Association – USS Arleigh Burke Association

AEGIS BMD – SM-3 First Combat Use Coin Presented to Program Executive

Aegis BMD Program Executive, Mr. Paul Mann, was presented the Arleigh Burke commemorative coin on 30 Sept by CAPT (Ret) Rick Easton. The coin commemorates the ship’s April 2024 combat events in the Mediterranean Sea. The events marked the first use of Standard Missile 3 in combat to achieve successful intercepts of ballistic missiles in defense of our Allies.

The presentation was on the 20th anniversary of initial deployment of AEGIS BMD on 9-30-04.

Mr. Mann was a project engineer during successful preparation of the Arleigh Burke for Development and Operational Test.

AEGIS BMD – SM-3 Operational Use Coin

Admiral Gravesite Visit

The Association will be placing flowers at the Admiral & Bobbie’s grave on April 28, 2024 at 1100 in section 8 of the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland.

After the Flower Laying Ceremony at the Admiral’s Gravesite, attendees are welcome to join up for lunch at a local Annapolis restaurant.

If you plan to attend, please reply to the Association Secretary e-mail invitation or Contact Us.

Feb 2024 Destroyerman

The February issue of The Destroyerman is now available.

Highlights include:

Oral History Project

One of the Association’s objectives is to preserve the legacy of the Admiral and his ship.

We are starting a new effort for this preservation – oral histories of those that contributed to the success of Arleigh Burke.

Initial focus is the Arleigh Burke to Sea period, including design, construction, precomm, commissioning, DT-OT, PSA, deployment preparations, and first deployment. Time is of the essence as we are starting to lose the heroes that made Arleigh Burke to Sea a reality.

Note – this started with the title “Oral History” – but we are now using the more general title “History Project” – recognizing that submissions are also coming in as written answers to our questions and in the form of documents we are capturing to archive.

USS Arleigh Burke special label release of Critical Batch Texas Bourbon Whiskey

The master distiller at Chapline Distillery, a top-shelf Texas nano-distillery, has set aside an upcoming barrel of their Critical Batch Single Barrel Texas Bourbon Whiskey for a USS Arleigh Burke special label release. Prior releases have celebrated the USS Texas and several US submarines.

New Association Secretary

Welcome to our new secretary, Corey Keniston. Corey was a prior CO of Arleigh Burke. Read more about him here.

Our thanks to Mark Fortune for his 10+ years service as association secretary.

October means Scholarship

October means it is time to start thinking 2024 scholarships

Eligible applicants – time to start your application

Donors – time to fund the Association Scholarship

Loss of a shipmate

FCCM Joseph Frank Wojewodzic Jr.

The Association has recently learned of the passing of Master Chief Wojewodzic. He was the commissioning CF Master Chief and Combat Systems Maintenance Manager, a key contributor to the successful completion of TechEval and OpEval.

Have you seen me?

Renowned Maine Artist Roger Williams created an original work of art commemorating the Admiral and his ship for commissioning. It was originally displayed in the wardroom. At some point the painting went missing. The Association would like to locate this missing painting.

The painting is owned by the US Navy, as it was donated to the ship at commissioning.