USS Moosbrugger (DD-980) was a Spruance-class destroyer built for the United States Navy by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Affectionately nicknamed the "Moose" by her crews, she was named in honor of Vice Admiral Frederick Moosbrugger who is best known for his service in World War II as a highly successful commander of destroyer squadrons.

USS Moosbrugger, equipped with the SQR-19 towed array sonar and MK III Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System, aggressively achieved unprecedented success in the detection, long term tracking and classification of Soviet submarines.

By their steadfast performance, brilliant and creative use of resources, exceptional combat readiness, and unfailing devotion to duty, the officers and enlisted personnel of USS Moosbrugger reflected great credit upon themselves and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

Signed by the Secretary of the Navy John Lehman.In 1989, Moosbrugger made the final Cold War deployment to the United States Sixth Fleet as the primary ASW element of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group.

She deployed on six days notice for Operation Desert Shield to join the rapidly formed USS John F. Kennedy Battle Group.

She deployed from Charleston, South Carolina and joined John F. Kennedy en route to the Red Sea via the Mediterranean Sixth Fleet.

Completing her short stay with NATO, Moosbrugger transited the Suez in early September to rejoin Kennedy and immediately took a station in the North Red Sea entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba tasked with visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) to support enforcement of UN Iraq Sanctions.

Following a short maintenance period in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, she took onboard small contingents of U.S. Coast Guard personnel and Navy SEALS, both trained in VBSS and continued search and seizure operations until transiting back North through the Suez.

Moosbrugger performed an extensive update in Charleston shipyard which removed its forward anti-submarine missile launcher of the ASROC family and upgraded to the RUM-139 VL-ASROC vertical launching system (VLS).

[citation needed] The yard period in Mayport Florida was also to repair extensive issues encountered during the overhaul and upgrades performed at the Earl Shipyard in Charleston just a few years prior to.

Moosbrugger deployed in 1998, along with La Moure County, Doyle and Boston, to take part in UNITAS 39–98, serving as the USCOMSOLANT flagship with COMDESRON 32 as the Operational Commander.

During the exercise, Moosbrugger fired two Sea Sparrows from her deck at guided target drones launched from the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads.

Through the heraldic fountain for water, the grappling iron (a device used for close range, early naval encounters), and the torpedo, the crest commemorates the Battle of Vella Gulf in the South Pacific during World War II.