Military

USS Dewey (DDG 105)

On May 7, 2004, the Department of Defense announced that Secretary of the Navy Gordon England had decided that DDG hull number 105 would be named Dewey. She was authorized on September 13, 2002 and was built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. The keel was laid on July 12, 2006 at the company's Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, MS.

Dewey is a Flight IIA variant of the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer and incorporates a helicopter hanger facility into the original design. The ship can each carry two SH-60B/R helicopters. Guided missile destroyers operate independently and in conjunction with carrier strike groups, surface action groups, expeditionary strike groups and replenishment groups.

The Christening ceremony took place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at the Pascagoula, MS shipyard - Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. Dewey is set to be commissioned in 2009 [versus the originally scheduled May 2008], as the 55th Arleigh Burke class destroyer.

Three previous ships have proudly carried his name: DD 349, DDG 45 and DLG 14.

Admiral George Dewey

DDG 105 honors Adm. George Dewey (1837-1917) who commanded the Asiatic Station from the cruiser Olympia. Shortly after the onset of the Spanish-American War, Dewey led his squadron of warships into Manila Bay on April 30, 1898. The next morning, his squadron destroyed the Spanish fleet in only two hours without a single American loss. In 1899, he was ordered to Washington, D.C. where he was designated president of the General Board. A widely popular hero of his day, Dewey was commissioned Adm. of the Navy, a rank created for him, in March 1903. He held this rank until his death in 1917.