$2.5 billion per hull, grease pencil not included
Official caption: “Keeping Tally. A sailor tallies launches as the USS Thomas Hudner fires a Tomahawk land attack missile in support of Operation Epic Fury in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 5, 2026.”
Note the columns for both TLAMS (43 marks) and SM-3ERs (9 marks); surely a story in two parts, while the fact that Hudner only has a 96-cell VLS is the third act of this tale.
260305-D-D0477-2924M.
The first Flight IIA (TI) Burke, USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), commissioned 1 December 2018, and the 66th hull of the class, and since joining the fleet, has been a SUFRFLANT asset, based in Mayport.
Her crew famously earned a Combat Action Ribbon for her time (October 2023 – April 2024) in the Red Sea during the quasi-war with the Houthis. You can bet a second one is inbound.