USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She is named after Sir Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This ship is the 31st destroyer of her class. Winston S. Churchill was the 18th ship of this class to be built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and construction began on 7 May 1998. She was launched and christened on 17 April 1999. On 10 March 2001, she was commissioned during a ceremony at Town Point Park in Norfolk, Virginia.
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. The ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries-old naval tradition.
USS New Orleans (CL/CA-32) was the lead New Orleans-class cruiser in service with the United States Navy. The New Orleans-class cruisers were the last U.S. cruisers built to the specifications and standards of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Such ships, with a limit of 10,000 long tons (10,160 t) standard displacement and 8-inch (203-millimetre) calibre main guns may be referred to as "treaty cruisers." Originally classified a light cruiser, because of her thin armor, she was reclassified, soon after being laid down, a heavy cruiser, because of her 8-inch guns. The term "heavy cruiser" was not defined until the London Naval Treaty in 1930.
USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) is an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer. She is the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the five Sullivan brothers – George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert Sullivan, aged 20 to 27 – who lost their lives when their ship, USS Juneau, was sunk by a Japanese submarine in November 1942 in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. This was the greatest military loss by any one American family during World War II.
USS McFaul (DDG-74) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named for U.S. Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Donald L. McFaul. This ship is the 24th destroyer of her class. USS McFaul was the 11th ship of this class to be built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and construction began on 26 January 1996. She was launched on 18 January 1997 and was christened on 12 April 1997. On 25 April 1998 she had her commissioning ceremony at the Garden City Terminal in Savannah, Georgia. As of July 2020 the ship is part of Destroyer Squadron 26 based out of Naval Station Norfolk.
USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Oscar Austin is named for Medal of Honor and Purple Heart recipient Private First Class Oscar P. Austin. This ship is the 29th destroyer of her class. USS Oscar Austin was the 17th ship of this class to be built by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and construction began on 9 October 1997. She was launched and christened on 7 November 1998. On 19 August 2000 she was commissioned at Bath, Maine. As of July 2021 the ship is part of Destroyer Squadron 2 based out of Naval Station Norfolk.
USS McCampbell (DDG-85) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named in honor of Naval Aviator Captain David S. McCampbell, a Medal of Honor and Navy Cross recipient who was the Navy's leading ace in World War II. This ship is the 35th destroyer of her class. USS McCampbell was the 20th ship of this class to be built by Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and construction began on 16 July 1999. She was launched and christened on 2 July 2000. On 17 August 2002, the commissioning ceremony was held at Pier 30 in San Francisco, California.
USS Mason (DDG-87) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named in honor of the non-segregated crew serving on board USS Mason (DE-529). This ship is the 37th destroyer of her class. USS Mason was the 21st ship of this class to be built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and construction began on 19 January 2000. She was launched and christened on 23 June 2001. On 12 April 2003, a commissioning ceremony was held at Port Canaveral, Florida. She is currently homeported in Mayport, Florida.
The names of commissioned ships of the United States Navy all start with USS, for United States Ship. Non-commissioned, primarily civilian-crewed vessels of the U.S. Navy under the Military Sealift Command have names that begin with USNS, standing for United States Naval Ship. A letter-based hull classification symbol is used to designate a vessel's type. The names of ships are selected by the Secretary of the Navy. The names are those of states, cities, towns, important persons, important locations, famous battles, fish, and ideals. Usually, different types of ships have names originated from different types of sources.
The Yangtze Patrol, also known as the Yangtze River Patrol Force, Yangtze River Patrol, YangPat and ComYangPat, was a prolonged naval operation from 1854–1949 to protect American interests in the Yangtze River's treaty ports. The Yangtze Patrol also patrolled the coastal waters of China where they protected U.S. citizens, their property, and Christian missionaries.
USS Ericsson was an O'Brien-class destroyer built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the second U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of John Ericsson, the Swedish-born builder of the ironclad warship USS Monitor during the American Civil War.
USS Welborn C. Wood (DD-195) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She served with the United States Coast Guard as USCGD Wood. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Chesterfield.
USS Herndon (DD-198) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Herndon served in the United States Coast Guard as CG-17. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Churchill and still later to the Soviet Navy as Deyatelny.
USS Savage (DE-386) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II.
United States ship naming conventions for the U.S. Navy were established by congressional action at least as early as 1862. Title 13, section 1531, of the U.S. Code, enacted in that year, reads, in part,
The vessels of the Navy shall be named by the Secretary of the Navy under direction of the President according to the following rule: Sailing-vessels of the first class shall be named after the States of the Union, those of the second class after the rivers, those of the third class after the principal cities and towns and those of the fourth class as the President may direct.
USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. She is the 60th ship in her class. The ship is named for Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence (1930–2005), a naval aviator, fighter pilot, test pilot, Mercury astronaut finalist, Vietnam War prisoner of war, a U.S. Third Fleet commander, a Chief of Naval Personnel, and a Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy.
USS Booth (DE-170) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and then the Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
BRP Datu Kalantiaw (PS-76) was the first of three ex-USN Cannon-class destroyer escorts that served with the Philippine Navy, the others being BRP Datu Sikatuna (PS-77/PF-5) and BRP Rajah Humabon (PS-78/PF-11). She was also the flagship of the Philippine Navy from 1967 to 1981.
USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) is the second ship of the three-ship Zumwalt class of guided missile destroyers. The Zumwalt-class was designed as a multi-mission surface combatant for land attack and littoral operations with a mission of supporting both ground campaigns and the joint/naval battlespace. The main guns are a pair of Advanced Gun Systems (AGS). The Navy cancelled the ammunition procurement program for the only type of ammunition it can use, so the AGS cannot provide naval gunfire support and the Zumwalts were repurposed for surface warfare.
Holly Ann Graf is a retired United States Navy officer. Until January 2010 she was commanding officer of the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens (CG-63), a major surface combatant vessel of the fleet. She was the first woman to command a cruiser in the history of the U.S. Navy. Earlier, she had been the first woman in the U.S. Navy to command a destroyer when she served as skipper of the guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81). Her personal decorations include the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star, among others. Graf was relieved of command for abusive behavior unbecoming of an officer and was featured in Time magazine that characterized her as a modern-day female "Captain Bligh". The U.S. Navy forced Graf into early retirement in 2012, but allowed her to do so at her current rank of captain and under "honorable circumstances".
