Tag Archives: USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51)

Birth of the Burkes

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Official caption of this 1982 work of art: “Artist’s concept, by Vincent Piecyk, of an experimental guided missile destroyer planned for delivery to the Navy in 1989. Piecyk equips his destroyer with an AGM-84A Harpoon missile, a RIM-67 Standard-MR/SM2 missile, a 5-inch 54-caliber gun, and a Phalanx 20mm close-in weapon system (CIWS). In addition, the 1989 destroyer will be equipped with YBGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, advanced lightweight torpedoes, and a high-quality anti-air warfare (AAW) system.”

U.S. Navy photo DNSC8203847, National Archives Identifier 6349352

Fast forward a decade and the result looked fairly close to the concept.

A starboard view of the guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) underway off the Virginia Capes. 19 July 1991. Navy photo DNSC9201471 by PHAN Vann. National Archives Identifier 6474766

Ordered on 2 April 1985, launched on 6 December 1988, and commissioned on Independence Day 1991, USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) is still in service at age 34– and she has 92 sisters in service or planned, making them arguably the most numerous and successful destroyer class since the 98-ship WWII-era Gearing class.

Bunting and a rainbow flag hoist adorn the guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) on its commissioning day, July 4, 1991, in Norfolk. DNST9202340. National Archives Identifier 6478464

And just like that, the Burkes are 30

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A port bow view of the guided-missile destroyer USS ARLEIGH BURKE (DDG-51) underway in rough seas. Camera Operator: PH3 JAMES COLLINS Date Shot: 31 Mar 1993 DNSC9303708

USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), the paterfamilias of the largest class of warships built in the West since Korea and longest production run for any post-WWII U.S. Navy surface combatant, was laid down at Bath Iron Works in Maine on this day in 1988, set for a 1991 commission.

Elsewhere that day, Roy Orbison died of a heart attack at age 52, Nelson Mandela was transferred to Capetown’s Victor Vester Prison, Mikhail Gorbachev was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and Ronald Reagan was busy packing for the ranch in California as George H. W. Bush was slated to move into the Oval Office.

The top of the Top 100 that week, as related by Casey Kasem, was Chicago’s power ballad Look Away.

To borrow a line from the song, the Navy may have been looking (hard) but they haven’t “Found someone else” and Burke remains on active duty. In 2011, she completed a hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) modernization to extend her service life to 40~ years, well into the 2030s. By that time, as many as 104 Burke-class destroyers could be on the Navy List.