The Arleigh Burke class of guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) is a United States Navy class of destroyer centered around the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D multi-function passive electronically scanned array radar. The class is named for Admiral Arleigh Burke, an American destroyer officer in World War II and later Chief of Naval Operations. With an overall length of 505 to 509.5 feet, displacement ranging from 8,300 to 9,700 tons, and weaponry including over 90 missiles, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are larger and more heavily armed than many previous classes of guided-missile cruisers.
USS Benfold (DDG-65) is a Flight I Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is a multi-mission platform capable of anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) with the powerful Aegis Combat System suite and anti-aircraft missiles, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), with towed sonar array, anti-submarine rockets, anti-surface warfare (ASUW) with Harpoon missiles, and strategic land strike using Tomahawk missiles. Benfold was one of the first ships fitted with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System and during the 2010 Stellar Daggers exercise was the first ship to simultaneously engage a ballistic missile and a cruise missile.
USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) is the 62nd ship of the Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers in the United States Navy. She is named for Medal of Honor recipient Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy (1976–2005). Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan in June 2005. He was the first sailor awarded the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. The ship's name was announced by Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter on 7 May 2008. The ship was christened on 7 May 2011, Murphy's birthday, by her sponsor Maureen Murphy, Michael Murphy's mother. The ship is part of Destroyer Squadron 31 of Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific.
USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy. Ralph Johnson is the 64th ship of the class and was commissioned on 24 March 2018.
USS John Finn (DDG-113) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in service with the United States Navy. The contract to build her was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 15 June 2011. Ingalls has been a subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) since its acquisition in April 2001. Prior to the award, Ingalls had constructed 28 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the last one of which was USS William P. Lawrence. On 15 February 2011, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the ship's name to be John Finn after John William Finn, the first Medal of Honor recipient of World War II. He was so honored for machine-gunning Japanese warplanes for over two hours during the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor despite being shot in the foot and shoulder, and suffering numerous shrapnel wounds. He retired as a lieutenant after thirty years of service and died at age 100 in 2010.
USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. The $663 million contract to build her was awarded on 28 February 2012, to Bath Iron Works, of Bath, Maine. On 7 May 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the ship name would be named Thomas Hudner in honor of U.S. naval aviator Thomas Hudner, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in trying to save the life of his wingman, Ensign Jesse L. Brown, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, in the Korean War.
USS Paul Ignatius (DDG-117) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She is named for Paul Ignatius who served as United States Secretary of the Navy under President Lyndon Johnson from 1967 to 1969. Ignatius had previously served as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II. Paul Ignatius is the second of eight planned Flight IIA "technology insertion" ships, which contains elements of the Flight III ships.
USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121) is an Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy, the 71st overall for the class. The ship was named for United States Marine Corps Lieutenant General Frank E. Petersen Jr. the first African-American Marine Corps aviator and the first African-American Marine Corps general. The contract for the ship, along with the name, was first announced in a press release from Huntington Ingalls Industries on 30 March 2016.
USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123) is a United States Navy Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer, the 73rd overall for the class. She is named for Chief Nurse Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (1874–1941), a pioneering Navy nurse who served as Superintendent of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps during World War I, and the first woman to be awarded the Navy Cross.
USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, first of the Flight III variants and 75th overall in the class. She is named after then-Marine Corps Private First Class, later United States Army captain Jacklyn H. Lucas, recipient of the Medal of Honor. On 17 September 2016, she was named by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
USS Ted Stevens (DDG-128) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 78th overall for the class. She will be named in honor of Ted Stevens who served as a U.S. Senator for Alaska for over 40 years. He was also a staunch supporter of both the Navy and the Marine Corps. Ted Stevens will be the third ship of the Flight III of the class.
USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG-129) is a planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 79th overall for the class. She will be named in honor of former U.S. Senator for Alabama and retired Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton, a Vietnam War veteran and prisoner of war, who was a recipient of the Navy Cross. Jeremiah Denton will be the fourth ship of the Flight III series.
USS William Charette (DDG-130) is a planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 80th overall for the class. She will be named in honor of Master Chief William R. Charette, a Korean War veteran and recipient of the Medal of Honor. William Charette will be the fifth ship of the Flight III series.
USS John E. Kilmer (DDG-134) is a planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 84th overall for the class. The ship was authorized for construction by Bath Iron Works on 27 September 2018. On 16 October 2019, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer announced that the ship will be named in honor of United States Navy Hospital corpsman John E. Kilmer, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill during the Korean War and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in the battle.
USS Telesforo Trinidad (DDG-139) is a planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 89th overall for the class. She will honor Fireman 2nd class Telesforo Trinidad, the only Filipino in the US Navy to ever be awarded the Medal of Honor.
USS J. William Middendorf (DDG-138) is a planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 88th overall for the class. She will honor J. William Middendorf, a former Secretary of the Navy and US Ambassador to the Netherlands. The name was announced 10 June 2022.
USS Thomas G. Kelley (DDG-140) is a planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 90th overall for the class. She will honor Captain Thomas G. Kelley, who as a then-Lieutenant serving in Vietnam, was awarded the Medal of Honor "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty". Kelley served in the Navy for 30 years, and after retirement, went on to become Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services.
USS Richard J. Danzig (DDG-143) is a planned Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 93rd overall of the class. She is named for former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig.
USS Michael G. Mullen (DDG-144) is a planned Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 94th overall of the class. She is named for former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen.
United States