Paul Ignatius (DDG-117)

USS Paul Ignatius (DDG-117)
USS Paul Ignatius on 31 July 2019
Career
Name:	PCU Paul Ignatius
Namesake:	Former US Secretary of the Navy Paul Ignatius
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	20 October 2015
Launched:	12 November 2016
Commissioned:	27 July 2019
Status:	Active
Badge:
General characteristics
Class & type:	Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Flight IIA
Displacement:	9,200 long tons (9,300 t)
Length:	510 ft (160 m)
Draft:	33 ft (10 m)
Propulsion:	4 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 100,000 shp (75 MW)
Complement:	380 officers and enlisted
Armament:	1 × 32 cell, 1 × 64 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems, 96 × RIM-66 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-Asroc, missiles 1 × 5/62 in (127/62 mm), 2 × 25 mm, 4 × 12.7 mm guns 2 × Mk 46 triple torpedo tubes 1 x 20mm Phalanx CIWS
Aircraft carried:	2 × SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters

PCU Paul Ignatius (DDG-117) is a Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She is named for Paul Ignatius who served as United States Secretary of the Navy under President Lyndon Johnson from 1967 to 1969. Paul Ignatius is the second of seven planned Flight IIA "technology insertion" ships, which will contain elements of the Flight III ships projected to begin with DDG-123.

Paul Ignatius was launched on 12 November 2016, and was christened on 8 April 2017. She was commissioned on 27 July 2019 Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The ship was sponsored by Ignatius' wife Nancy before her death and that role was taken over by their granddaughter, Dr. Elisa Ignatuis. Paul Ignatius is homeported in Rota, Spain.

Operational history

On 28 April 2022, Paul Ignatius departed Mayport, Florida, for a patrol in the US Sixth Fleet area of operations and a homeport shift to Naval Station Rota.

On 17 June 2022, Paul Ignatius arrived at her new homeport of in Rota, Spain. Her Phalanx CIWS was moved to the forward mount and she received the SeaRAM close-in weapon system on her aft mount.

In October 2022, Paul Ignatius conducted a routine patrol in the Baltic Sea, where she was accompanied by the support ship William McLean. After the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage the ship remained deployed there to safeguard regional energy interests and to guard the areas of the pipeline sabotage. During this period, she embarked personnel from diving, salvage, and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) units to assist in security and assessment operations.