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General Characteristics

Crew List

Memorabilia

Cruise Books

About the Ship's Name

Image Gallery

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USS Nitze (DDG 94)

USS NITZE is the 16^th Flight IIA ARLEIGH BURKE - class guided missile destroyer and the fist ship in the Navy named after Paul H. Nitze.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: March 6, 1998
	Keel laid: September 20, 2002
	Launched: April 3, 2004
	Commissioned: March 5, 2005
	Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
	Propulsion system: four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines
	Propellers: two
	Length: 508,5 feet (155 meters)
	Beam: 67 feet (20.4 meters)
	Draft: 30,5 feet (9.3 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 9,200 tons full load
	Speed: 32 knots
	Aircraft: two SH-60 (LAMPS 3) helicopters
	Armament: one Mk-45 5"/62 caliber lightweight gun, two Mk-41 VLS for Standard missiles and Tomahawk ASM/LAM, one 20mm Phalanx CIWS, two Mk-32 triple torpedo tubes for Mk-50 and Mk-46 torpedoes, two Mk 38 Mod 2 25mm machine gun systems
	Homeport: Norfolk, Va.
	Crew: approx. 320

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS NITZE. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

Click here to view the list.

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Click here to see which USS NITZE memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS NITZE Cruise Books:

Mediterranean and Arabian Sea Cruise Book 2013-14

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About the Ship's Name:

Born in Amherst, Mass., on Jan. 16, 1907, Paul H. Nitze graduated "Cum Laude" from Harvard University in 1928. After working in investment banking where he was known as a Wall Street prodigy, he left in 1941 to enter government service. In 1942, he was chief of the Metals and Minerals Branch of the Board of Economic Warfare, until named director, Foreign Procurement and Development Branch of the Foreign Economic Administration in 1943. During the period 1944-1946, Nitze served as director and then as vice chairman of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey for which President Truman awarded him the Medal of Merit.

For the next several years, he served with the Department of State, beginning in the position of deputy director of the Office of International Trade Policy. In 1949, he was named deputy to the assistant secretary of State for Economic Affairs. In August of that year, he became deputy director of the State Department's policy planning staff, and was appointed director the following year. As director, Nitze was the principal author of a highly influential secret National Security Council document (NSC-68), which provided the strategic outline for increased U.S. expenditures to counter the perceived threat of Soviet armament.

From 1953 to 1961, Nitze served as president of the Foreign Service Educational Foundation while concurrently serving as associate of the Washington Center of Foreign Policy Reseach, the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. His publications during this period include "U.S. Foreign Policy: 1945-1955." In 1961 President Kennedy appointed Nitze assistant secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and in 1963 he became the secretary of the Navy, serving until 1967.

Following his term as secretary of the Navy, he served as deputy secretary of Defense (1967-1969), as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) (1969-1973), and assistant secretary of Defense for International Affairs (1973-1976). Later, fearing Soviet rearmament, he opposed the ratification of SALT II (1979). He was President Reagan's chief negotiator of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty (1981-1984). In 1984, Nitze was named special advisor to the president and secretary of State on Arms Control. For more than forty years, Nitze was one of the chief architects of U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union. President Reagan awarded Nitze the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 for his contributions to the freedom and security of the United States.

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USS NITZE Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me and show the USS NITZE passing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel on her way to Naval Base Norfolk, Va, on October 28, 2010. The NITZE is returning home after participating in exercise Joint Warrior held off Great Britain earlier in October. The last photo shows the NITZE moored at Naval Base Norfolk on October 29.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the USS NITZE at BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair undergoing her Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability (DSRA). The photos were taken on October 23, 2014.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the USS NITZE departing Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Va., during a rain shower on April 30, 2015.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the USS NITZE at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on October 6, 2015.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the USS NITZE arriving at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on April 13, 2016, after completing a Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) and Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX), as part of the USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69) Strike Group.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the USS NITZE at the Marine Hydraulics Industries (MHI) Ship Repair & Services shipyard in Norfolk, Va., for a Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) on October 4, 2017.