USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54)

The Curtis Wilbur 2004 in Vietnamese waters
Overview
Order	December 13, 1988
Keel laying	March 12, 1991
Launch	May 16, 1992
1. Period of service
Commissioning	March 19, 1994
Technical specifications
displacement	8315 tons
length	154 m
width	20 metres
Draft	9.5 meters
crew	26 officers, 315 men
drive	2 propellers, driven by 4 gas turbines; 100,000 wave horsepower
speed	31 knots
Armament	90 VLS cells 2 triple torpedo launchers 1 127 mm gun

The USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) is a guided missile destroyer for the United States Navy . She belongs to the Arleigh Burke class . The ship is named after the 34th Secretary of the Navy , Curtis D. Wilbur .

history

construction

At the end of 1988, the contract to build DDG-54 was awarded to Bath Iron Works . There the ship was laid down in March 1991. After 14 months in dry dock and almost two years for final equipment and test drives, the Curtis Wilbur was put into service on March 19, 1994. The first home port was San Diego .

Emergency trips

The first mission trips took place in the summer of 1994, the destroyer took part in the RIMPAC maneuver in the Pacific. From October 1994 women were accepted into the crew , making the Curtis Wilbur the first AEGIS ship with women on board. The first transfer led the ship in 1995 in the Persian Gulf , where the Curtis Wilbur took part in Operation Southern Watch .

In 1996 the destroyer changed its home port, and since then the ship has operated as a forward deployed unit from the Japanese port of Yokosuka . From there, the first trip with the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV-62) followed in 1997, followed by local exercises and maneuvers later.

In 1998 the Curtis Wilbur was overhauled for the first time in Yokosuka. Then she took part in exercises with the Navy of South Korea. In 1999 there was a mission with the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) . Together with the USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) , the three ships moved at high speed to the Persian Gulf, where Operation Southern Watch was once again in the foreground. 2001, again with the Kitty Hawk , the ship took part in Operation Enduring Freedom . In 2006 and 2007 the destroyer took part in the Valiant Shield exercise with the Kitty Hawk , and in 2007 in Exercise Malabar with Indian, Japanese, Australian and Singaporean naval forces. In 2008, the destroyer relocated with the Kitty Hawk and took part with the combat group on a port visit in Hong Kong . At the end of March 2010, the destroyer was used to search for survivors on board the Cheonan (PCC-772) . According to official investigations, the South Korean ship was torpedoed off the North Korean coast, and a North Korean submarine is said to have carried out the attack.

In March 2011, the Curtis Wilbur was sent off the coast of Miyagi to search for survivors after the Tōhoku earthquake .

Web links

Commons : USS Curtis Wilbur  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Entry in the Naval Vessel Register (Engl.)
• official homepage on navy.mil (engl.)