USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51): Ship profile

The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), named after Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN (1901–1996), is the lead ship of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51): Faslane, Scotland (June 6, 2005) – The guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) departs Clyde Naval Base in Faslane, Scotland. Arleigh Burke is currently participating in the Joint Maritime Course, a multinational NATO exercise being conducted off the coast of Scotland. U.S. Navy photo by Mr. Dave Cullen

The USS Arleigh Burke's designers incorporated many lessons learned by the Royal Navy during the Falklands campaign and from the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers. The cruisers were said to be becoming too expensive to continue building and too difficult to upgrade. The Arleigh Burke design includes what are now better known as stealth technologies that improve the ship's ability to evade and/or destroy anti-ship cruise missiles. Also, the all-steel construction provides good protection for her superstructure, while the Collective Protection System allows the ship to operate in environments contaminated by chemical, biological or radiological materials.

History
After being commissioned, and throughout 1992, the USS Arleigh Burke conducted extensive testing at sea. The U.S. Navy and its 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 warships 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 Strike Group participated in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. During this wartime cruise, the Arleigh Burke conducted Tomahawk missile strikes against targets in Iraq, escorted merchant ships and naval auxiliaries through geographic choke-points, 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 the Arleigh Burke at sea over 92 percent of the time.

The Arleigh Burke has earned one Navy Unit Commendation, three Meritorious Unit Commendations, three Battle Efficiency E Awards, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Kuwait Liberation Medal, and five Sea Service Deployment Ribbons.

As a member of Destroyer Squadron Two, the Arleigh Burke operated with the Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group under the command of the Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Group Eight.

In May 2007 the ship ran what the Navy is calling "soft aground" off Cape Henry Light at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. While in October, the Arleigh Burke was involved in anti-pirate operations 2007 in Somalia.

USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51): The Mediterranean Sea (Mar. 13, 2003) -- The guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) steams through the Mediterranean Sea. Arleigh Burke is currently deployed in the Mediterranean Sea conducting missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Patrick Reilly.

General characteristics:
Class and type: Arleigh Burke class destroyer
Displacement:
- Light: approx. 6,794.38 tons
- Full: approx. 8,885.66 tons
Length: 505 ft (154 m)
Beam: 66 ft (20 m)
Draft: 31 ft (9.4 m)
Propulsion: 4 General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, two shafts, 100,000 total shaft horsepower (75 MW)
Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h)
Range: 4,400 nautical miles at 20 knots (8,100 km at 37 km/h)
Complement: 33 Officers, 38 Chief Petty Officers & 210 Enlisted Personnel
Sensors and processing systems:
• AN/SPY-1D Radar
• AN/SPS-67(V)2 Surface Search Radar
• AN/SPS-64(V)9 Surface Search Radar
• AN/SQS-53C Sonar Array
• AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array Sonar
• AN/SQQ-28 LAMPS III Shipboard System
Electronic warfare and decoys:
• AN/SLQ-32(V)2 Electronic Warfare System
• AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
• MK 36 MOD 12 Decoy Launching System
• AN/SLQ-39 CHAFF Buoys
Armaments:
- 1 × 29 cell, 1 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems with 90 × RIM-66 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-Asroc missiles
- 1 × Mark 45 5/54 in (127/54 mm)
- 2 × 25 mm chain gun
- 4 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) guns
- 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS
- 2 × Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried: 1 SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter can be embarked

Additional images from the USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) Photo Gallery:

Source: U.S. Navy and Wikipedia