USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62)

USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), named for U.S. Navy officer William Charles Fitzgerald, is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was laid down by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine 9 February 1993; launched 29 January 1994; and commissioned 14 October 1995 in Newport, Rhode Island. She was then homeported in Naval Station San Diego, California.

History

Operations

In early April 2004, it was announced that USS Fitzgerald would be one of fifteen destroyers and three cruisers which would be deployed to counter ballistic missile threats worldwide. She arrived in Yokosuka, Japan on 30 September 2004 to join the U.S. 7th Fleet after participating in a personnel exchange known as "Super Swap". 140 sailors from the destroyer USS O'Brien transferred to Fitzgerald and 95 of Fitzgerald’s sailors joined the decommissioning unit for O'Brien. She is now homeported at Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan.

In March 2011, in company with the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, Fitzgerald was deployed off northeastern Honshu, Japan to assist with relief efforts after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

United States Navy

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage. The U.S. Navy has the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 328,194 personnel on active duty and 101,199 in the Navy Reserve. It has 272 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 aircraft in active service as of February 2016.

The U.S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was essentially disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a major role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy and seizing control of its rivers. It played the central role in the World War II defeat of Japan. The 21st century U.S. Navy maintains a sizable global presence, deploying in such areas as East Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. It is a blue-water navy with the ability to project force onto the littoral regions of the world, engage in forward areas during peacetime, and rapidly respond to regional crises, making it an active player in U.S. foreign and defense policy.

Missile defense

Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception, and destruction of attacking missiles. Originally conceived as a defence against nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), its application has broadened to include shorter-ranged non-nuclear tactical and theater missiles.

The United States, Russia, China, India, Israel, and France have all developed such air defense systems. In the United States, missile defense was originally the responsibility of the U.S. Army. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has developed maritime systems and command and control that will eventually be transferred to the Navy and Air Force for operation and sustainment.

Missile defense categories

Missile defense can be divided into categories based on various characteristics: type/range of missile intercepted, the trajectory phase where the intercept occurs, and whether intercepted inside or outside the Earth's atmosphere:

Type/range of missile intercepted

USS

USS may refer to:

Organizations:

In computing:

USS may also refer to:

FitzGerald dynasty

The FitzGerald dynasty is a Hiberno-Norman or Cambro-Norman dynasty, and have been Peers of Ireland since at least the 14th century. The dynasty has also been referred to as the Geraldines. They were established by the conquest of large swathes of Irish territory by the sons and grandsons of Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor (c. 1075 – 1135). Gerald was a Norman Castellan in Wales, and is the male progenitor of the Fitzgerald dynasty ("fitz", from the Latin "fils" indicating "sons of" Gerald).

Gerald's Welsh wife Nest ferch Rhys (c. 1085 – before 1136) is the female progenitor of the Fitzgeralds. She was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, last King of Deheubarth. Through her the Fitzgeralds are descended from the Welsh rulers of Deheubarth as well as related to the Tudors who are descended from the same Welsh royal line. Consequently, the Fitzgeralds are cousins to the Tudors (Tewdwrs) through Nest and her Welsh family.

In his poetry, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, referred to Elizabeth FitzGerald (1527–89) as "Fair Geraldine".