THE USN DDG Fleet

Going old school isn't a bad thing. But not out pacing an adversary is a bad thing! China not technically an adversary nor is Russia, as both are gaining some high sea advantage as they try imposing dominance over the US Navy. China is building Islands and ships for the South China Sea, and Russia is finding its Mojo again with a submarine Navy. The USN finds itself in the maelstrom of international intent once again. The DDG class Arleigh-Burke is the USN sword. Its Ohio class Nuclear Subs is the boot on any adversarial nation's neck.

Since the DDG Zumwalt withdrawal, by stopping at three of its stealthy types, the retrofitted Arleigh-Burke bears the load of primary naval surface defense and offense. Aircraft Carriers are floating airports and DDG (destroyers) are a fighting Blue water surface vessel, or a misbehaving littoral combat incursion. Its very significance for our Navy cannot be overlooked. Nor can the Navy under appreciate its importance by letting it rust until a scheduled retirement. The older generation DDG framework is being built fresh today for renewing the fleet. First one up: 

May 2, 2015 The John Finn Is Christened 

Here are 10 things to know about the future USS John Finn and her namesake:

John William Finn

1. The future USS John Finn is the 63rd Arleigh Burke class destroyer, and the first of the DDG 51 Flight IIA restart ships.

2. The destroyer was named in honor of Lt. John William Finn, who as a Chief Petty Officer served at Naval Air Station Kanoehe Bay, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 during the Japanese air raid that struck that facility and others on Oahu.

3.  While under heavy machine gun fire, chief aviation ordnanceman Finn manned a .50-caliber machinegun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the parking ramp.  Painfully wounded multiple times, he had to be convinced to leave his post.  After receiving first aid treatment, he overcame the severe pain of his injuries and returned to the squadron area to supervise the rearming of returning planes. 

4. DDG 113 will be capable of engaging in air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and will contain a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare including Integrated Air and Missile Defense capabilities.

5. DDG 113 will be equipped with the Navy’s Aegis Combat System, the world’s foremost integrated naval weapons system.

6. At age 100, Finn was the oldest surviving recipient of the nation’s highest medal for valor and the only recipient still alive among those who received the medal for actions during the attack of Dec. 7, 1941.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (Dec. 12, 2007) Medal of Honor recipient Lt. John Finn (Ret.) pays his respects to the Sailors and Marines killed aboard USS Arizona during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

 7. In June 1942, Finn was temporarily commissioned as an Ensign, rising in rank to Lieutenant two years later.

8.  USS John Finn will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection.

9. John William Finn passed away on May 27, 2010.

10. As part of the DDG 51 Flight IIA ships, Finn will provide increased capabilities over previous flights of Arleigh Burke destroyers, including advances in anti-submarine warfare, command and control, and anti-surface warfare.

By starting with DDG 51 and going consecutively through #119, consider each subsequent build an improvement over the prior number. The US Navy is on version #119. Version #51 is retrofitted on a decade to decade progression until its retirement.

Flight IIA: Restart
John Finn	DDG-113	Ingalls Shipbuilding	28 March 2015[67]			Launched
Ralph Johnson	DDG-114	Ingalls Shipbuilding				Keel laid[68]
Rafael Peralta	DDG-115	Bath Iron Works				Keel laid[69]
Flight IIA: Technology Insertion
Thomas Hudner	DDG-116	Bath Iron Works				Keel Laid
Paul Ignatius	DDG-117	Ingalls Shipbuilding				Keel Laid[70]
Daniel Inouye	DDG-118	Bath Iron Works				Keel Laid[71]
Delbert D. Black	DDG-119	Ingalls Shipbuilding				Keel Laid[72]
	DDG-120	Bath Iron Works				Contract awarded (MYP)
	DDG-121	Ingalls Shipbuilding				Contract awarded (MYP)
	DDG-122	Bath Iron Works				Contract awarded (MYP)
	DDG-123	Ingalls Shipbuilding				Contract awarded (MYP)
Flight III
	DDG-124	Bath Iron Works				Contract awarded (MYP)
	DDG-125	Ingalls Shipbuilding				Contract awarded (MYP)
	DDG-126	Bath Iron Works				Contract awarded (MYP

Wikipedia Chart

At left, the hull of the Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001), second ship in the class, is coming together. At right is the Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), first of the latest batch of Arleigh Burke DDG 51-class destroyers under construction at Bath. Similar ships are built in Mississippi at Ingalls Shipbuilding.

The DDG51 Realm of Battle is "pretty" (nasty)

Aegis-class destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) launches a standard missile (SM) 3 Blk IA during a 2009 exercise. US Navy Photo

So, DDG119 should be something special! However, the DDG 1000 is something featured on Winging It, because it’s so advanced like the 787, it can't bear comparison with  "another" Navy, because even comparing a status quo DDG family member is even incomparable with the DDG1000. The stuff DDG1000 has, won't exist on the newest DDG119. 

In fact some other temperamental Navy's across the oceanic broad expanse, may attempt to keep up with the US Navy's Delbert D. Black DDG119 just laid keel. The pivot to the Orient is in a ship yard near you.

Its DDG 119 Keel Laying Day, about July 21, 2015 

Below: DDG 115 Artists Rendering

What was said About the DDG115, at its Ceremonial  Start: "“While this keel-laying marks an important step in our construction process, we are focused today in welcoming the Peralta as the newest members of our Bath Iron Works family. Mrs. Peralta, Karen and Icela, we are honored to have you here, and stand in deep appreciation of your son and brother’s ultimate service to our nation,” Kenyon said. “Over the coming months, we will continue to build the Rafael Peralta with knowledge and expertise honed over the decades. She will be a true and steady vessel and will reflect the spirit of her namesake.”

The DDG 119 will advance the "Peralta, DDG115" by tweaking lessons learned during Peralta's build process, and as it installs the newest proven advances in military systems since earlier DDG51. The DDG119 will rule for another 20 years. It's a "concurrency only within its step progression" coming from prior builds, and developed by time for its systems. It's not a concurrency testing model sitting confused during an ongoing ship build. Its pure deep Blue water, even while the Navy's builder's floats another stop loss program. Such as the DDG1000 series, failed attempt from its own continuous upgrading and military do-overs imposed. Its continuous money flow for spending has now stopped on with this new DDG ship series at three ships.

Note: the DDG1000 series is a long term 4.6 Billion dollar build scope with a stop loss impounding it. It then becomes a true Taxpayer money pit not serving the nation well at this time! The Zumwalt Cookie cutter productions are just another ten years away for the DDG1000 family, at which time the Arleigh-Burke, becomes more of a needed spear handle than the Spear Point, in its assigned warfare battle scope, The Zumwalt class, also becomes the next "Pretty (nasty)".

Always improving model is admirable, and should be "always part of the plan", from a ship's dock cradle to the scrap-metal program. However, "the always tinkering model" is also madness in the shop. A war starts at 3:00 AM, and not the three years down the road of tinkering, as allowed under "always tinkering" program of concurrency, or after its sea trial completion with a, "it's still unreliable underneath its tinkering rating”. War is today and yesterday, not when a DDG model could be readied for combat during the next eighteen months of war? The DDG51's is ready at this time and its still very good, and it's comfortably the best today, and ready for Yesterday around the world!

This is why the Navy wisely steps back into the Arleigh -Burke era with the newest proven systems. Where 99% of the world's nations can't match it. It's keeping smartly ahead of all potential adversarial Navies. The current DDG has some lethal secrets yet deployed.  

Here is what the Navy Hints at on the next 14 DDG51's, #113-#123. While going further with its Flight III block point build found in #124-#126, as currently funded. 

"The Navy plans to introduce the first DDG 51 Flight III on the second ship in FY 2016. Once Flight III requirements are approved, the new baseline will be implemented as an engineering change proposal. It is anticipated that the Flight III design will replace 

• the Aegis AN/SPY-1D radar with the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR),
• and provide for more electrical power and cooling capacity, 
• providing the next generation of integrated air and missile defense 
• and joint battle space awareness."

After Shock Section:

Ingalls Shipbuilding Launches First Ship Since Destroyer Program Restart

By: Megan Eckstein

March 30, 2015 2:26 PM • Updated: March 30, 2015 3:08 PM

"Ingalls Shipbuilding launched the first destroyer in four years at its yard in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, marking the return of the ship class after being stopped and then restarted.

John Finn (DDG-113) is the 63rd Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyer and the first of the Flight IIA restart ships being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW).

“This is the first DDG-51 class ship to launch in almost four years, and we’re both proud and excited with the progress the program is making,” DDG-51 program manager Capt. Mark Vandroff said in a Navy statement.
“I look forward to John Finn joining the fleet and the other ships of her class to continue in the legacy of success that is the Arleigh Burke destroyer.”

"The Navy decided in July 2008 to restart the DDG-51 production line and limit the newer DDG-1000 ship class to only three ships. As a Flight IIA destroyer, the ship will be outfitted with the Aegis Combat System and engage in air, undersea and surface warfare and ballistic missile defense. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2016, the Navy will upgrade the ships to a Flight III configuration, which will include the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR).

The Navy needs this ship, even if it is in order to pull one DDG51, into an off duty status for upgrading it, making it advanced just like this new John Finn will soon sail with the newest advanced installations.