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USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93)

USS CHUNG-HOON is the 15^th Flight IIA ARLEIGH BURKE - class guided missile destroyer and the first ship in the Navy named after Navy Rear Admiral Gordon P. Chung-Hoon.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS CHUNG-HOON. 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 CHUNG-HOON memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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Accidents aboard USS CHUNG-HOON:

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

The Shield:

Dark blue and gold are colors traditionally used by the Navy and recall the sea and excellence. Red is the color of zeal, courage and sacrifice. The trident and three tines represent maritime dominance from the combination of air, surface and undersea warfare technologies into a single AEGIS platform. The octagon shield shape alludes to the AEGIS configuration on a DDG. The ship's namesake honors Navy Rear Admiral Gordon P. Chung-Hoon, recipient of the Navy Cross and Silver Star, for his conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of the Sigsbee, DD 502. He valiantly kept his antiaircraft batteries delivering effective fire in the face of catastrophic damage by a Kamikaze.

The Crest:

The Hawaiian warrior helmet refers to Hawaii, Rear Admiral Chung-Hoon's birthplace, and emphasizes the fighting spirit. The anchor commemorates his distinguished Navy career. The palm wreath symbolizes victory and the triumph of the human spirit. The crossed officer sword and enlisted cutlass represent the leadership, professional excellence, and teamwork in the face of great challenges that beget honor and virtue.

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About the Ship's Name:

USS CHUNG-HOON honors Navy Rear Adm. Gordon P. Chung-Hoon, born in Honolulu, Hawaii, July 10, 1910. Chung-Hoon attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in May 1934. He is a recipient of the Navy Cross and Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary heroism as commanding officer for USS SIGSBEE (DD 502) from May 1944 to October 1945. In the spring of 1945, SIGSBEE assisted in the destruction of 20 enemy planes while screening a carrier strike force off the Japanese island of Kyushu. On April 14, 1945, while on radar picket station off Okinawa, a kamikaze crashed into SIGSBEE, reducing her starboard engine to five knots and knocking out the ship's port engine and steering control. Despite the damage, then-Cmdr. Chung-Hoon valiantly kept his antiaircraft batteries delivering "prolonged and effective fire" against the continuing enemy air attack while simultaneously directing the damage control efforts that allowed SIGSBEE to make port under her own power. He retired in October 1959 and died in July 1979.

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USS CHUNG-HOON History:

USS CHUNG-HOON was laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding on January 14, 2002, launched on January 11, 2003, and commissioned on September 18, 2004, at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. Following commissioning the crew completed Combat Systems Ship Qualification Trials through late 2004, exercising the weapons suite with live missile firings and bringing all warfare areas to the initial certification standard. In October 2005, during local operations northeast of Maui, the destroyer diverted to render medical assistance to the bulk freighter C-LAUREL, stabilizing an injured mariner until the ship came within range of Coast Guard aviation - a vignette of routine maritime assistance that accompanies presence patrols around Hawaii.

CHUNG-HOON's first Western Pacific deployment began in early January 2006; after four months of Seventh Fleet operations she returned to Pearl Harbor on May 25, 2006. That autumn the ship served as host to the visiting PLAN destroyer QINGDAO during a port call to Hawaii; on September 10, the American and Chinese ships executed basic communications and maneuvering drills off Oahu, a modest but symbolically notable exchange following several years without a Chinese navy port visit to a U.S. state. Through 2006-2007, CHUNG-HOON continued the workup-deployment rhythm; on April 12, 2007 she moored at Pearl Harbor after a Western Pacific cruise conducted with the BONHOMME RICHARD (LHD 6) expeditionary strike group, having mixed maritime security tasks with coalition exercises and logistics calls along the established Western Pacific chain.

On January 20, 2009, the destroyer departed Pearl Harbor with an expeditionary strike group for the Western Pacific and South China Sea, a period that included escort and monitoring duties after an incident south of Hainan involving a U.S. ocean surveillance vessel. Late that year she entered a selected restricted availability at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Workers completed the FY2009 package on December 11, several days ahead of schedule, returning the ship to full material readiness. In 2010, CHUNG-HOON joined cooperative security operations with the Philippine Navy in the Sulu Sea against Islamist militant groups, providing maritime presence and coordination in support of Manila's internal security operations. After a brief interlude back in Hawaii, she redeployed to the Western Pacific beginning on June 1, 2011, and on August 23 executed CARAT-series events with the Republic of Singapore Navy, practicing maneuvering, communications, air defense procedures, and boarding drills with regional partners.

Across 2012-2015, the destroyer alternated maintenance windows and multi-ship exercises around Hawaii with independent steaming in the Central Pacific and West Coast operating areas, sustaining certifications in anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine warfare while integrating periodically with strike groups passing through Pearl Harbor. On January 27, 2016, CHUNG-HOON deployed with the JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74) Carrier Strike Group for an extended Western Pacific cruise that coincided with the Navy's "Great Green Fleet" energy initiative. The destroyer's tasks included plane-guarding for the carrier, air-defense stationing, Strait transits, and recurring theater-security cooperation events with allies in Northeast and Southeast Asia before returning to Hawaii later in the year.

After resetting in 2017-2018, the ship shifted to the Fifth Fleet theater for maritime security operations. On December 27, 2018, while on station in the Gulf of Aden, CHUNG-HOON's visit-board-search-and-seizure team interdicted a stateless dhow and seized more than five tons of hashish, disrupting coastal smuggling routes into the Arabian Peninsula. The deployment continued into 2019 as part of the JOHN C. STENNIS Carrier Strike Group's global cruise that spanned Seventh, Sixth, and Fifth Fleets. CHUNG-HOON conducted multiple Bab el-Mandeb and Strait of Hormuz transits, frequently escorting merchant shipping and U.S. naval auxiliaries at a time of elevated risk in the Arabian Sea. She returned to Pearl Harbor on May 31, 2019, closing a high-tempo cruise that also included multi-national integration in the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans. Through 2020, she supported Rim of the Pacific events off Hawaii; among other unit-level evolutions, the destroyer executed a Standard Missile live-fire to validate air-defense procedures in a complex multi-ship scenario.

In 2023, the ship's deployments reflected intensifying strategic competition in the Western Pacific. On January 5, 2023, CHUNG-HOON conducted a Taiwan Strait transit while assigned to Seventh Fleet, and on April 17 executed at-sea training with units of the Philippine Navy as the United States expanded bilateral maritime cooperation under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement framework. On June 3, during a routine northbound Taiwan Strait transit with the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS MONTREAL, a Chinese LUYANG III-class destroyer cut across CHUNG-HOON's bow at close range, prompting a course and speed adjustment to avoid collision. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command released video and a statement characterizing the interaction as unsafe. In early August, CHUNG-HOON was among U.S. surface units that monitored a joint Chinese-Russian surface patrol in international waters near Alaska, part of the Navy's regular high-latitude maritime domain awareness posture.

On November 9, 2023, the destroyer arrived at Naval Base San Diego after a formal homeport shift from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to support a mid-life modernization. Through 2024, she remained pier-side and in yard periods in San Diego as the Navy executed the core elements of the destroyer's upgrade package - hull, mechanical, and electrical overhauls; combat-system refreshes; and electronic-warfare improvements typical of mid-life ARLEIGH BURKE work. On April 26, 2024, the ship held a change-of-command ceremony beneath the bow while in a NASSCO floating dry dock, reflecting steady progress in the availability. Into 2025, CHUNG-HOON continued modernization closeouts, post-availability testing, and crew certifications in Southern California operating areas, positioning the destroyer to re-enter the inter-deployment training cycle with upgraded systems.

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Homeports of USS CHUNG-HOON:

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USS CHUNG-HOON Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by me and shows the CHUNG-HOON at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hi., on March 19, 2010.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the CHUNG-HOON arriving at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hi., on October 14, 2017.

The photo below was taken by Sebastian Thoma and shows the CHUNG-HOON at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hi., on March 18, 2022.

The photos below were taken by me and show USS CHUNG-HOON undergoing a Depot Maintenance Period (DMP) at NASSCO in San Diego, Calif., on July 26, 2024. During the overhaul, CHUNG-HOON will be equipped with the AN/SLQ-32(V)7 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program Block 3, the AN/SPY-6 air and missile defense radar and the Baseline 10 version of the Aegis Combat System. The most striking feature of the upgrade are the new structures below the bridgewings. About 20 Flight IIA ARLEIGH BURKE-class destroyers are planned to receive the update.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show USS CHUNG-HOON undergoing a Depot Maintenance Period (DMP) at NASSCO in San Diego, Calif., on October 15, 2024. During the overhaul, CHUNG-HOON will be equipped with the AN/SLQ-32(V)7 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program Block 3, the AN/SPY-6 air and missile defense radar and the Baseline 10 version of the Aegis Combat System. The most striking feature of the upgrade are the new structures below the bridgewings. About 20 Flight IIA ARLEIGH BURKE-class destroyers are planned to receive the update.

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