The USS Dewey, the Navy’s most technologically advanced warship arrived on Friday, Feb. 26, at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. It was greeted by dignitaries at Anaheim Bay and was led by a fireboat spraying water into the air to celebrate the ship’s arrival.
The ship is set to be commissioned and officially welcomed into the Navy in a formal ceremony to be held Saturday, March 6.
The new destroyer honors Adm. George Dewey (1837-1917) who commanded the Asiatic Station from the cruiser Olympia. Shortly after the onset of the Spanish-American War, Dewey led his squadron of warships into Manila Bay on April 30, 1898. The next morning, his squadron destroyed the Spanish fleet in only two hours without a single American loss.
A widely popular hero of his day, Dewey was commissioned admiral of the Navy, a rank created for him, in March 1903. Two previous ships have proudly carried his name. The first was a destroyer (DD 349) that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor and went on to receive 13 battle stars for World War II service. The second was a destroyer commissioned as a guided-missile frigate before being reclassified as a guided-missile destroyer.
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will deliver the ceremony’s principal address. Deborah Mullen will serve as the sponsor of the Dewey. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when she gives the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”
Dewey is the 55th of 62 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
The ship will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection.
Dewey will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and contains a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare in keeping with “A Cooperative Strategy of 21st Century Seapower,” the new maritime strategy that postures the sea services to apply maritime power to protect U.S. vital interests in an increasingly interconnected and uncertain world.
Cmdr. Warren R. Buller, of Concord, Mass., will become the first commanding officer of the ship and will lead the crew of 276 people. The 9,500-ton Dewey was built by Bath Iron Works. The ship is 509 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet and a navigational draft of 31 feet. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots. Upon commissioning, Dewey will prepare to set sail for its homeport of San Diego.
