duty, until May 1939, as an instructor at the Naval Academy, first in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Physics, and later in the Department of Seamanship and Navigation, acting as head of the latter department for six months in 1938. Assuming command of Destroyer Division 7 in May 1939, he was transferred to duty as Commander Destroyer Squadron 6 on January 30, 1941. He was at sea, in command of Destroyer Squadron 6 at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He subsequently participated in the initial attack on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands on February 1, 1942, as part of the gun bombardment force under command of Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.; and in April his destroyers served as escort for the aircraft carrier Hornet from which Lieutenant General J. H. Doolittle's Army planes took off for the first bombing of Tokyo. He also participated in a shore bombardment of Wake Island in command of destroyers in Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's. | Bill Gonyo |
| 14k | Undated, location unknown. | - |
| 67k | Undated postcard Copyright © Atlantic Fleet Sales, Norfolk, VA. | Mike Smolinski |
| 338k | Commissioning Program for USS Conolly (DD-979) held at Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss. on 14 October 1978. | Robert M. Cieri |
| 57k | April 1, 1980, Atlantic Ocean, an aerial starboard bow view of the destroyer USS Conolly (DD 979) underway. | Fred Weiss |
| 61k | April 1, 1980, Atlantic Ocean, an aerial starboard bow view of the destroyer USS Conolly (DD 979) underway. | Fred Weiss |
| 72k | Norfolk July 3 1980. | Marc Piché |
| 127k | DN-ST-87-07120. Crew members stand by at refueling station aboard the destroyer USS CONOLLY (DD-979) during an underway replenishment with the battleship USS IOWA (BB-61). Photo by PHC Jeff Hilton, August 1 1986. | Bill Gonyo |
| 185k |
Turnover in the Mediterranean, June 17 1987. Clockwise from top center:USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9, en route to Philadelphia;
guided missile frigate USS Hawes (FFG-53); USS Saratoga (CV-60) with CVW-17, newly arrived in the Med from Mayport; guided
missile frigate USS Doyle (FFG-39);frigate USS W.S. Sims (FF-1059);destroyer USS Comte de Grasse (DD-974);guided missile cruiser USS Josephus
Daniels (CG-27); destroyer USS Conolly (DD-979); frigate USS Truett (FF-1095); and guided missile destroyer USS William V. Pratt (DDG-44). Replenishment oiler USS Kalamazoo (AOR-6) is steaming in the center of the formation.
U.S. Navy photo by PH2 Thomas Hensley. | Fred Moisson, Museum of Military History, Kissimmee, FL |
| 27k | Boston August 12 1988. | Marc Piché |
| 62k | Suez Canal April 1992, | Marc Piché |
USS Conolly DD-979 in Norfolk, VA during the Summer of 1995 or 1996. | Cody Z. Shaffer |
| 83k | Philadelphia August 1999, | Marc Piché |
| 46k | Three views of the Conolly being towed to the Sinkex site by USNS Grapple a couple days before the Sinkex in April 2009. | CAPT Curt Smith, USNS Grapple (T-ARS-53) |
| 31k | As above. | CAPT Curt Smith, USNS Grapple (T-ARS-53) |
| 39k | As above. | CAPT Curt Smith, USNS Grapple (T-ARS-53) |
| 130k | 090429-N-8607B-288. Atlantic Ocean, April 29 2009, a Mexican BO-105 Bolkow helicopter fires 2.75" high-explosive rockets at the ex-USS Conolly (DD 979) during the sinking exercise portion of UNITAS Gold. This year marks the 50th iteration of UNITAS, a multinational exercise that provides opportunities for participating nations to increase their collective ability counter illicit maritime activities that threaten regional stability. Participating countries are Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Mexico, Peru, U.S. and Uruguay. U.S. Navy Photo by LT Chris Brown. | Lee Wahler/Mike Hibbard |
| 177k | As above, 2.75 inch high explosive rockets impact the Conolly. | Mike Hibbard |
| 179k | As above, Conolly under fire from the USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79). | Mike Hibbard |
| 72k | Ship's patch | Mike Smolinski |
| 77k | Ship's patch for HSL-48 Vipers DET 10,USS Conolly 1992 Mediterranean Cruise. | Tommy Trampp |
| 26k | Ship's Zippo. | Tommy Trampp |
