 USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) |
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| Career (US) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Winston S. Churchill |
| Namesake: | Winston S. Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
| Ordered: | 6 January 1995 |
| Laid down: | 7 May 1998 |
| Launched: | 17 April 1999 |
| Commissioned: | 10 March 2001 |
| Motto: | "In war: Resolution; In peace: Good Will" |
| Status: | Active in service as of 2008 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Arleigh Burke class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 9,200 tons (9,350 t) |
| Length: | 509.5 ft (155.3 m) |
| Beam: | 66 ft (20.1 m) |
| Draft: | 31 ft (9.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 100,000 shp (75 MW) |
| Speed: | 30+ knots (56+ km/h) |
| Complement: | 32 officers, 348 enlisted |
| Armament: | 1 × 32 cell, 1 × 64 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems; 96 × RIM-67 SM-2 Standard, BGM-109 Tomahawk, or RUM-139 VL-Asroc missiles; 1 × 5" (127 mm)/62 cal., 2 × 25 mm, 4 × .50 cal. guns, 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS; 2 × Mk 46 triple torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 × SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters |
USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy homeported in NS Norfolk, Virginia.
Winston S. Churchill sets the final physical pattern for all subsequent Flight IIA ships by mounting the Mk. 45 mod 4 - 5" (127 mm)/62 caliber gun, a major improvement over the previous Mk. 45 mod 3 - 5 in (127 mm)/54 caliber gun—the longer barrel allows more complete combustion of the propellant, reducing barrel flare and improving projectile velocity and firepower against shore targets. Additionally, the Mk. 45 mod 4 uses a modified gunhouse, designed to reduce radar signature. The contract to build Churchill was awarded to the Bath Iron Works Corporation on 6 January 1995, and the keel was laid down on 7 May 1998. Churchill was launched 17 April 1999, delivered 13 October 2000, and commissioned 10 March 2001. The launch and christening of the ship was co-sponsored by Lady Soames, the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill and Mrs. Janet Cohen, wife of the Secretary of Defense. Churchill is the only active U.S. Navy warship named after a foreign national (though Churchill had an American mother and was granted honorary American citizenship), and is the first destroyer and only the fourth U.S. warship named after an Englishman. (The others were Alfred, an armed merchantman named after King Alfred the Great; Raleigh, a continental frigate, named after Sir Walter Raleigh and Effingham, named after Thomas Howard the 3rd Earl of Effingham who resigned his commission rather than fight the Americans during the American Revolutionary War.) Churchill is the only U.S. Navy vessel to have a Royal Navy Officer assigned to the ship's company.[1] The U.S. Navy had a permanent U.S. Navy Officer on the Royal Navy ship, HMS Marlborough. Churchill is also the only U.S. Naval vessel to fly a foreign ensign. The Royal Navy's white ensign is flown as well as the stars and stripes. On 14 September 2001, (three days after the September 11, 2001 attacks), the Deutsche Marine destroyer Lütjens passed close aboard Churchill and rendered honors by manning the rails, flying the Stars and Stripes at half-mast, and the display of a banner reading "We Stand By You." An e-mail sent by an Ensign on board Churchill described the occasion.[2] On 22 August 2005, Churchill was involved in a minor collision with USS McFaul (DDG-74) off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. Both ships suffered minor damage, and no injuries were reported. Both ships returned to their homeport at Naval Station Norfolk under their own power. On 22 January 2006 Winston S. Churchill captured a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean as part of an ongoing effort to help maintain law and order in the region.[3]
References
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.
- ^ Kennedy, Harold (April 2001). USS Churchill Shows Off High-Tech Gear. National Defense. NDIA. Retrieved on 2007-04-15. “She also is the only U.S. Navy ship to have a British Royal Navy officer assigned as a member of the ship’s company. Lt. Angus Essenhigh, of Portsmouth, England, is serving as ship’s navigator during his two-year tour of duty.”
- ^ United States Navy (2001). This is an e-mail from an Ensign stationed aboard the ship during the UK deployment. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.
- ^ Headquarters, United States Central Command (2006-01-22). "Suspected Pirates Captured Off Somali Coast". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
External links
- Navy.mil: USS Winston S. Churchill
- US Navy Press Release: USS Winston S. Churchill Intercepts Pirate Ship
- DDG-81 Personnel Roster at HullNumber.com
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| Flight I ships |
Arleigh Burke | Barry | John Paul Jones | Curtis Wilbur | Stout | John S. McCain | Mitscher | Laboon | Russell | Paul Hamilton | Ramage | Fitzgerald | Stethem | Carney | Benfold | Gonzalez | Cole | The Sullivans | Milius | Hopper | Ross |
| Flight II ships | |
| Flight IIA ships |
5"/54 variant: Oscar Austin | Roosevelt |
| List of destroyers of the United States Navy | List of destroyer classes of the United States Navy | |
