Navy Accepts Truxtun

Truxtun successfully completed acceptance trials Oct. 3, and the ship got underway Sept. 30 from NGSB Pascagoula for a multi-day trial in the . All major systems and equipment, including the ship’s Aegis combat system, were tested by the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey.

Truxtun is the 53rd Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer. The ship will conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. The ship’s combat system centers around the Aegis combat system and the SPY-lD(V), multi-function phased array radar.

The new destroyer honors Commodore Thomas Truxtun (1755-1822) who was selected as one of the Navy’s first six captains on 98. He was assigned command of one the Navy’s new frigates, USS Constellation, and he put to sea to prosecute the undeclared naval war with revolutionary . On 99, Truxtun scored the first of his two most famous victories. After an hour's fight, Constellation battered the French warship L’Insurgente into submission in one of the most illustrious battles of the Quasi-War with . Truxtun retired from the Navy as a commodore and has had five previous ships carry his name: a brig launched in 1842, DD 14, DD 229, APD 98 (initially DE 282), and DLGN/CGN 35.

Cmdr. Timothy R. Weber will become the first commanding officer of the ship and will lead the crew of 276 officers and enlisted personnel. The 9,200-ton Truxtun is being built by NGSB Ingalls Operations, . The ship is 510 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet, and a navigational draft of 31 feet. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots.

The future USS Truxtun is scheduled to be commissioned in spring 2009.