The U.S. Navy has commissioned its latest Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the USS Ted Stevens, into active service.
The warship, built by HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding and delivered at the start of the year, was welcomed into the fleet on Saturday in a ceremony in Whittier, Alaska.
The Flight III Aegis destroyers carry the AN/SPY-6(V)1 air and missile defence radar (AMDR) system alongside the Aegis Baseline 10 combat system.
As per a U.S. Navy statement: “The AMDR enables Flight III ships to simultaneously perform anti-air warfare and ballistic missile defence, which satisfies the Navy’s critical need for an enhanced surface combatant Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capability.”
USS Ted Stevens is named after a former United States Senator for Alaska; a decorated Army Air Corps pilot in World War Two, he was the longest serving Republican Senator in history during his tenure.
The warship is now scheduled to sail to her homeport in Norfolk, Virginia, where she will join the operational fleet.
To date, Ingalls Shipbuilding has built 36 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers for the U.S. Navy; USS Ted Stevens is its second Flight III destroyer.
The yard is currently building a further five more Flight III warships — Jeremiah Denton, George M. Neal, Sam Nunn, Thad Cochran, and John F. Lehman — with another seven in the pipeline.
These will be named Telesforo Trinidad, Ernest E. Evans, Charles French, Richard J. Danzig, Intrepid, Robert Kerrey, and Ray Mabus
- You can read more details on the U.S. Navy website
