USS Stout

History: USS Stout (DDG-55) is the fifth Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. Built for the United States Navy by Ingalls Shipbuilding, she was commissioned on 13 August 1994 and she is currently home-ported in Naval Station Norfolk. She is part of Destroyer Squadron 26. Stout is named for Rear Admiral Herald F. Stout, who distinguished himself as the commanding officer of the destroyer USS Claxton during World War II. In November 1943, Commander Stout received two Navy Crosses in the span of three weeks for his actions in the Pacific. Stout aided Destroyer Squadron 23 in sinking five heavily armed Japanese warships and damaging four others during the Solomon Islands campaign as well as sinking four more Japanese warships and damaging two others to establish a beachhead on Bougainville Island. Stout was ordered on 13 December 1988, the keel was laid down on 8 August 1991, she was launched on 16 October 1992 and commissioned on 13 August 1994. As of July 2020 the ship is part of Destroyer Squadron 26 based out of Naval Station Norfolk. As of 2023 the Commanding Officer is Cmdr. Desmond Walker, MBA, RBLP-T.

Class: The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers (DDGs) is the United States Navy's first class of destroyer built around the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D multifunction passive electronically scanned array radar. The class is named for Admiral Arleigh Burke, an American destroyer officer in World War II, and later Chief of Naval Operations. The class leader, USS Arleigh Burke, was commissioned during Admiral Burke's lifetime. These warships were designed as multimission destroyers, able to fulfill the strategic land strike role with Tomahawk missiles; antiaircraft warfare (AAW) role with powerful Aegis radar and surface-to-air missiles; antisubmarine warfare (ASW), with towed sonar array, anti-submarine rockets, and ASW helicopter; and antisurface warfare (ASuW) with Harpoon missile launcher. With upgrades to their AN/SPY-1 phased radar systems and their associated missile payloads as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, the ships of this class have also begun to demonstrate some promise as mobile antiballistic missile and anti-satellite weaponry platforms. Some versions of the class no longer have the towed sonar, or Harpoon missile launcher. Their hull and superstructure were designed to have a reduced radar cross-section.

The first ship of the class was commissioned on 4 July 1991. With the decommissioning of the last Spruance-class destroyer, USS Cushing, on 21 September 2005, the Arleigh Burke-class ships became the U.S. Navy's only active destroyers, until the Zumwalt class became active in 2016. The Arleigh Burke class has the longest production run for any post-World War II U.S. Navy surface combatant. Besides the 62 vessels of this class (comprising 21 of Flight I, 7 of Flight II and 34 of Flight IIA) in service by 2016, up to a further 42 (of Flight III) have been envisioned.

With an overall length of 505 to 509 feet (154 to 155 m), displacement ranging from 8,315 to 9,200 tons, and weaponry including over 90 missiles, the Arleigh Burke class are larger and more heavily armed than most previous ships classified as guided missile cruisers.

Nationality: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.