History

USS MITSCHER (DDG 57) is the second U.S. Navy warship named to honor Admiral Marc A.  Mitscher (1887-1947), famed naval aviator and World War II aircraft carrier task group commander. The first MITSCHER held three designations. Originally, she was DD-927, with her keel laid on 3 October 1949, but due to her large size, she was re-designated as a Destroyer Leader and commissioned DL-2 on 15 May 1953. As DL-2, the MITSCHER class of guided missile "frigates" introduced the 1200 lb. steam plant to U.S. Naval Service. In 1957, MITSCHER was first to land a helicopter on a destroyer, which led to the development of the DASH drone helicopter system. After a 13 year run from her homeport of Newport, Rhode Island, she was decommissioned and converted to a guided missile destroyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On 29 June 1968, MITSCHER rejoined the service as DDG-35. After nine more years of continuous operations, she was decommissioned on 1 June 1978, just 16 days after her 25th Anniversary.


In 1988, the U.S. Navy contracted with Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi to build the seventh ship of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, USS MITSCHER (DDG 57). These destroyers are designed to replace the Adams and Coontz-class destroyers. USS MITSCHER was commissioned on 10 December 1994, and was sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson of Coronado, California - niece of Marc Mitscher. MITSCHER transferred to her homeport in Norfolk, Virginia later in December 1994, and has since made deployments to the Mediterranean Sea, Arabian Gulf and South America, and participated in exercises throughout the Caribbean and North Atlantic.