Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division achieved a substantial milestone today with the successful lift of the aft deckhouse onto guided missile destroyer USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125). The 320-ton aft deckhouse includes radar equipment rooms, main engine intake and exhaust compartments, electric shop, and staterooms.

«Our team has kept this first Flight III ship ahead of schedule by working collaboratively and using lessons learned from our long history of building destroyers», said Ben Barnett, Ingalls DDG-125 program manager. «Our entire shipbuilding team has worked tirelessly to ensure that all of our efforts have been aligned to implement all Flight III changes successfully on this ship. With this lift, we are one step closer to delivering the U.S. Navy the most technologically advanced destroyer in the fleet».
USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) is the fifth of five Arleigh Burke-class destroyers HII was awarded in June 2013 and is the first Flight III ship, which adds enhanced radar capability and other technological upgrades. The five-ship contract, part of a multi-year procurement in the DDG-51 program, allows Ingalls to build ships more efficiently by buying bulk material and moving the skilled workforce from ship-to-ship.
The ship is named for Jack. H Lucas, a longtime resident of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who was the youngest Marine and the youngest service member in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor. USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) is co-sponsored by Ruby Lucas, widow of the ship’s namesake.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are highly capable, multi-mission ships and can conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, all in support of the United States’ military strategy. The guided missile destroyers are capable of simultaneously fighting air, surface and subsurface battles. The ship contains myriad offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense needs well into the 21st century.
Huntington Ingalls Industries is America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. For more than a century, HII’s Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. HII’s Technical Solutions division supports national security missions around the globe with unmanned systems, defense and federal solutions, nuclear and environmental services, and fleet sustainment. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs more than 42,000 people operating both domestically and internationally.
CHARACTERISTICS
Length Overall | 525 feet/160 m |
Beam – Waterline | 65.6 feet/20 m |
Draft | 32.8 feet/10 m |
Displacement – Full Load | 9,217 tons/9,363 metric tons |
Power Plant | 4 General electric LM 2500-30 gas turbines; 2 shafts; 2 CRP (Contra-Rotating) propellers; 100,000 shaft horsepower/75,000 kW |
Speed | in excess of 30 knots/34.5 mph/55.5 km/h |
Range | 4,400 NM/8,149 km at 20 knots/23 mph/37 km/h |
Crew | 380 total: 32 Officers, 27 CPO (Chief Petty Officer), 321 OEM |
Surveillance | AN/SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar (Raytheon Company) and Aegis Combat System (Lockheed Martin); SPS-73(V) Navigation; SPS-67(V)3 Surface Search; 3 SPG-62 Illuminator; SQQ-89(V)6 sonar incorporating SQS-53C hull mounted and SQR-19 towed array sonars used with Mark-116 Mod 7 ASW fire control system |
Electronics/Countermeasures | SLQ-32(V)3; Mark-53 Mod 0 Decoy System; Mark-234 Decoy System; SLQ-25A Torpedo Decoy; SLQ-39 Surface Decoy; URN-25 TACAN; UPX-29 IFF System; Kollmorgen Mark-46 Mod 1 Electro-Optical Director |
Aircraft | 2 embarked SH-60 helicopters ASW operations; RAST (Recovery Assist, Secure and Traverse) |
Armament | 2 Mark-41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) with 96 Standard, Vertical Launch ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket) & Tomahawk ASM (Air-to-Surface Missile)/LAM (Loitering Attack Missile); 5-in (127-mm)/54 (62) Mark-45 gun; 2 (1) CIWS (Close-In Weapon System); 2 Mark-32 triple 324-mm torpedo tubes for Mark-46 or Mark-50 ASW torpedos |
GUIDED MISSILE DESTROYERS LINEUP
Flight III
Ship | Yard | Launched | Commissioned | Homeport |
DDG-125 Jack H. Lucas | HIIIS | |||
DDG-126 Louis H. Wilson, Jr. | GDBIW | |||
DDG-128 Ted Stevens | HIIIS | |||
DDG-129 Jeremiah Denton | HIIIS | |||
DDG-130 William Charette | GDBIW | |||
DDG-131 George M. Neal | HIIIS | |||
DDG-132 Quentin Walsh | GDBIW | |||
DDG-133 Sam Nunn | HIIIS | |||
DDG-134 John E. Kilmer | GDBIW | |||
DDG-135 Thad Cochran | HIIIS | |||
DDG-136 Richard G. Lugar | GDBIW | |||
DDG-137 | ||||
DDG-138 |