USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) underway in 2012
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History | |
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United States | |
Name: | Fitzgerald |
Namesake: | William Charles Fitzgerald |
Ordered: | 22 February 1990 |
Builder: | Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine |
Laid down: | 9 February 1993 |
Launched: | 29 January 1994 |
Sponsored by: | Betty Ann Fitzgerald |
Christened: | 29 January 1994 |
Commissioned: | 14 October 1995 |
Identification: |
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Motto: | "Protect Your People" |
Nickname(s): | "Fighting Fitz", "Fightin' Fitz" |
Status: | Undergoing repairs after a 2017 accident. |
Badge: | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Arleigh Burke-class destroyer |
Displacement: |
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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: |
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Complement: | |
Sensors and processing systems: |
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Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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Armament: |
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Aircraft carried: | 2 Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters can be embarked |
USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), named for United States Navy officer Lieutenant William Charles Fitzgerald, is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the US Navy.
In the early morning hours of 17 June 2017, the ship was involved in a collision with the container ship MV ACX Crystal, seriously damaging the destroyer. Seven of Fitzgerald's crew were killed. Several others were injured, including her commanding officer, Commander Bryce Benson.
The keel was laid down by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, 9 February 1993; launched 29 January 1994; sponsored by Mrs. Betty A. Fitzgerald, widow of the late Lt. Fitzgerald; and commissioned 14 October 1995, in Newport, Rhode Island, Commander Gary M. Holst in command. She was then homeported in Naval Base San Diego, California.
In early April 2004, it was announced that Fitzgerald would be one of fifteen destroyers and three cruisers that would be deployed to counter ballistic missile threats worldwide. She arrived in Yokosuka, Japan on 30 September 2004, to join the U.S. 7th Fleet after participating in a personnel exchange known as "Super Swap". One-hundred forty sailors from the destroyer O'Brien transferred to Fitzgerald and 95 of Fitzgerald's sailors joined the decommissioning unit for O'Brien. She is now home-ported at Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan, and is part of Destroyer Squadron 15.