USS Jack H Lucas (DDG 125) Commissioned

October 9, 2023

The Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Jack H Lucas (DDG 125) arrives for its commissioning ceremony in Tampa, Florida. This is the first Naval warship to bear the name Jack H Lucas. DDG 125 is the first destroyer built in the Flight III configuration. (U.S. Navy photo by Julie Ann Ripley/Released)

DDG 125 is named for Pfc. Jack Lucas, who served in the U.S. Marines during World War II, earning the Medal of Honor for his heroism at Iwo Jima, when he was just 17 years old. He is the youngest Marine, and the youngest service member in World War II, to be awarded the United States' highest military decoration for valor. In 1961, he returned to military service as a captain in the U.S. Army and trained younger troops headed for Vietnam. Lucas passed away on June 5, 2008, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

On behalf of the President of the United Sates and for the Secretary of the Navy, the 20th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz, USMC, placed the USS Jack H Lucas into commission.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers are the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet. These highly capable, multi-mission ships conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence to national security providing a wide range of warfighting capabilities in multi-threat air, surface and subsurface. The Flight III upgrade is centered on the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar and incorporates upgrades to the electrical power and cooling capacity.

USS Jack H Lucas is the first AEGIS Weapon System, Baseline 10, to be commissioned. It integrates air and missile defense capability with the new AN/SPY6(V)(1) air and missile defense radar to provide significantly greater detection and tracking capacity among its warfighting capabilities across mission areas. Flight III also incorporates upgrades to the electrical power and cooling capacity, plus additional associated changes to provide enhanced warfighting capability to the fleet.

Sailors and U.S. Marines salute during the commissioning ceremony for the Arleigh Burke class Flight III guided-missile destroyer USS Jack H Lucas (DDG 125) in Tampa, Florida Oct. 7, 2023. The ship’s motto, “Indestructible” is reflection of Lucas’ survival, first on Iwo Jima and later from several other traumatic events after the war that rivaled his exploits as a Marine. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)