US Navy commissions Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Daniel Inouye

The US Navy has commissioned its new Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Daniel Inouye (DDG18) at a ceremony held at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickham.

USS Daniel Inouye is the 69th Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer commissioned to the Navy and the first ship to bear her name. As a Flight IIA destroyer, DDG 118 is equipped with Aegis Baseline 9, which provides improved integrated air and missile defense capabilities, increased computing power, and radar capable of quickly detecting and reacting to modern air warfare and ballistic missile defense threats.

The future USS Daniel Inouye is named in honor of the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who served as a Hawaii representative in the Senate from 1963 until he died in 2012.  

“This crew put a tremendous amount of work into preparing to bring USS Daniel Inouye to life on December 8. We all share a deep sense of pride and honor to represent our namesake, the late Senator and U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient Daniel Inouye and those he represented for 53 years in the House and Senate,” Cmdr. DonAnn Gilmore, of Anniston, Alabama, who is the ship’s commanding officer and leads a crew of 329 officers and enlisted sailors. 

Built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Bath, Maine, Daniel Inouye was christened in June 2019, and delivered to the navy in March 2021.

In addition to Daniel Inouye (DDG 118), BIW has five additional Arleigh Burke-class destroyers under construction, to include the future: USS John Basilone (DDG 122), the future USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG 124), the future USS Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127), the future USS Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG 126), and the future USS William Charette (DDG 130).