USS ''Ramage'' (DDG-61) is an
guided missile destroyer
A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers who have a prim ...
of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. The ship is named for
Vice Admiral Lawson P. Ramage
Lawson Paterson "Red" Ramage (19 January 1909 – 15 April 1990) was a Vice admiral (United States), vice admiral in the United States Navy and a noted submarine commander during World War II. Ramage was decorated with the Medal of Honor and sev ...
, a notable
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
commander and
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
recipient in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
''Ramage'' was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
4 January 1993 at the
Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 ...
in
Pascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 22 ...
,
launched 11 February 1994, sponsored by Barbara Ramage (wife of the admiral), and
commissioned 22 July 1995.
Construction
''Ramage'' was constructed utilizing efficient modular shipbuilding techniques pioneered by Ingalls in the 1970s and enhanced in recent years through the development of Product-Oriented Shipbuilding Technology (POST).
[ Note: Quoted text has since been removed from the site.]
These innovative techniques allow a large ship, such as ''Ramage'', to be built in three separate hull and
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
modules and later joined to form the complete ship. Heavy machinery, such as propulsion equipment, as well as piping, duct work, and electrical cabling were installed in hundreds of sub-assemblies, which were joined to form dozens of assemblies. These assemblies were then joined to form the three hull modules. The ship's superstructure, or "deck house", was lifted atop the mid-body module early in the assembly process.
''Ramage''s launching was as unique as her construction. The ship was moved over land via Ingalls' wheel-on-rail transfer system and onto the shipyard's launch and recovery drydock. The drydock was ballasted down, and DDG-61 floated free on 11 February 1994. She was then moved to her outfitting dock in preparation for the traditional christening ceremony and completion of outfitting and testing.
Service history
On 25 November 1996, ''Ramage'' embarked on her maiden deployment to the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
. ''Ramage'' visited six countries and made 16 port calls. ''Ramage'' was awarded the
Meritorious Unit Commendation
The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...
ribbon, the
Sea Service Ribbon
A Sea Service Ribbon is an award of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, the United States Army, U.S. Army, and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps which recognizes thos ...
, and the
Armed Forces Service Medal
The Armed Forces Service Medal (AFSM) is a military award of the United States military that was created on January 11, 1996, by President Bill Clinton under . The AFSM is a deployed service medal that is presented to those service members who e ...
during this deployment.
In March 1997 ''Ramage'' provided logistic and communications support for
Marines
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
in Albania during
Operation Silver Wake
Operation Silver Wake was a non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) led by the United States to evacuate American citizens, noncombatants and designated third country nationals from Albania in March 1997. The operation was performed by U.S. Ma ...
.
On 21 July 1997, ''Ramage'' was an escort of the museum ship when she set sail in
Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Description
The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...
.
![USS Constitution Sail200d](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/USS_Constitution_Sail200d.jpg)
On 24 May 1999, as a member of the Battle Group, ''Ramage'' departed on her second deployment to the Mediterranean and Arabian Seas, MED/MEF 2–99. While deployed overseas, ''Ramage'' visited eight countries and made 15 port visits. ''Ramage'' also participated in Operation Allied Force off the coast of Montenegro.
Following the
11 September 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, ''Ramage'' sortied to the waters off the East Coast of the United States where she provided extended radar coverage of the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and the surrounding area in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
''Ramage'' deployed with the Surface Strike Group to the
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...
. During this deployment ''Ramage'' participated in multi-national exercises Neo Tapon 04 and Iron Siren 04.
''Ramage'' again deployed to the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
in support of the
Global War on Terrorism
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
in October 2006. While on station ''Ramage'' participated in Operations Argos Asterion and Argos Declion. ''Ramage'' was also the first ship to respond to the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
during the
Ethiopian and Somalian hostilities of late December 2006 providing extended coordination for
P-3 coverage of the events. ''Ramage'' visited eight countries and conducted ten port calls.
In August 2008 ''Ramage'' departed for a seven-month deployment in the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
with the Expeditionary Strike Group. ''Ramage'' participated in multi-national Operation Red Reef and Focused Operation Trident Knight. ''Ramage'' returned to home port in April 2009 after visiting four countries and making six port calls.
''Ramage'' departed for the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
and
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
to participate in
Exercise Joint Warrior
Exercise Joint Warrior is a major biannual multi-national military exercise which takes place in the United Kingdom, predominately in north west Scotland. It is the successor of the Neptune Warrior exercises and Joint Maritime Course.
Joint W ...
09 in September 2009. ''Ramage'' operated with and many other multi-national naval units. After making five ports of call in four countries, ''Ramage'' returned in November 2009. On 28 October 2009 while pierside at
Gdynia
Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...
, Poland after participating in a Joint Warrior exercise, a sailor on the ship conducting maintenance accidentally discharged one of the ship's
M240 machine gun
The M240 – officially the Machine Gun, 7.62 mm, M240 – is the U.S. military designation for the FN MAG, a family of belt-fed, gas-operated medium machine guns that chamber the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge.
The M240 has been used by the U ...
s into the port city. Two rounds from the gun's three-round burst hit a warehouse, causing no injuries, the third round was not recovered. Local police allowed the ship to depart as originally scheduled later that day after questioning the ship's crew.
''Ramage'' departed on deployment to the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
on 5 January 2010. In late January 2010, ''Ramage'' was dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea to assist with the search-and-rescue effort in the wake of the crash of
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 was an international commercial flight scheduled from Beirut to Addis Ababa that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after takeoff from Rafic Hariri International Airport on 25 January 2010, killing all 90 pe ...
.
''Ramage'' also provided Ballistic Missile Defense to the Eastern Mediterranean during this deployment. ''Ramage''s port visits included:
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, Italy;
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
, Israel;
Kuşadası
Kuşadası () is a large resort town on Turkey's Aegean Sea, Aegean coast, and the center of the seaside district of the same name within Aydın Province. Kuşadası is south of İzmir, and about from Aydın. The municipality's primary industry ...
,
Bodrum
Bodrum () is a port city in Muğla Province, southwestern Turkey, at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Its population was 35,795 at the 2012 census, with a total of 136,317 inhabitants residing within the district's borders. Known in ancient t ...
, and
Aksaz, Turkey;
Limassol
Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...
, Cyprus;
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
, Greece;
Augusta Bay, Sicily; and
Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada (; ) is the largest municipality (''concelho'') and economic capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal. It is located on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous in the archipelago. As of 2021, it has 67,28 ...
,
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
. ''Ramage'' returned to
home port on 6 August 2010.
On 8 August 2013, ''Ramage'' departed for an eight-month deployment into the US Navy
6th Fleet area of responsibility to assist with ballistic missile defense. The ship's last deployment was from May 2012 to January 2013.
''Ramage'' entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea as a response to the
Syrian Civil War. The destroyer was specifically deployed after allegations that President
Bashar al-Assad
Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...
's regime had
used chemical weapons on its own people in suburbs of Damascus. ''Ramage'' arrived in the region, according to a defense official, on 23 August 2013. The destroyer was intended to replace , but ''Mahan'' remained in area temporarily along with and . All four were equipped with cruise missiles.
On 28 October 2013, the destroyers ''Gravely'' and ''Ramage '' answered a distress call from a vessel carrying immigrants located off the coast of
Kalamata
Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...
, Greece.
In February 2014, ''Ramage'' was one of two U.S. Navy ships operating in the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
during the
Sochi Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...
.
In August 2014, ''Ramage'' underwent testing and evaluation at
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility tha ...
(NNSY).
In November 2015, ''Ramage'' deployed to the US Navy 6th Fleet area of responsibility to assist with ballistic missile defense, and to escort the USS ''Harry S. Truman'' carrier strike group. She completed 28 Strait of Hormuz transits throughout the deployment, and returned to her home port of Norfolk, Virginia on 25 July 2016.
Following her 2015–2016 deployment'', Ramage'' conducted her mid-cycle upgrade. As a result of the US Navy's new coast-wide shipyard bidding process, she was selected for an unusual "out of home port" yard period, and spent a nine-month period in Pascagoula, Mississippi. ''Ramage'' left the yards on time, and returned to Norfolk, Virginia in August 2017 to begin workups for the next deployment.
In October 2018, ''Ramage'' received short-notice Presidential tasking, and deployed to the US Navy 4th fleet area of responsibility to provide radar surveillance support for the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She departed Norfolk, Virginia on 25 August 2018, and returned soon.
In the fall of 2019, ''Ramage'' deployed to the US Navy 5th fleet area of responsibility as an independent ballistic missile defense operator. During this time, she was assigned as the flagship for Commander, Task Force 55, in a defensive response to the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. She took command of all US Naval surface forces in the 5th fleet area, positioning each ship in a strategic defensive manner.
Awards
*
Navy Unit Commendation
The Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) is a United States Navy unit award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944.
History
Navy and U.S. Marine Corps commands may recommend any Navy or Marine Co ...
- (Mar-May 1997, Oct 2001-Apr 2002, Oct 2006-May 2007, Nov 2015-Jul 2016)
*
Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...
- (11-19 Sep 2002, Aug 2013-May 2014)
*
Battle "E" - (1995, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2016, 2019)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramage (DDG-61)
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers
Destroyers of the United States
Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi
1994 ships