US Navy commissions its newest guided-missile DDG 118 at the Pearl Harbor

Asia-Pacific, News December 11, 2021 , by IRIA No Comments

The U.S. Navy commissioned USS Daniel Inouye (DDG 118) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 8.

DDG 118 is a Flight IIA Technology Insertion variant of Arleigh Burke-Class ships, fitted with technological elements from the DDG 51 Flight III. It was built by General Dynamic-Bath Iron Works.

Commander DonAnn Gilmore from Anniston, Alabama, is the ship’s commanding officer and leads a crew of 329 officers and Sailors. Gilmore is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University. She previously commanded a Mine Countermeasures Exultant.

The building process for the DDG 118 was initiated on May 14, 2018, and the ship was acquired by the U.S. Navy on March 8, 2021, to be commissioned at the Pearl Harbour in December 2021.

DDG 118 is the 69th ship of Arleigh Burke-class with a displacement capacity of 9,300 tons. The ship is 513 feet long (156 meters) and it is 31 feet (9.4 meters) wide at is draft. DDG 118 is powered by 4 General Electric LM2500 Gas Turbines producing enough power to achieve speeds of 31 knots (36 mph). The ship can accommodate a crew of 380 members.

The ship is equipped with modern and state-of-the-art armament, radars, and sensors. On the deck, it is equipped with a standard 5 inches (127 mm) / 54 caliber MK-45 naval gun. Two 25 mm MK 38 Autocannons. Four 50 caliber machine guns, and one 20 mm land-to-land targeting Phalanx CIWS. The ship is also equipped with the launching mechanism for 2 MK-32 tipple torpedoes. The deck-based 96-cells, MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) can launch RIM-66M Standard Missile, BGM-109 Tomahawk, and RUM-139 Vertical Launch missiles. The ship also can accommodate two helicopters in its hangers. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are usually paired with two SH-60 Seahawk helicopters.

USS Daniel Inouye Destroyer (DDG 118) is named after the late U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, who served as a Hawaii representative in the Senate from 1963 until he died in 2012. Inouye also served in the U.S. Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which is one of the most decorated military units in U.S. history. For his combat heroism, which cost him his right arm in Italy during World War II, Inouye was awarded the Medal of Honor.

In addition to Daniel Inouye (DDG 118), General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works also has five additional Arleigh Burke-Class destroyers under construction, to include the future:

USS John Basilone (DDG 122)
USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG 124)
USS Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127)
USS Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG 126)
USS William Charette (DDG 130)

Bath Iron Works is under contract to construct four additional Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with the Flight III configuration that includes enhanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense capabilities.