USS Stout

History
United States
Name:	USS Stout
Namesake:	Rear Admiral Herald F. Stout
Ordered:	13 December 1988
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	8 August 1991
Launched:	16 October 1992
Commissioned:	13 August 1994
Homeport:	Norfolk, Virginia
Motto:	Courage – Valor – Integrity
Nickname(s):	"Bold Knight"
Status:	in active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
Displacement:	Light: approx. 6,800 long tons (6,900 t) Full: approx. 8,900 long tons (9,000 t)
Length:	505 ft (154 m)
Beam:	66 ft (20 m)
Draft:	31 ft (9.4 m)
Propulsion:	4 General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, two shafts, 100,000 total shaft horsepower (75 MW)
Speed:	>30 knots (56 km/h)
Range:	4,400 nautical miles at 20 knots (8,100 km at 37 km/h)
Complement:	33 commissioned officers 38 chief petty officers 210 enlisted personnel
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPY-1D 3D Radar AN/SPS-67(V)2 Surface Search Radar AN/SPS-73(V)12 Surface Search Radar AN/SPG-62 Fire Control Radar AN/SQS-53C Sonar Array AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array Sonar AN/SQQ-28 LAMPS III Shipboard System
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32(V)2 Electronic Warfare System AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures MK 36 MOD 12 Decoy Launching System AN/SLQ-39 CHAFF Buoys
Armament:	1 × 29 cell, 1 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launching systems with 90 × RIM-156 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-ASROC missiles 2 x Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher SSM 1 × Mark 45 5/54 in (127/54 mm) 2 × 25 mm chain gun 4 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) guns 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:	2 Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters can be embarked

USS Stout (DDG-55) is the sixth Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. Built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, she was commissioned on 13 August 1994 and she is currently home-ported in Naval Station Norfolk. She is part of Destroyer Squadron 26.^[1]

Namesake

Stout was named for Rear Admiral Herald F. Stout (1903–1987), who distinguished himself as the Commanding Officer of the destroyer USS Claxton during World War II. Then a Commander, Stout aided his task force in sinking five heavily armed, enemy warships to establish a beachhead on Bougainville Island.

Construction and career

The ship was ordered from Ingalls Shipbuilding on 13 December 1988. The keel was laid down on 8 August 1991 and the vessel was launched on 16 October 1992. Stout was commissioned on 13 August 1994.

In April 2008, the ship comprehensively failed^[2] its Board of Inspection and Survey examination and was declared "unfit for sustained combat operations."^[3][4] The ship has since passed 13 of 13 rigorous unit level training inspections. Stout deployed in March 2009 on routine security operations in the Sixth Fleet operational area. On 15 July 2009, Fox News Channel reported Stout was in the Black Sea cooperating with Georgian forces in training exercises.

Relief of Commanding Officer and Command Master Chief

On 1 March 2011 while on deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in support of the crisis in Libya, Commander Nathan Borchers, Command Master Chief Susan Bruce-Ross, six other chiefs, one junior officer, and one petty officer of Stout were relieved by the Commander Sixth Fleet. The cited cause was a “pervasive pattern of unprofessional behavior” among the ship's crew including “fraternization, orders violations and disregard for naval standards of conduct and behavior which contributed to poor crew morale and a hostile command climate.”^[5][6] The investigation found that a "gang" of five chiefs had bullied crew members, actively impeded communication among the ship's command channels, and forced crewmembers to work around the gang in order to get work accomplished.^[7]

Operation Odyssey Dawn

Stout launches a Tomahawk missile in Operation Odyssey Dawn

On 19 March 2011, in conjunction with other US Navy ships, the destroyer launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan air defenses as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn.^[7][8]

Syrian civil war

On 28 August 2013, the U.S. Navy announced that a fifth Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Stout, was en route to join the other four Burke-class destroyers deployed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea amid allegations that the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons during the ongoing Syrian civil war, including the gas attacks that occurred on 21 August 2013.^[9]

Honors and awards

On 16 February 2007, Stout was awarded the 2006 Battle "E".^[10]

References

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

1. Official website
2. "U.S. Navy Finds Glaring Flaws in 2 Surface Ships". Defense News. 20 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
3. "Navy Board of Inspection and Survey Report: USS Stout". Navy Times.
4. Eisman, Dale (4 May 2009). "Lawmakers Seek Openness After Navy Closes Reports". Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
5. "Destroyer CO, CMC fired during deployment". Navy Times. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
6. Jontz, Sandra (1 March 2011). "CO, nine others removed from USS Stout over port visit misconduct". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
7. McMichael, William (6 April 2011). "Report: Chiefs created 'hostile' climate on Stout". Navy Times. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
8. Burns, Robert (20 March 2011). "First wave of allied assault: 112 cruise missiles". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
9. "Official: 5th destroyer headed to the Med". Navy Times. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
10. Ludwick, Paula M. (19 February 2007). "Surface Force Ships, Crew Earn Battle "E"". US Navy. Retrieved 2 October 2015.

External links

• Navysite.de DDG-55
• Night Tomahawk launch during Operation Odyssey Dawn on YouTube