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.
The Ticonderoga class of guided-missile cruisers is a class of warships of the United States Navy, first ordered and authorized in the 1978 fiscal year. It was originally planned as a class of destroyers. However, the increased combat capability offered by the Aegis Combat System and the passive phased array AN/SPY-1 radar, together with the capability of operating as a flagship, were used to justify the change of the classification from DDG to CG shortly before the keels were laid down for Ticonderoga and Yorktown.
USS Nitze (DDG-94) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. She is named for Paul Nitze, who served as Secretary of the Navy under president Lyndon B. Johnson and as chief arms control adviser in the administration of president Ronald Reagan.
The Zumwalt-class destroyer is a class of three United States Navy guided-missile destroyers designed as multi-mission stealth ships with a focus on land attack. The class was designed with a primary role of naval gunfire support and secondary roles of surface warfare and anti-aircraft warfare. The class design emerged from the DD-21 "land attack destroyer" program as "DD(X)" and was intended to take the role of battleships in meeting a congressional mandate for naval fire support. The ship is designed around its two Advanced Gun Systems (AGS), turrets with 920 round magazines, and unique Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) ammunition. LRLAP procurement was canceled, rendering the guns unusable, so the Navy re-purposed the ships for surface warfare. Starting in 2023, the Navy will remove the AGS from the ships and replace them with hypersonic missiles.
Richard Jeffrey Danzig is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 71st Secretary of the Navy under President Bill Clinton. He served as an advisor of the President Barack Obama during his presidential campaign and was later the chairman of the national security think-tank, the Center for a New American Security.
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 Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG-126) will be an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She is the second of the Flight III variants and 76th overall in the class. She is named after U.S. Marine Corps General Louis H. Wilson Jr., recipient of the Medal of Honor. On 17 September 2016 she was named by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
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 Patrick Gallagher (DDG-127) is a planned United States Navy Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer, the 77th overall for the class. She will be named for Lance Corporal Patrick Gallagher (1944–1967), an Irish-born Marine who earned the Navy Cross during the Vietnam War.
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 Sam Nunn (DDG-133) is a planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 83rd overall for the class. She was named on 6 May 2019 by Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer in honor of Samuel Augustus Nunn, Jr. Nunn was a U.S. Senator representing Georgia, who served in Congress from 1972 to 1997, and was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
USS Quentin Walsh (DDG-132) is a planned United States Navy Arleigh Burke-class Flight III guided missile destroyer, the 82nd overall for the class. She will be named for Captain Quentin Walsh (1910–2000), a United States Coast Guard officer who earned the Navy Cross during the World War II.
The DDG(X) or Next-Generation Guided-Missile Destroyer program of the United States Navy aims to develop a class of surface combatants to succeed 22 Flight II Ticonderoga-class cruisers and 28 Flight I/II Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The program is the culmination of the Large Surface Combatant (LSC) initiative that followed the cancellation of CG(X) and curtailing of the procurement of the Zumwalt-class destroyers. The ships will become the principal large surface combatants of the U.S. Navy. Compared to their predecessors, they will incorporate more powerful sensors and have more room and weight margin for growth.
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 Ernest E. Evans (DDG-141) is a planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, the 91st overall of the class. She is named for US Navy Commander Ernest E. Evans, who was the first Native American in the Navy to be awarded the Medal of Honor. The award was given posthumously after Evans died leading a small group of ships in a charge against a force that was superior in both numbers and firepower, in what would become to be known as "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors". This occurred during the Battle off Samar, part of the overall Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific theater during World War II. While this will be the fourth ship overall to bear the name Evans, this is the second named for Ernest E. Evans, the first being USS Evans (DE-1023), a Dealey-class destroyer escort,. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro made the announcement during Native American Heritage Month, while at the United States Naval Academy on 15 November 2023. The contract to build Ernest E. Evans was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding, a part of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), in August 2023.
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