People – Page 2 – USS Arleigh Burke Association

Loss of a Success Contributor – RADM Virgil Hill

Wait….?
What….?
Wasn’t OPTEVFOR the enemy, or at least our adversary?

Loss of a Shipmate – CWO4 Nick Moore

The association has learned Nick Moore passed in Aug 2024 from complications of brain cancer. Nick was a plankowner – assistant CIC Officer.

Update: A celebration of Nick’s life will be held September 7, 2024 from 10:00 until 1:00 at Sturtevant Event Center, 5100 Portsmouth Blvd., Portsmouth, VA

New Oral History Posted

The third interview in the DDG51 History Project is now posted – CAPT Brian Perkinson – first DDG51 Program Manager (PMS 400D).

CAPT Brian Perkinson (USN Ret), CAPT John Ingram [then PMS 400D], and RADM Paul Robinson (USN Ret) [Supship at DDG51 Delivery], on a later DDG51 Sea Trial

Loss of a Missile Defense Pioneer

Keith Englander

Long-serving engineer in SDIO, BMDO & Missile Defense Agency

Obituary on Legacy.com

Obituary on MissileDefenseAdvocacy.org

Memories on LinkedIn (must be logged in to LinkedIn to view)

Shipmate in the News

Mark Vandroff, CEO Fincantieri Marinette Marine, hosting Constellation Keel Authentication Ceremony, (Precomm Auxo)

It’s good to be here – at the keel laying for the future USS Constellation #FFG62 – with Congress, industry, the Navy and everybody here working together to drive towards one purpose – to deliver the Navy the Nation needs. pic.twitter.com/11SpYeJgqf
— USNavyCNO (@USNavyCNO) April 12, 2024

This is a special day as we lay the keel for the future USS Constellation #FFG62. Our frigates are a critical next step in modernizing our surface ship inventory & increasing the number of available platforms in service for our Fleethttps://t.co/nzhSvahPd7
— Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro (@SECNAV) April 12, 2024

Shipmates in the news

RDML Tom Moninger assigned to command Carrier Strike Group 12
(former CO)

CDR Eric Smitley takes command of USS Howard (DDG 83)
(former DCA)

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.

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.

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.

RADM Anderson Assumes Duties as NAVSEA

Rear Admiral Tom Anderson assumed the role of acting NAVSEA commander from Vice Admiral Bill Galinis on Sep 1, 2023

Rear Admiral Anderson previously served on DDG51 as Auxiliaries Officer, Electrical Officer, Material Officer, and coordinated the first two Chief of Naval Operations availabilities of the DDG 51 Class.