USS ''Truxtun'' (DDG-103) is an currently in service with 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 ...

. She is named for American Naval hero, Commodore

Thomas Truxtun Thomas Truxtun (or Truxton) (February 17, 1755 – May 5, 1822) was an American naval officer after the Revolutionary War, when he served as a privateer, who rose to the rank of commodore in the late eighteenth century and later served in the Quas ...

(1755–1822), one of the first six commanders appointed by

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, to the newly formed U.S. Navy. She is the sixth U.S. naval warship to bear his name.

Construction

''Truxtun''s

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down on 11 April 2005. During construction at

Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 employees, the second largest ...

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 2 ...

, she suffered a major electrical fire on 20 May 2006, engulfing two levels and causing damage estimated to be worth millions of dollars. She was launched on 17 April 2007, then christened on 2 June 2007, in Pascagoula, with Truxtun's descendants, Susan Scott Martin and Carol Leigh Roelker, serving as sponsors, and commissioned on 25 April 2009, in Charleston, South Carolina. the ship is part of

Destroyer Squadron 26 Destroyer Squadron 26 (DESRON-26) is a destroyer squadron of the United States Navy. It was first created in 1950. It has seen action in the Korean War, service in the Atlantic, in the Vietnam War. From 1974 for a period it became the 'Mod Squad', ...

based out of

Naval Station Norfolk Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about of waterfront space and of pier and wharf space of the Hampt ...

Ship history

On 22 March 2009, ''Truxtun'' answered distress call, after the 45-foot sailing vessel ''Calypso Queen'' reported a broken mast and sail, as well as electrical and mechanical casualties in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. The crew, a man and a woman, were transferred to ''Truxtun'' and required no medical assistance. In 2012, the US Navy contracted with

L3 Technologies L3 Technologies, formerly L-3 Communications Holdings, was an American company that supplied command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ( C3ISR) systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training d ...

to develop a fuel-efficient

hybrid electric A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle that combines a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) system with an electric propulsion system (hybrid vehicle drivetrain). The presence of the electric powertrain is intended ...

drive train for the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers. The system proposed used a pre-existing quill drive on the reduction gearbox, allowing an electric motor to drive the ships up to . ''Truxtun'' was fitted with the permanent magnet motor system in 2012, under a research and development contract with

General Atomics General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. Th ...

. In March 2018, the US Navy announced that the trial program to install hybrid electric drives in 34 destroyers would be cancelled leaving ''Truxtun'' as the only ship so fitted. On 6 March 2014, ''Truxtun'' departed

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, and sailed to 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, Rom ...

, to conduct training with the Romanian and Bulgarian navies. On 5 March 2014, Turkish authorities gave permission to a US Navy warship to pass through the Bosphorus Straits. The deployment of ''Truxtun'', along with sister ship , to the Black Sea, was intended as a "strategic reassurance" for former Soviet republics and satellite states concerned about the annexation of Crimea by the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

On 10 August 2020, ''Truxtun'' completed a deployment with the Carrier Strike Group, without any port calls, that lasted for almost seven months.

In popular culture

''Truxtun'' was seen in the feature film '' Captain Phillips'', standing in for .

References

External links

Official ship's site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truxtun Ddg-103 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi 2007 ships Carrier Strike Group Two Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation