US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and USS O’Kane (DDG 77) completed homeport swaps as DDG 108 arrived in Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and DDG 77 got underway for its new homeport in San Diego.
O’Kane departed for San Diego after completing a seven-month Western Pacific deployment in June this year.
O’Kane was commissioned in Pearl Harbor October 23, 1999, and is switching ports after nearly 19 years of service in the middle Pacific.
O’Kane’s namesake is World War II Prisoner of War and Medal of Honor Recipient Rear Adm. Richard O’Kane. During WWII, O’Kane, aboard submarines USS Wahoo (SS 238) and USS Tang (SS 306) earned an unprecedented and unrivaled record of victories against the enemy, destroying warships and supply lines.
The guided-missile destroyer Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) arrived September 13, just after Tropical Storm Olivia passed through the Oahu.
The ship’s namesake, Rear Adm. Wayne E. Meyer, is considered the father of Aegis, the Navy’s computerized weapons system able to detect and counter threats from nearly 300 miles away. Aegis aboard ships and Aegis ashore help the Navy execute multi-mission tasking.
Both USS O’Kane and USS Wayne E. Meyer, along with other DDGs, support forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence. DDGs coordinate with units of a task group to conduct naval operations and execute the Maritime Strategy under a naval component commander.