Navy Secretary Names New Destroyer in Honor of U.S. Senator From Georgia

WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer named a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, DDG 133, in honor of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, who represented Georgia from 1972 to 1997, the secretary’s public affairs office said in a release.

“Senator Nunn’s impact on the Navy and Marine Corps team cannot be overstated,” Spencer said. “His leadership in the Senate, specifically as the long-serving chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, helped streamline the military chain of command and strengthen our Navy and Marine Corps team. I am pleased that Senator Nunn’s legacy of service to our nation will continue in the future USS Sam Nunn.”

Nunn’s “leadership in the Senate… helped streamline the military chain of command and strengthen our Navy and Marine Corps team.”

Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer

Nunn served in the U.S. Coast Guard 1959 to 1960 and remained in the Coast Guard Reserve until 1968. A Democrat, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1968 and in 1972 was first elected to the U.S. Senate. During his tenure as a senator, Nunn served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He helped draft the Department of Defense Reorganization Act and the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which helped Russia and the former Soviet republics to secure and destroy their excess nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis response to sea control and power projection. USS Sam Nunn will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously, with offensive and defensive weapons systems designed to support maritime warfare, including integrated air and missile defense and vertical launch capabilities.

USS Sam Nunn will be constructed by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ship will be 509 feet long, have a beam of 59 feet and be capable of traveling in excess of 30 knots.