On my most recent trip back to the old childhood stomping grounds in Pascagoula, I made my regular pilgrimage to The Point (the rough site of the old USCG station and Pascagoula River Lighthouse) and gazed out upon HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding to see who is in the water.
Looking out to the Ingalls West Bank, which was created in the 1970s for the Spruance class DDs, Tico class CGs, and Tarawa class LHAs. Photo: Chris Eger
In the water at the mouth of the Pascagoula River under the big bird crane is PCU USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), a Flight III Burke, which launched on 25 March 2025 and is fitting out. Note another Burke behind her, perhaps the future USS George M. Neal (DDG-131), which is nearing launch later this year. Photo: Chris Eger
Next, afloat in the Pascagoula River proper, is the future USS Bougainville (LHA-8), the first Flight I America-class Lightning carrier. There has been a building LHA or LHD in this stretch of the river my entire life, and I am in my 50s! Photo: Chris Eger
The big 45,000-ton ‘phib began construction in 2018, has been in the water since 2019, and is expected to be delivered to the Navy in August 2026. Needs lots more topside work on that island before then. Photo: Chris Eger
Then there is the future USS Harrisburg (LPD 30), the first Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. Laid down in 2022, she took to the water last January and is fitting out. Photo: Chris Eger
Further upstream is the scratch-and-dent old spaceship, USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000), looking very rough just months before her 10th birthday as a “commissioned” warship. Note, her forward Advanced Gun Systems house has been removed to clear space for four launchers intended for the Dark Eagle Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) missile, with each canister capable of holding three missiles. Photo: Chris Eger
And in the old WWII-era East Bank, in one of the circa 1960s submarine berths, is the future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128), a Flight III Burke scheduled to be commissioned this Fall in Whittier, Alaska. Photo: Chris Eger
Also, Kevin’s Corner is still making great burgers.
The past week has been a very busy one when it comes to new warships coming online and old ones getting the (sometimes hard) goodbye.
Comings
The future Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128), equipped with the new-to-the-fleet AN/SPY-6 (V)1 radar and Aegis Baseline 10 Combat System, recently completed her builder’s sea trials.
Stevens will be commissioned in Alaska in May or June 2026 as she honors the former senator from that state.
Ingalls delivered the first Flight III, USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), in June 2023 and has five others under construction. In all seriousness, these should probably be re-classified as Lucas-class cruisers (CG) as they are stepping into the AAW boss role in carrier battle groups left vacant by the retirement of the Ticonderogas.
Speaking of Flight III Burkes, the future USS Louis H. Wilson Jr (DDG 126) was christened on Bath Iron Works’ drydock over the weekend.
She was sponsored and christened by the daughter of Mississippi-born General Louis H. Wilson Jr., USMC, who served as the Twenty-Sixth Commandant of the Marine Corps during its immediate post-Vietnam rebuilding process. Wilson was no slouch when it came to valor, having earned a MoH while leading a rifle company of the Ninth Marines on Guam in 1944 at the ripe old age of 24.
When it comes to another storied WWII vet, the 82-year-old Gato-class fleet boat USS Cobia (SS-245) is looking great after a dry docking at Fincantieri shipyard. Among other things, she has blasted, primed, and coated with 1,945 gallons of paint, and her sea chests have been cleared of mussels and blanked off with metal plates. A leak was also found in main ballast tank 2, which was drained, cleaned, and repaired.
Her $1.5 million refresh is scheduled to take six weeks and keep her ship-shape for another 25 years, after which she will go back on display at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc around mid-October.
Cobia was last dry-docked in the fall of 1996, which tracks.
Goings
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) was officially decommissioned during a ceremony onboard Naval Station Norfolk on Sept. 25, 2025. Commissioned in 1989, she has given 36 years of hard service and is the second U.S. Navy warship to carry the name.
Now, only seven of the 27 Ticos are still in active service, with another 15, all decommissioned since 2022, nominally in the Reserve Fleet. Five earlier non-VLS Ticos have all been disposed of.
Finally, the retired Norwegian Olso-class (modified Dealy class DEs) frigate KNM Bergen (F301) was disposed of in a sinkex off the coast of her homeland last month.
There is some confusion over whether she was sunk by a torpedo from the Ula-class submarine KNM Uthaug (S 304) or a Quickstrike delivered by a visiting USAF B-2. As some of the photos released by the Norwegian Navy are clearly taken via periscope, it may be a combination of the two.
It is known that a visiting B-2A “Spirit of Indiana” (82-1069), accompanied by a Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35A Lightning II and P-8A Poseidon aircraft, did use a 2,000-pound class GBU-31 JDAM (Quicksink variant) against “a maritime target” off Andøya in the Norwegian Sea, on 3 September, so this may have been against ex-Bergen.
Either way, it was a dramatic end to the 2,000-ton frigate, which served faithfully on the front lines of the Cold War from 1967 to 2005.
Had a chance to swing by my old childhood stomping grounds at “The Point” in Pascagoula and captured some snapshots of the Navy’s newest under construction at HII.
This included the 13th and final Flight I San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, the future USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29), fitting out post-delivery at the yard’s historic deep-water East Bank, where the old LPHs and the last American-made cruise ships were completed.
The future USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29). She carries the AN/SPY-6(V)2 EASR rotating radar. Photo by Chris Eger
Note her hangar arrangement with 21-cell Mk 49 RAM GMLS launcher to starboard and 30mm Mk 46 Mod 2 Gun Weapon System (GWS) to port. Photo by Chris Eger
As well as a good shot of her bow, with the ‘Richard McCool” nameplate over her bridge next to her SLQ-32 EW system. Photo by Chris Eger
While the drydock is empty, the future USS Ted Stevens (DDG-128), the 78th Burke, a Flight III vessel, is fitting out. Note her AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) and the Aegis Baseline 10 Combat System, which has a much different look from the old Flight I and II Burkes.
The future USS Ted Stevens (DDG-128). Note the bow of a building Burke to her portside and an LPD behind her. Photo by Chris Eger
Meanwhile, further down the Pascagoula River is the future Flight I America-class big deck gator, USS Bougainville (LHA-8), which was launched last October. The first in her class with a well deck, Bougainville should rightly be classified as LHD-9, but nobody cares what I think.
The future USS Bougainville (LHA-8) fitting out. Photo by Chris Eger
And the ever-troubled 15,000-ton Zumwalt-class “destroyer” PCU Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002), which was awarded 13 years ago and took to the water in 2018 but has not been commissioned as of yet. She has been in Pascagoula now for three years where her 155 mm/62 Mark 51 Advanced Gun System (AGS) will be removed and replaced by planned LRHW hypersonic missile tubes. As you can tell, her guns are still installed, so there is that.
PCU Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002). Photo by Chris Eger
Meanwhile, across the mud lumps over at the old Naval Station Pascagoula on Singing River Island, two new (to them) MSC Ready Reserve Force sealift ships were tied up, M/V Cape Arundel and M/V Cape Cortes, formerly the M/V Honor and M/V Freedom. These 50,000-ton RORO vehicle carriers have been homeported there since last October.
NS Pascagoula was envisioned in the 1980s to base a battleship action group but only ever got to homeport some NRF short hull FFGs and a couple old non-VLS Ticos, so it is nice to see 100,000 tons of Something finally kept there. Photo by Chris Eger
Visited my old Pascagoula stomping grounds at “The Point,” which juts out into the Pascagoula River towards Singing River Island (the old NAVSTA Pascagoula) and is framed by the WWII-era Ingalls East Bank and the Cold War-era Ingalls West Bank.
A couple of new sights to see.
The first of class guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) arrived at Ingalls on Saturday to start a two-year process to install a quartet of 87-inch (diameter) hypersonic missile tubes instead of her failed 155mm gun system. Each tube will hold a trio of Army-Navy joint Common Hypersonic Glide Bodies (C-HGB), for a total of 12 missiles on the ship. These will augment the ship’s 80 MK 57 VLS modules aft, each capable of carrying everything the MK 41 VLS can except an SM-2ER.
All photos by Chris Eger, and please note as such if reused elsewhere.
Commissioned 15 October 2016, hopefully, Zumwalt will be combat-ready with her hypersonics around 2026. (Photo: Chris Eger)
Down the river from Zumwalt is her younger sister, the PCU USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002), which left Bath on “sea trials” in January 2022 and is expected to enter service with her hypersonics possibly in 2024.
I always thought the Zumwalts had superb hangar facilities and they can reportedly carry two MH-60Rs and three MQ-8 Fire Scouts at the same time. (Photo: Chris Eger)
Near LBJ on the old Singing River is PCU USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29), the 13th and final Flight I San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, which is fitting out.
She has several changes from the rest of her class including an Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) volume air search radar, simplified bow works, and a stern gate that is open at the top. McCool will likely be commissioned later this year or early next year, and the Marines really need her.
Near McCool is the future USCGC Calhoun (WMSL-759), the tenth Legend-class National Security cutter.
She just completed her acceptance sea trials early this month and should be leaving for commissioning soon in Charleston, her future homeport. This will leave only the USCGC Friedman (WMSL-760) under construction and a planned 12th NSC still uncertain.
When it comes to Burkes, the Navy’s first Flight III of the class, future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), is on hand and looking great, with the Navy already in possession of the greyhound and expected to leave in October for her commissioning. To the rear of Lucas, with her glad rags flying, is the newly christened PCU USS Ted Stevens (DDG-128), the 78th Burke, which just took to the water last week and only picked up her name the Saturday before this snap was shot.
If you look at DDG-125’s bridge, force protection is already active and ready to go with some M240s on the wings, as it should be.
The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11) was decommissioned in Mayport on Monday. Built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, Sioux City was the first ship named for the Iowa city and commissioned 17 November 2018, at the Naval Academy. In all, she was only in service for 4 years, 8 months, and 28 days, most of which was assigned to the Florida-based Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two.
MARTINIQUE, FRANCE (June 23, 2021) The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11) conducts a bilateral maritime exercise with the French Navy Floréal-class frigate FS Germinal (F735) following a port visit to Martinique, France, June 23, 2021. Sioux City is deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations to support Joint Interagency Task Force South’s mission, which includes counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Marianne Guemo)
As the Navy just plain doesn’t want these ships anymore, and the Freedom-variant has an albatross of an engineering suite that seems almost totally doomed to fail at some point, she is now headed to the inactive fleet.
However, you can’t say that she didn’t have an active career during her short time in commission. Via the Navy:
Sioux City completed four successful deployments in December 2020, July 2021, December 2021, and October 2022. The ship deployed to U.S. Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Fleet, integrated with a carrier strike group, performed exercises with partner navies, and conducted joint maneuvers with other U.S. Navy warships. While deployed in 2022, Sioux City provided a maritime security presence enabling the free flow of commerce in key corridors of trade. Sioux City was also the first LCS to operate in U.S. Fifth and Sixth fleets across the Atlantic where they participated in counter-drug trafficking operations with the U.S. Coast Guard to seize over 10,000 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated $500 million.
The fine citizens of Sioux City deserved better.
Old Burkes get extended
The news comes in tandem that a four-pack of early Flight I (no hanger, SLQ-32, two CIWS, Harpoon) Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers will be given further work to remain in service, stretching their service life beyond 35 years.
180720-N-OY799-0326 PHILIPPINE SEA (July 20, 2018) The guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) steams alongside the Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), during a transit of the Philippine Sea. Ronald Reagan, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, provides a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kenneth Abbate/Released)
USS Ramage (DDG 61), homeported in Norfolk, VA, and USS Benfold (DDG 65), based in Yokosuka, Japan, have been extended by five years to FY 2035 and FY 2036, respectively.
USS Mitscher (DDG 57), also homeported in Norfolk, and USS Milius (DDG 69), homeported out of Yokosuka, have been extended by four years to FY 2034 and FY 2035, respectively.
This hits the feels personally as I was a “constructor plankowner” on all four of these tin cans I worked on each extensively while I was at Ingalls and even made it out on Ramage’s pre-commissioning tiger cruise.
Some of my personal snaps from the Ramage’s May 1995 tiger cruise
Each of these ships has received Aegis Baseline 9 upgrades through the DDG Modernization program. The program provided a comprehensive mid-life modernization to these destroyers, ensuring they have the right systems to remain capable and reliable to the end of their service life. Based on analysis by the Navy’s technical community, these extensions were feasible because each ship properly adhered to lifecycle maintenance plans and were well maintained in good material condition by their crews.
Ted Stevens hits the water.
Ingalls in Pascagoula this week announced the successful translation and launch of the Navy’s third Flight III Burke, the future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128). She is set for her official christening this weekend.
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division successfully launched the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Ted Stevens (DDG 128). The ship will be christened Saturday, 19 August 2023 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. HII photo
HII photo
Ted Stevens is the 76th Arleigh Burke-class ship, and its name honors former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who served as a pilot in World War II and later as a U.S. senator representing Alaska. At the time he left office in 2009, he was the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator in history.
Ingalls has delivered 35 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the U.S. Navy including the first Flight III, USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), in June of this year. In addition, Ingalls Shipbuilding has four Flight IIIs currently under construction and was awarded an additional six destroyers earlier this month. Ted Stevens will be christened Saturday, Aug. 19, while Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), George M. Neal (DDG 131), and Sam Nunn (DDG 133) are also under construction at Ingalls.
