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USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62)

USS FITZGERALD is the twelfth ARLEIGH BURKE - class guided missile destroyer and the first ship in the Navy named after Lieutenant William Charles Fitzgerald.

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Crew List:

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

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

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About the Ship's Name, about Lieutenant William Charles Fitzgerald:

The FITZGERALD is named for Lieutenant William Charles Fitzgerald who was presented the Navy Cross posthumously for extraordinary heroism during combat operations in Vietnam.

He was born January 28, 1938, in Montpelier, Vermont, second child and first son of Louis and Mildred Mary Fitzgerald. His father was a career Navy man who retired as a Chief Petty Officer. Bill grew up in the local area and graduated from Montpelier High School in June 1956. Following graduation, Bill followed in his fathers footsteps and enlisted in the United States Navy. As an enlisted man Bill served in USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DD 823), USS HUGH PURVIS (DD 709), and USS GEARING (DD 710). Also, Bill served with utility Squadron SIX, Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA while working on the Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter (DASH) program. Seaman William Fitzgerald eventually earned selection to officer training and an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.

On August 7, 1967, while serving as senior advisor to Coastal Group Sixteen, Lieutenant Fitzgerald's base was attacked and overrun by Viet Cong forces. Lieutenant Fitzgerald requested an artillery barrage be laid down on his position and ordered his men to evacuate the base 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, Rhode Island, also is named for Lieutenant Fitzgerald.

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Accidents aboard USS FITZGERALD:

Date	Where	Events
June 17, 2017	56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, Japan	USS FITZGERALD collides with the Philippine-flagged container ship ACX CRYSTAL at about 2:20a.m. FITZGERALD is hit on the starboard side below the bridge. Initial photos showed heavy damage to the superstructure and hull. Further damage is reported below the waterline and the Navy also confirmed flooding to two berthing spaces, a machinery space, and the radio room, which damage control teams quickly began dewatering. In a June 18 press conference, VADM Joseph Aucoin, Commander 7th Fleet, described the damage as "The ship suffered severe damage rapidly flooding three large compartments that included one machinery room and two berthing areas for 116 crew. The commanding officer's cabin was also directly hit, trapping the CO inside." Three injured, including FITZGERALD's Commanding Officer Bryce Benson, were transferred to US Naval Hospital Yokosuka. Seven sailors were initially reported missing. FITZGERALD continued under her own power to Yokosuka but Japanese Coast Guard units, USS DEWEY (DDG 105), two Navy tugs and several aircraft have been dispatched to assist. On June 18, the Navy reported that search and rescue crews were able to access the damaged spaces aboard FITZGERALD and located the missing sailors. All seven crewmembers were killed in the accident.

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USS FITZGERALD History:

USS FITZGERALD was laid down at Bath Iron Works in Maine on February 9, 1993, launched on January 29, 1994, and commissioned on October 14, 1995, at Newport, Rhode Island, before joining the Pacific Fleet with an initial homeport in San Diego. In 1996, she completed post-shakedown work at Southwest Marine in San Diego on May 20, ran sea trials in August, and wrapped the year in the Southern California operating areas with an independent steaming exercise and participation in a CONSTELLATION (CV 64) Battle Group composite training exercise. These early events placed the new destroyer into the standard work-up rhythm for Carrier Battle Group deployments during the immediate post-Cold War era.

After pre-deployment training in January 1997 - including Middle East Force Exercise Phase II and a Fleet Exercise - FITZGERALD deployed in February to the U.S. 7th and 5th Fleet regions. On April 6, 1997, she transited the Strait of Hormuz for turnover in Bahrain, a waypoint tied to ongoing maritime security tasks linked to U.N. sanctions on Iraq. She closed the deployment with a two-day port visit at Pearl Harbor in August before returning to San Diego. The pattern reflected the era's emphasis on maritime interception operations and presence in the Arabian Gulf.

Through 1998, the destroyer served as opposition forces for another CONSTELLATION Group training cycle, then deployed in November with USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70), operating across the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf amid heightened tensions with Iraq. She returned in early May 1999, then redeployed that November for another WestPac/Arabian Gulf cruise, joining multinational interception forces enforcing U.N. sanctions - operations that routinely placed U.S. combatants in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Northern Arabian Gulf conducting boardings and deterring illicit oil smuggling. FITZGERALD returned in April 2000 after five and a half months at sea.

In 2001, the ship took part in "Teamwork North 01" in September and shifted to homeland defense under Operation Noble Eagle after the September 11 attacks. The following year she supported Theater Ballistic Missile Defense testing (January and April 2002), executed a Tailored Ship's Training Availability, and in July 2002, joined Fleet Battle Experiment Juliet under Millennium Challenge 2002, a congressionally directed joint experiment that stressed networked operations and maritime interdiction concepts.

In March 2003, FITZGERALD deployed with the USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) Carrier Strike Group for Operation Iraqi Freedom. During the campaign she escorted USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) during strikes into Iraq, served as flagship for Commander, Maritime Interception Operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf, and provided air-defense coverage for U.S. and coalition shipping in the Gulf of Oman and North Arabian Sea. She returned to San Diego in November 2003, closing an eight-month war deployment that blended blue-water air-defense tasks with persistent Gulf patrols tied to post-war stabilization and sanctions enforcement.

In early April 2004, the Navy outlined plans to deploy additional Aegis ships for global ballistic-missile defense, and FITZGERALD shifted to forward deployment in Japan. After a "Super Swap" of crews with the decommissioning USS O'BRIEN (DD 975), she arrived at Yokosuka on September 30, 2004, changing homeport and joining the 7th Fleet's Destroyer Squadron 15. She quickly settled into Sea of Japan BMD patrols through November and December, reflecting rising concerns over North Korean missile activity.

In 2005, the destroyer exercised with the Republic of Korea during Foal Eagle, joined USS KITTY HAWK for a summer patrol, and worked with Australian forces during Talisman Saber 2005 off Queensland. In 2006, she completed a dry-docking selected restricted availability at Yokosuka, then conducted spring and fall patrols capped by the annual U.S.-Japan exercise ANNUALEX that November. In 2007, she joined MALABAR 07-01 with the Indian Navy off Okinawa in April, took part in VALIANT SHIELD around the Marianas in August, and returned to ANNUALEX in the autumn, underscoring the ship's integration into recurring multilateral training in the Western Pacific.

Throughout 2008, FITZGERALD supported an undersea-warfare exercise with the NIMITZ Carrier Strike Group and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force units in the Western Pacific, as regional navies focused on antisubmarine skills and coordinated air-defense training against the backdrop of North Korean missile testing and rising Chinese naval activity.

In March 2009, she took part in Multi-Sail off Okinawa and in April called at Qingdao, China, to participate in the People's Liberation Army Navy's 60th-anniversary international fleet review on April 23 - a rare high-visibility port visit amid tentative U.S.-China naval diplomacy. After a summer deployment with the GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) carrier group, FITZGERALD returned to Yokosuka in September and in late October joined "Deep Sabre II", a Proliferation Security Initiative maritime interdiction exercise hosted by Singapore that brought together military and civilian agencies from nearly 20 nations to practice joint boarding and cargo-tracking procedures. In December, she used a new iteration of the Undersea Warfare Decision Support System during SHAREM 163, reflecting the fleet's growing data-driven ASW approach.

In 2010, the ship again joined Multi-Sail and in November participated in joint U.S.-ROK drills west of the Korean Peninsula as allied navies emphasized deterrence and readiness following incidents on the peninsula.

The destroyer's 2011 calendar was dense. In February she executed a SHAREM with JMSDF near Okinawa. Following the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, she sortied with units including USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76) to the waters off northeastern Honshu in support of Operation Tomodachi - an extended multi-service humanitarian response that delivered relief supplies, restored port access, and coordinated air and sea logistics along Japan's devastated coast. The ship then joined the GEORGE WASHINGTON group for a summer patrol, took part in Talisman Sabre 2011 with Royal Australian Navy units in July, conducted the bilateral U.S.-Russian "Pacific Eagle" exercise near the Marianas in October, and returned to ANNUALEX later that month. On November 16, 2011, FITZGERALD hosted the signing of the Manila Declaration in the Philippine capital, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty and reaffirming peaceful dispute resolution in the South China Sea.

In 2012, she joined Multi-Sail, sailed an August fall patrol with the GEORGE WASHINGTON group, participated in Valiant Shield in September, and closed the year with intelligence-collection operations that reflected routine theater security surveillance in Northeast Asia.

In early 2013, FITZGERALD operated with the Republic of Korea Navy during Foal Eagle. Amid a rising North Korean rhetoric cycle that April, she was moved to the southwestern coast of the peninsula as part of a measured U.S. response. That July she worked alongside the Republic of Singapore Navy during CARAT Singapore 2013, conducting boarding drills and subject-matter exchanges at Changi Naval Base - often in company with USS FREEDOM (LCS 1) and Singaporean FORMIDABLE-class frigates - before concluding the exercise with a closing ceremony on July 26.

In November 2014, the destroyer participated in ANNUALEX 26G/Keen Sword 2015 north of Okinawa with GEORGE WASHINGTON and JMSDF units. The 2015 cycle carried FITZGERALD across the 7th Fleet theater: in April she visited Da Nang to support the sixth U.S.-Vietnam Naval Engagement Activity - working at sea with USS FORT WORTH (LCS 3) and the Vietnam People's Navy on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea - then in June-July joined Talisman Sabre 2015 as part of the GEORGE WASHINGTON strike group. In November she was pier-side in Manila during President Obama's visit for APEC-related engagements, hosting tours on November 19 as part of broader U.S.-Philippine maritime security cooperation.

In March 2016, FITZGERALD shifted to Guam for Multi-Sail 2016 alongside U.S. and JMSDF surface combatants, then returned to Yokosuka for an extended dry-dock availability through mid-2016, with SRF-JRMC divers supporting her docking and work in Dry Dock 5 by June-July. These events reflected routine mid-life maintenance for forward-deployed destroyers and ensured material readiness ahead of further patrols.

On June 17, 2017, at about 1:30 a.m. local time off Honshu, FITZGERALD collided with the container ship ACX CRYSTAL, suffering catastrophic damage to her starboard side and below the waterline. Seven sailors were killed and several injured. Emergency response, dewatering, and towing brought her back to Yokosuka. The ship entered Dry Dock 4 there on July 11 for damage assessment and patching. The Navy later prepared her for heavy-lift transport out of Japan. During pre-load work a steel structure inadvertently punctured the hull in November, delaying departure. After being loaded aboard MV TRANSSHELF, FITZGERALD departed Yokosuka on December 9, 2017, and arrived at Pascagoula, Mississippi, on January 19, 2018, to begin full restoration and modernization at Huntington Ingalls Industries. The NTSB's investigation details the collision sequence and causal factors and sits alongside Navy safety reviews that reshaped bridge-watch training and procedures fleet-wide.

Ingalls took the ship through structural rebuilds and systems replacement through 2018-2019, with FITZGERALD undocking in April 2019. On February 3, 2020, she returned to sea in the Gulf of Mexico for comprehensive trials and, after final fixes and crew certifications, departed Pascagoula on June 13, 2020, for her new homeport of San Diego, arriving there on July 2. The return marked the end of a two-plus-year repair effort and the start of a new readiness cycle on the U.S. West Coast.

Reintegrated into fleet operations, FITZGERALD deployed across the Pacific in 2022. In early August, during the multinational air-and-missile-defense exercise Pacific Dragon near Hawaii, she launched a Standard Missile-3 Block IA while operating with Australian, Canadian, Japanese, and Republic of Korea units - an event underscoring allied sensor-to-shooter integration at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.

In 2024, the destroyer participated in RIMPAC, where on July 18 she conducted a live fire of the Naval Strike Missile - the first NSM launch from a U.S. Navy destroyer - after being outfitted for the over-the-horizon anti-ship weapon in place of legacy Harpoon canisters. The demonstration aligned with the Navy's push to diversify surface force anti-ship profiles amid intensifying great-power competition in the Indo-Pacific.

By January 2025, FITZGERALD became the first U.S. warship to deploy an AI-enabled Enterprise Remote Monitoring (ERM v4) system for machinery, electrical, and hull-condition monitoring, ingesting more than 10,000 sensor points per second to flag anomalies for maintainers - an early step in predictive maintenance at sea intended to raise material readiness between availabilities.

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Homeports of USS FITZGERALD:

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USS FITZGERALD Patch Gallery:

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USS FITZGERALD Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Lienhard Geißler and show the FITZGERALD at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan, on May 27, 2015.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the FITZGERALD undergoing restoration at Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss., on October 17, 2019, following her collision in June 2017.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the FITZGERALD at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 28, 2021.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on October 5, 2022, during an open ship event aboard USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) as part of Fleet Week San Francisco.

			Click here for more photos.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the FITZGERALD during the Parade of Ships as part of Fleet Week San Francisco on Octber 7, 2022.

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