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Departing Faslane Sep 2022
Atlantic Thunder – SM-6 Firing

National Museum Update

The Arleigh Burke Foundation is coordinating with the National Museum of the Surface Navy on development of “The Admiral Arleigh Burke Hall of Naval Heroes” to include a permanent exhibit on Admiral Arleigh Burke in the museum housed on ex-USS IOWA in Los Angeles.  The museum is set to fully open in 2025, the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy. 

Explore the National Museum campus vision:

Click to open campus vision

90th DDG 51 Class Ship Named

SECNAV announced that DDG 140 will honor retired Captain Thomas G. Kelley, a Medal of Honor recipient. The name was selected in 2020 by Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer but not assigned to a specific hull.

On June 15, 1969, Kelley led river assault craft boats when they fell under attack. Kelley, while severely wounded, continued to protect and lead his men to safety. For this gallant effort, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Kelley, despite his injuries, continued his naval career, serving as executive officer on USS Sample (DE 1048) and commanding officer on USS Lang (FF 1060). 

Learn more about Capt Kelley.

DDG 140 was appropriated in the fiscal year 2023 budget and will be building during the 40th year of construction of the class.

31st Successful Year!

Forward Deployed
  Operationally Relevant
      Capable

Providing current Ballistic Missile Defense (SM-3) and Air Defense (SM-6) capabilities to Sixth Fleet!

During 2022 USS Arleigh Burke:
– spent 157 days at sea in 2022 with an OPTEMPO of 49.9%
– advanced 69 Sailors to the next paygrade, the highest of any at-sea command in FDNF-E
– hosted visits from SECNAV and CNO
– conducted successful live-firing with SM-6
– completed a complex Selected Restricted Availability
– completed a successful INSURV at 31 years old young!

Relive the year here

The Arleigh Burke-class Guided Missile Destroyer – The world’s most successful post-war surface combatants

The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class of guided missile destroyers can rightfully be called the most successful class of surface combatants in the post-World War II era.  The lead ship was commissioned in 1991, and the Navy is still building them at Huntington Ingalls Industries Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.  A total of 89 have been procured through FY2022, (with 70 delivered as of February 2022), including two in FY2022.

Edward Lundquist – Marinelink.com – Dec 21, 2022

Read entire article at Marinelink.com

Deployment Homecoming

USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) returned to home port after the second FDNF deployment on Oct 6, 2022. The deployment included:
– steaming 17,243 nautical miles
– six Strait transits
– seven replenishments at sea
– six port visits
– Atlantic Thunder-22, multi-national live fire on the Hebrides Range, including a live SM-6 firing

Toni Checchio

Congratulations to Toni Checchio on receipt of the Aegis Excellence Award.

Toni has been contributing to the success of the Admiral’s ships for over 30 years. As the Gas Turbine Generator subject matter expert, she was deeply involved with the precomm crew training and preparations for fleet introduction of the generator at the Land Based Engineering Site. The original industry design proved somewhat challenging, and she could be found many times aboard ship sitting in a generator module with the Sailors troubleshooting, correcting planned maintenance documentation, and improving parts provisioning, and eventually contributing to an updated generator design. She has continued as a technical expert on the class electrical plant as the design evolved from 440 to 4160 volts to support the higher power requirements in the Flight IIIs.

Her continued dedication to success of the class makes her a true Destroyer Leader.

The Arleigh Burke Class (DDG 51) Destroyer Shipbuilding Program Manager Capt. Seth Miller and NAVSEA Program Manager Mr. Michael Dugan present the AEGIS Excellence Award to Toni Checchio, a Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division electrical engineer, for her support during the DDG 51 Flight III (Flt III) development process on Aug. 9, 2022 at Philadelphia. Checchio began working on the Flt III electric plan design concepts in 2011. Her efforts led to the ship’s design being approved in 2015. (U.S. Navy Photo by Jamie Gates/Released)

October Destroyerman

The October issue of the Destroyerman is posted. Lots of 31st pictures and participation instructions for the annual membership meeting on Oct 27th.