• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Fitzgerald to replace O'Brien

7th Fleet Release

Release Date: 4/28/2004

By Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Japan and Seventh Fleet public affairs

YOKOSUKA, Japan -- The U.S. Navy announced today that the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) will be forward-deployed here in late July 2004.

Fitzgerald, currently homeported in San Diego, is replacing the destroyer USS O'Brien (DD 975), as part of the U.S. Navy's forward-deployed naval forces. O'Brien will depart Yokosuka in early May 2004 and will return to San Diego for decommissioning as part of the Navy's plan to phase out all Spruance-class destroyers. Fitzgerald is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. It was commissioned Oct. 14, 1995.

The ship is named for Lt. William Charles Fitzgerald, who was presented the Navy Cross posthumously for extraordinary heroism during combat operations in Vietnam. On Aug. 7, 1967, while serving as senior advisor to Coastal Group Sixteen, Fitzgerald's base was attacked and overrun by Viet Cong forces. He ordered an artillery barrage be laid down on his position and evacuated his men toward a nearby river while he remained in a bunker providing fire. He was fatally shot by Viet Cong forces before he could escape. Fitzgerald Hall at the Surface Warfare Officers School Command in Newport, R.I., is also named for him.

The forward-deployment of Fitzgerald ensures the ability of the Seventh Fleet to fulfill the U.S. Government's commitment to the defense of Japan and the maintenance of international peace and security in the Far East in support of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.