USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62)

USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62)

USS Fitzgerald underway in 2012
History
United States of America
Name:	USS Fitzgerald
Namesake:	William Charles Fitzgerald
Ordered:	22 February 1990
Builder:	Bath Iron Works
Laid down:	9 February 1993
Launched:	29 January 1994
Sponsored by:	Betty Ann Fitzgerald
Christened:	29 January 1994
Commissioned:	14 October 1995
Motto:	"Protect Your People"
Nickname(s):	"Fighting Fitz", "Fightin' Fitz"
Status:	in active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
Displacement:	Light: approx. 6,800 long tons (6,900 t) Full: approx. 8,900 long tons (9,000 t)
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 commissioned officers 38 chief petty officers 210 enlisted personnel
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPY-1D 3D Radar AN/SPS-67(V)2 Surface Search Radar AN/SPS-73(V)12 Surface Search Radar AN/SPG-62 Fire Control Radar AN/SQS-53C Sonar Array AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array Sonar AN/SQQ-28 LAMPS III Shipboard System
Electronic warfare & 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
Armament:	1 × 29 cell, 1 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launching systems with 90 × RIM-156 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-ASROC missiles 2 x Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher SSM 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:	2 Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters can be embarked

USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), named for U.S. Navy officer William Charles Fitzgerald, is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was laid down by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine 9 February 1993; launched 29 January 1994; and commissioned 14 October 1995 in Newport, Rhode Island. She was then homeported in Naval Station San Diego, California. Now based at Yokosuka, she is part of Destroyer Squadron 15.

In early April 2004, it was announced that USS Fitzgerald would be one of fifteen destroyers and three cruisers which 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". 140 sailors from the destroyer USS O'Brien transferred to Fitzgerald and 95 of Fitzgerald’s sailors joined the decommissioning unit for O'Brien. She is now homeported at Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan.

In March 2011, in company with the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, Fitzgerald was deployed off northeastern Honshu, Japan to assist with relief efforts after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.