USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), named for Admiral Arleigh Albert Burke, USN (1901-1996), is the lead ship of her class of guided missile destroyers. She was laid down by Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine on 6 December 1988, launched on 16 September 1989 by Mrs. Arleigh Burke and commissioned on 4 July 1991. The Admiral himself was alive and present at her commissioning ceremony.
Even before Arleigh Burke was commissioned, the Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force, was involved in the initial phases of testing. New systems, operated by fleet sailors ashore, were examined at land-based test facilities. The combat system testing took place at the Combat System Engineering Development Site in Moorestown, New Jersey. The propulsion plant testing occurred at the Gas Turbine Ship Land-Based Engineering Site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These test results supported the acquisition decision to begin limited production of the ship class.
Then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney delivered the keynote address during the commissioning ceremony for the USS Arleigh Burke, 4 July 1991.
After commissioning and throughout 1992, Arleigh Burke conducted extensive testing at sea. As is often the case with new ship classes, Navy and commercial engineers encountered a number of discrepancies in shipboard systems that required the attention of the relevant design and production agencies. An additional phase of testing was added to verify the effectiveness of the modifications made to these systems--modifications incorporated into later ships of the Arleigh Burke class.
Following her initial operational testing, Arleigh Burke deployed to the Adriatic Sea in 1993, serving as "Green Crown" during Operation Provide Promise. During her second deployment in 1995, Arleigh Burke sailed the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas as "Red Crown" in support of the No-Fly Zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina. During her third cruise in 1998, she sailed the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Red, and Black Seas, exercising every facet of Surface Warfare as a participant in numerous U.S. and allied exercises. During her fourth cruise in 2000-2001, Arleigh Burke saw service in the Mediterranean and Red Seas and the Persian Gulf, enforcing United Nations sanctions against Iraq and conducting exercises with allied and coalition naval partners.
On her fifth deployment in 2003, Arleigh Burke and the other units of the Theodore Roosevelt-led Strike Group participated in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. During this wartime cruise, Arleigh Burke conducted Tomahawk missile strikes against regime targets in Iraq, escorted merchant ships and naval auxiliaries through geographic chokepoints, executed Leadership Interdiction operations in the North Arabian Sea, and undertook counter-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden. This cruise, which lasted from January through June 2003, saw Arleigh Burke at sea nearly 93 percent of the time.
Arleigh Burke has earned one Navy Unit Commendation, three Meritorious Unit Commendations, three Battle Efficiency Awards, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Kuwait Liberation Medal, and five Sea Service Deployment Ribbons.
A member of Destroyer Squadron TWO, Arleigh Burke operates with the Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group under the command of the Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Group EIGHT.
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