USS Kidd (DDG-993) was the lead ship in her class of destroyers operated by the U.S. Navy. Derived from the , these vessels were designed for air defense in hot weather. The vessel was the second named after Medal of Honor recipient Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, who was aboard during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was the first American flag officer to die in World War II. Originally named Kouroush, the ship was ordered by the Shah of Iran but was undelivered when the 1979 Iranian Revolution occurred. After this, the U.S. Navy elected to commission the Kidd-class for service in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean, as they were equipped with heavy-duty air conditioning and were also well suited to filtering sand, and the results from NBC warfare. Kidd-class ships were known in the fleet informally as the "Ayatollah" or "dead admiral" class. History USS Kidd was commissioned on 27 June 1981 at Pascagoula, Mississippi. On 8 December 1982, the destroyer deployed to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean under the command of Commander William J. Flanagan, Jr. While in the Mediterranean Sea, USS Kidd visited the ports of Palma, Majorca, Spain; Beirut, Lebanon; and Catania, Italy. She visited the ports of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, and Mombasa, Kenya, while on station in the Indian Ocean before returning to the Mediterranean and calling on Benidorm, Spain. The deployment ended with her return to Norfolk on 2 June 1983. In September 1983, Kidd was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E". On 16 February 1984, USS Kidd left Norfolk, Virginia, to participate in battle-readiness maneuvers as part of Operation United Effort. She returned home to Norfolk on 29 April. Kidd participated in READEX 1–85 commencing 12 March 1985 with Commander Fred Moosally in command. She conducted Caribbean operations from 28 March to 6 April before anchoring at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. Following a transit of the Atlantic Ocean, she passed through the Straits of Gibraltar on 17 April. While in the Mediterranean, USS Kidd called on the ports of Taormina, Sicily, and Gaeta and Naples, Italy. From 30 May 1985, Kidd took part in U.S. Sixth Fleet operations in the Black Sea through 3 June. USS Kidd cut short a port visit to Haifa, Israel, on 16 June in response to the TWA Flight 847 aircraft hijacking. She returned to Haifa on 15 July before visiting Alexandria, Egypt, and Constanța, Romania.