ROCS Su Ao

ROCS Su Ao (蘇澳; DDG-1802) is a Kee Lung-class destroyer guided-missile destroyer currently in active service of the Republic of China Navy. Su Ao was formerly American Kidd-class destroyer USS Callaghan (DDG-994), which was decommissioned from the United States Navy in 1998. For some time after the ship's 30 May 2003 purchase, Su Ao was tentatively named Ming Teh (明德), following the example of Chi Teh (紀德), but it was later decided to be named Su Ao, after the Su-Ao naval base in eastern Taiwan.

ROCS Su Ao (DDG-1802), then USS Callaghan
History
Taiwan
Builder	Litton Ingalls, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down	23 October 1978
Launched	1 December 1979 as USS Callaghan (DDG-994)
Acquired	30 May 2003
Name	ROCS Su Ao (DDG-1802)
Namesake	Su-Ao Naval Base, Su-ao, Yilan
Commissioned	17 December 2005
Status	in active service
General characteristics
Class & type	Kee Lung-class destroyer
Displacement	Light: 6,950 t (6,840 long tons; 7,660 short tons) Full: 9,574 t (9,423 long tons; 10,554 short tons) Dead Weight: 2,624 t (2,583 long tons; 2,892 short tons)
Length	171.6 m (563 ft)
Beam	16.8 m (55 ft)
Draft	10.1 m (33.1 ft)
Propulsion	4 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, 80,000 shp total (60 MW)
Speed	33 knots (61 km/h)
Sensors & processing systems	SPS-48E air search radar SPS-49(V)5 air search radar SPG-60 gun fire control radar SPS-55 surface search radar 2 × SPG-51D Missile Control Radar SPQ-9A gun fire control radar SPS-64 Navigation Radar SQS-53 hull-mounted sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys	AN/SLQ-32(V)3 OUTBOARD II EW Suite Mark 36 SRBOC AN/SLQ-25 Nixie towed sonar decoy
Armament	2 × Mark 26 launchers with 68 × SM-2 Block IIIA SAM 1 × Mark 141 quad launcher with 4 × RGM-84 Harpoon 2 × Mark 45 5 in (127 mm) gun 2 × Mark 15 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 4 × 12.7mm MGs 2 × Mark 32 triple tube mounts with 6 × Mark 46 torpedoes
Aircraft carried	1 Sikorsky S-70C(M) helicopter

Ship History

On August 20, 2019, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Bernard Li and others went to Zuoying to visit the AAV7 Amphibious Assault Vehicle and the Keelung-class Suao warship.

On February 26, 2025, this ship broadcast in the southwest waters of Taiwan to drive away the PLA Huanggang that was conducting illegal exercises. ^[1]

On April 1, 2025, this ship formed a fleet with the Tian Dan Ship and Ming Chuan Ship to monitor the Shandong aircraft carrier formation located about 220 nautical miles southeast of Eluanbi. ^[2]