USS ''Forrest Sherman'' (DDG-98) is an

guided missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

in 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 ...

and is the second US Navy ship to bear the name. She is part of

Destroyer Squadron 28 Destroyer Squadron 28 (DESRON 28), is a squadron of warships of the United States Navy. It is an operational component of Carrier Strike Group Eight. The squadron was formed in 1951. DESRON 28 was re-established on 1 September 1995, during the ...

Namesake

She is named for Admiral Forrest Percival Sherman.

Construction

Built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems

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 ...

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 ...

, ''Forrest Sherman'' was launched on 2 October 2004. Admiral Sherman's daughter, Ann Sherman Fitzpatrick, is the ship's sponsor.

History

She was commissioned on 28 January 2006 at

NAS Pensacola Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United State ...

, Commander Michael VanDurick in command, and six days later departed for her homeport in Norfolk, Va. to join the Atlantic Fleet. She departed Norfolk for her maiden deployment in July 2007, visiting various nations around 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 ...

and 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 ...

. In August 2007, while the ship was visiting

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

to conduct drills with the

Ukrainian Navy The Military Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Військо́во-морські́ си́ли Збро́йних сил Украї́ни, ВМС ЗСУ) is the maritime forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Arme ...

, a

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

from the

Second World War 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 ...

was discovered 500 yards from the vessel. The mine was secured before it could damage the ship. Also during that visit, she became the first US Navy ship to land a Ukrainian Navy helicopter. She also conducted ''Reliant Mermaid 2007'' with the Turkish and Israeli Navies. On that deployment, she circumnavigated the continent of Africa as part of Task Group 60.5, the US Navy's Southeast Africa task force. She returned home on 19 December that year. In early June 2008, ''Forrest Sherman'' deployed for three months in support of

U.S. Southern Command The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral, Florida in Greater Miami, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingency planning, o ...

's Partnership of the Americas 2008 (POA 08) operation. She returned home on 29 August 2008. On 25 November 2019, ''Forrest Sherman'' captured a stateless

dhow Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically spor ...

carrying two 358 missiles and a large cache of Iranian missile parts destined for Yemen. On 13 April 2022, ''Forrest Sherman'' arrived at

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

following a surge deployment. On 11 June 2022, ''Forrest Sherman'' departed

for a NATO Deployment. ''Forrest Sherman'' is to assume the role of flagship of

Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) standing maritime immediate reaction force. SNMG2 consists of four to six destroyers and frigates. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational re ...

References

External links

Official ship's site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest Sherman (DDG-98) Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Destroyers of the United States Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi 2004 ships