On October 7, 2023, an official ceremony was held in Tampa (Florida) for the commissioning of the DDG 125 Jack H. Lucas destroyer into the US Navy, which became the first Arleigh Burke-type ship of the new Flight III series. It became the 75th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the US Navy.
The ceremony of commissioning the DDG 125 Jack H. Lucas destroyer into the US Navy, which became the first Arleigh Burke type ship of the new Flight III series. Tampa, 07.10.2023 (c) E.J. Hersom / US Department of Defense
The destroyer DDG 125 Jack H. Lucas was built at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation HII (formerly Huntington Ingalls Industries) in Pascagoula (Mississippi). Contracts for the construction of the first six Arleigh Burke-type destroyers of the new Flight III series were issued by the US Navy in June 2013 to both shipyards building ships of this type - Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula (a contract for three ships worth $ 3.331 billion) and Bath Iron Works (as part of General Dynamics Corporation) in Bath (state Maine) (a contract for one Flight IIA TI series ship and three Flight III series ships worth $3.56 billion), although the actual cost of building the ships then increased due to the rising cost of the new weapon system. The Jack H. Lucas lead ship was laid at Ingalls Shipbuilding on November 8, 2019, and launched on June 4, 2021. Factory sea trials of the destroyer were launched on December 12, 2022, and on June 27, 2023, it was officially transferred to the US Navy. The ship is to operate in the Pacific Ocean and be based at San Diego in California. The achievement of the initial combat readiness (IOC) status by the lead destroyer is scheduled for 2024.
The destroyer was named in honor of Jacqueline Harold "Jack" Lucas (1928 - 2008), an American marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945 for heroism in the battles on Iwo Jima. At the time of the award, Lucas was 17 years old, and he remains the youngest Marine and the youngest American serviceman in World War II to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
The program to create a modified version of the destroyer Arleigh Burke was launched by the US Navy in 2010 to replace the cancelled design program for the advanced CG(X) missile cruiser. The basis of the Flight III modification is the installation of a new version of the AEGIS Baseline 10 integrated weapon system with a new Raytheon AN/SPY-6(v)1 AMDR (Air and Missile Defense Radar) radar with advanced anti-missile capabilities, instead of the former AN/SPY-1 series radar. The AMDR radar system was previously supposed to be installed on cruisers of the CG(X) program, but on Arleigh Burke-type destroyers of the Flight III series it is installed in a lightweight version (the diameter of the headlights is 4.3 m instead of the cruising 6.7 m). Also, the ships of the Flight III series have a reinforced hull structure, partially modified architecture of superstructures, increased generator power, new fire protection systems and a new improved air conditioning system. The total displacement of the Flight III series destroyer is 9676 metric tons.
To date, the US Navy has contracted 14 destroyers of the Flight III series - DDG 125, DDG 126 and from DDG 128 to DDG 139, including eight from Ingalls Shipbuilding and six from Bath Iron Works. The second DDG 128 series destroyer Ted Stevens was launched at Ingalls Shipbuilding on August 15, 2023. The first destroyer of the Flight III series of the Bath Iron Works DDG 126 Louis H. Wilson Jr. shipyard was laid down only on May 16, 2023. In total, the US Navy is now planning to build 42 Arleigh Burke-type destroyers of the Flight III series.
The ceremony of commissioning the DDG 125 Jack H. Lucas destroyer into the US Navy, which became the first Arleigh Burke type ship of the new Flight III series. Tampa, 07.10.2023 (c) E.J. Hersom / US Department of Defense
The first Arleigh Burke type destroyer of the new Flight III DDG 125 Jack H series . Lucas before commissioning the US Navy at the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation HII shipyard in Pascagoula (Mississippi), 09/26/2023 (c) HII
The first Arleigh Burke-type destroyer of the new Flight III DDG 125 Jack H. Lucas series on trials, May 2023 (c) HII
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