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USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54)

USS CURTIS WILBUR is the fourth ship in the ARLEIGH BURKE - class of guided missile destroyers and the first ship in the Navy to bear the name.

General Characteristics:	Keel Laid: March 12, 1991
	Launched: May 16, 1992
	Commissioned: March 19, 1994
	Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
	Propulsion system: four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines
	Propellers: two
	Blades on each Propeller: five
	Length: 505,25 feet (154 meters)
	Beam: 67 feet (20.4 meters)
	Draft: 30,5 feet (9.3 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 8.300 tons full load
	Speed: 30+ knots
	Aircraft: None. But LAMPS 3 electronics installed on landing deck for coordinated DDG/helicopter ASW operations.
	Armament: two MK 41 VLS for Standard missiles, Tomahawk; Harpoon missile launchers, one Mk 45 5-inch/54 caliber lightweight gun, two Phalanx CIWS, Mk 46 torpedoes (from two triple tube mounts)
	Homeport: San Diego, Calif.
	Crew: 23 Officers, 24 Chief Petty Officers and 291 Enlisted

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS CURTIS WILBUR. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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History of USS CURTIS WILBUR:

Named in honor of the forty-third Secretary of the Navy, USS CURTIS WILBUR was built by Bath Iron Works, in Bath, Maine. Her keel was laid March 12, 1991, and she was christened just a year later, on May 16, 1992.

Her maiden voyage began on February 14, 1994, when she set sail for her home port of San Diego, California. This voyage included many hours of training for the crew of this new ship, as well as a transit through the Panama Canal. On March 19, 1994, CURTIS WILBUR was commissioned in Long Beach, California. The Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable John H. Dalton, was the principal speaker for the ceremony.

During the summer of 1994, CURTIS WILBUR participated in RIMPAC '94, a major multi-national exercise involving more than thirty ships as well as numerous submarines and air assets, both carrier and land-based. During this exercise, she performed duties as Force Air Defense Coordinator. Also that summer, the Board of Inspection and Survey conducted Final Contract Trials to assess the material status of the ship. CURTIS WILBUR became the first ship of the class, and only the second ship ever to complete the examination with zero mission degrading deficiencies.

CURTIS WILBUR departed on her first Western Pacific Deployment on July 31, 1995, transiting the Pacific and heading to the Arabian Gulf. While deployed with the United States Naval Forces Central Command, she supported Operations Southern Watch and Vigilant Sentinel. During her 100 days in theater, she served as Air Warfare Commander, Surface Warfare Commander, Undersea Warfare Commander, and Strike Warfare Commander. CURTIS WILBUR also served as a member of the United States Fifth Fleet Expeditionary Task Force supporting United Nations sanctions against Iraq.

In September of 1996, CURTIS WILBUR became part of the United States Seventh Fleet, shifting homeports from San Diego to Yokosuka, Japan. Upon arrival in Japan, she successfully completed Tailored Ship's Training Availability II and III and was the first ship ever to validate the Final Evaluation Period. On February 15, 1997, she deployed with the INDEPENDENCE (CV 62) Battle Group and participated in exercises Tandem Thrust '97 and Cobra Gold. CURTIS WILBUR served as the Air Warfare Commander during this deployment.

Throughout the remainder of 1997, CURTIS WILBUR participated in numerous Seventh Fleet Exercises, including Javelin Maker, Missilex 97-4, ASWEX 97-6JA, HARMEX 97-2, ANNUALEX 09G, and COMPTUEX. For her successful year and contributions to the fleet, CURTIS WILBUR was selected as the Destroyer Squadron Fifteen Battle Efficiency Winner for 1997.

In January of 1998, CURTIS WILBUR participated in SHAREM 108-1 before deploying again, on short notice, to the South Pacific. During this deployment, CURTIS WILBUR visited ports in Singapore, Australia, Guam, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan. She also participated in MERLION '98 and the Shimoda Black Ship Festival.

In June of 1998 CURTIS WILBUR commenced her second Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) in Yokosuka. This nine week shipyard period brought with it many new upgrades, including JTIDS (Link 16), JMCIS 98, INMARSAT B, and numerous other Engineering and Combat System upgrades, making her the most capable destroyer in Seventh Fleet.

Upon completion of SRA and Sea Trials in August 1998, in addition to beginning the training cycle, CURTIS WILBUR deployed for the joint and combined Exercise FOAL Eagle ‘98 with the Republic of Korea Navy and completed a successful Cruise Missile Tactical Qualification and Naval Surface Fire Support qualification. During the training cycle the ship certified the Main Space Fire Drill for ECERT at TSTA II and had a near flawless performance during ECERT. After completing her second complete training cycle while forward deployed, CURTIS WILBUR participated in SHAREM 127 with the Korean Navy and deployed in March of 1999 with the USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) Battle Group.

After completing TANDEM THRUST ’99, an annual multi-national training exercise, CURTIS WILBUR received immediate tasking to proceed at best speed en route the Arabian Gulf. Steaming in company with USS KITTY HAWK and USS CHANCELLORSVILLE (CG 62), CURTIS WILBUR conducted a no-notice high speed transit and arrived in the Gulf April 18, 1999. Proceeding directly to the Northern Arabian Gulf, CURTIS WILBUR commenced operations in support of OPERATION SOUTHERN WATCH; enforcing the Southern No-Fly Zone over Iraq and supporting United Nations Sanctions against Iraq by conducting Maritime Interception Operations (MIO) as a member of Fifth Fleet. CURTIS WILBUR also participated in two major exercises while on her second Arabian Gulf deployment: NAUTICAL SWIMMER ’99, a combined exercise with the Royal Saudi Naval Forces, and SHAREM 128, an Undersea Warfare exercise in the North Arabian Sea. Following port visits to Bunbury, Australia and Phattaya, Thailand, CURTIS WILBUR returned to Yokosuka, Japan on August 25, 1999.

On October 1, 2001, CURTIS WILBUR departed Yokosuka on her latest deployment. Assigned to the KITTY HAWK Battle Group, she conducted operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Arabian Sea. After a port visit to Phuket, Thailand, CURTIS WILBUR's first port visit in ten months, from December 13 -15, the ship returned to Yokosuka on December 23, 2001.

In early February 2002, CURTIS WILBUR along with the Yokosuka-based ships USS O'BRIEN (DD 975), USS COWPENS (CG 63), USS JOHN S. McCAIN (DDG 56), USS CHANCELLORSVILLE (CG 62), USS CUSHING (DD 985), USS VANDEGRIFT (FFG 48), USS GARY (FFG 51) and the Sasebo-based USS ESSEX (LHD 2) as well as the USNS JOHN ERICSSON (T-AO 194) and JDS SAGAMI (AOE 421) participated in MISSILEX '02, an anti-ship missile defense training evolution. The MISSILEX took place on February 7-8, 2002, in a training area off the island of Okinawa, with all the ships participating except ERICSSON and SAGAMI, which had conducted replenishments at sea with several ships earlier in the exercise.

In 2003, the ship's operational tempo remained high as the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean became focal points of coalition operations following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. CURTIS WILBUR received a Navy Unit Commendation for the January-May 2003 period, a span that coincided with the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom and sustained carrier strike group activities by forward-based Pacific units. The commendation underscores the intensity of tasking for Yokosuka destroyers during that time.

In 2004, the ship figured in a notable diplomatic milestone: on July 28, 2004, CURTIS WILBUR arrived at Da Nang for a scheduled port visit - the first U.S. Navy call at that port since 1973 and only the second by any U.S. warship in Vietnam since the end of the war. The visit, conducted amid growing U.S.-Vietnam defense contacts, was widely documented by official and media photography and later cited by both the U.S. Navy and U.S. embassies as a marker in the normalization of ties.

Through early 2005, CURTIS WILBUR continued Seventh Fleet patrols and combined training with regional navies as North Korea's nuclear diplomacy and a spate of missile developments kept allied forces focused on readiness. The ship's performance that year earned recognition in the Navy's battle efficiency awards.

In February 2006, CURTIS WILBUR was among the Seventh Fleet units diverted for humanitarian response after a catastrophic landslide struck Leyte in the central Philippines on February 17. U.S. naval forces surged toward the disaster area with helicopters, medical teams, fresh water, and logistics lift. CURTIS WILBUR's participation during February 17-28 is recorded in the ship's award of the Humanitarian Service Medal for that specific period. The relief effort illustrated how the forward-deployed destroyer force could swing rapidly from high-end warfare training to disaster response in the same operating theater.

In 2007, routine diplomacy and presence operations included a port call at Vladivostok. While mooring on June 30, 2007, CURTIS WILBUR made minor contact with a Russian UDALOY-class destroyer. Damage was reported as slight and the visit proceeded without broader incident, a reminder of the practical difficulties of close-quarters shiphandling in foreign ports.

Across 2008, the destroyer remained on the Japan waterfront and in nearby seas for exercises with Japanese and Korean forces and for carrier escort duties as required, a period in which Pacific Fleet surface commands highlighted combat-systems excellence through the Spokane Trophy program. CURTIS WILBUR's sustained performance in this period would later be recognized formally in connection with the award's 2009 cycle.

By 2009, the ship's gunnery and air-defense teams were again in the spotlight. During Pacific test events that year, CURTIS WILBUR launched a Standard Missile-2 against an aerial target, demonstrating Aegis area-defense proficiency - the bread-and-butter mission set for early-flight BURKE destroyers in carrier and expeditionary groups. That same year the crew's across-the-board combat-systems readiness was reflected in Spokane Trophy recognition for 2009, announced the following spring by Pacific Fleet.

Through 2010, the ship maintained Seventh Fleet patrols and combined training as regional tensions pulsed on the Korean Peninsula following incidents around the Northern Limit Line. The destroyer's posture in these years emphasized maritime air defense, anti-submarine warfare training, and ballistic-missile-defense readiness - all core missions for Yokosuka-based Aegis units assigned to protect high-value forces and allied sea lines of communication in Northeast Asia.

In March 2011, CURTIS WILBUR joined the large maritime relief formation assembled off northeastern Honshu after the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear accidents. Operating with the carrier RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76) and other U.S. and Japanese ships, the destroyer supported helicopter logistics, maritime picture management, and coastal response coordination during Operation Tomodachi, earning recognition in the form of a Humanitarian Service Medal for the March-May period.

The ship's Yokosuka years that followed kept her on a steady rhythm of carrier escort, allied exercises, and local patrols. In January 2012, her crew's leadership culture drew notice when a CURTIS WILBUR sailor received the Surface Navy Association's Admiral Zumwalt Award for Visionary Leadership. In 2013, the destroyer's food-service team earned a Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial Award, one of the Navy's top galley honors - small but telling indicators of cohesion aboard amid the demands of forward deployment.

On April 8, 2014, the destroyer moored at Pyeongtaek, South Korea, during spring defense drills that regularly exercised combined maritime command-and-control with the Republic of Korea Navy. The photo record from that port call places the ship in the Yellow Sea approaches at a time of recurring North Korean missile activity that kept allied naval forces at heightened readiness.

From mid-2014, USS CURTIS WILBUR shifted from routine Yokosuka upkeep into a cycle of intense WestPac training and a major modernization. In March, the destroyer joined Multi-Sail 2014 in waters near Guam, conducting live-fire events that included launching SM-2 surface-to-air missiles on March 23 and recovering a Mk 46 exercise torpedo as part of anti-submarine warfare drills. The event brought together multiple DESRON 15 ships and logistics units, sharpening multi-ship air, surface, and sub-surface tactics in the Philippine Sea.

Immediately afterward, in early April 2014, the ship operated with U.S. and Republic of Korea forces during FOAL EAGLE along Korea's west coast, including a port call to Pyeongtaek and community-relations work ashore, before entering an extended dry-dock and repair period at Fleet Activities Yokosuka. Photographs from November 22 show CURTIS WILBUR preparing to leave dry dock after a seven-month dockside segment within that availability, which set the stage for post-maintenance trials.

On March 5, 2015, the destroyer completed sea trials that capped a 335-day Extended Dry-Docked Shipboard Repair Availability (EDSRA) - at the time the longest and most extensive DDG overhaul undertaken by Forward-Deployed Naval Forces in Japan - modernizing combat systems and ship's equipment for the evolving threat environment in Northeast Asia. Within days the crew loaded SM-2 missiles in Tokyo Bay on March 13, then got back to sea, stopping in Apra Harbor, Guam, on March 18 during the ship's return to full operational rhythm. The Seventh Fleet commander visited CURTIS WILBUR at Yokosuka on April 17, and on December 12, the destroyer executed a close-in-weapon-system live-fire event while on patrol in the South China Sea, signaling a return to high-tempo presence operations after the long yard period.

On January 30, 2016, CURTIS WILBUR conducted a freedom-of-navigation operation near Triton Island in the Paracel chain, challenging excessive maritime claims under international law. The legally routine but politically sensitive transit underscored U.S. policy on the South China Sea during a period of accelerating Chinese militarization of features in the region.

That spring, the ship shifted to Guam for Multi-Sail 2016: ten U.S. and Japanese combatants mustered in Apra Harbor March 4-14 to rehearse integrated air defense, surface warfare, and ASW. Pier-side imagery shows CURTIS WILBUR alongside fellow DESRON-15 destroyers during the in-port phase. Through the summer, the destroyer remained on patrol with CARRIER STRIKE GROUP FIVE (centered on USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76)), highlighted by a goodwill port visit to Manila, Philippines, on July 20 that included sailor-to-sailor outreach and signaled allied solidarity amid regional maritime disputes.

In September 2016, the ship joined the U.S.-only biennial exercise VALIANT SHIELD in the Philippine Sea, a large-force integration event that hones joint tactics across Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force units. The following month, in October, CURTIS WILBUR operated with the RONALD REAGAN CARRIER STRIKE GROUP and the Republic of Korea Navy during INVINCIBLE SPIRIT around the Korean Peninsula - one of several combined U.S.-ROK events that year intended to reinforce deterrence as Pyongyang accelerated missile testing. Imagery from October shows the destroyer conducting gunnery and maritime security tasks in regional waters during this heightened period.

Amid rising tensions with North Korea in early 2017, the destroyer took part in a trilateral missile-warning information-link exercise (LINKEX) on March 14-15 alongside ROKS SEJONG THE GREAT (DDG 991) and JMSDF's JS KIRISHIMA (DDG 174). The drill focused on exchanging tactical data among Aegis combatants to improve shared ballistic-missile tracking and reporting, building interoperability among U.S., South Korean, and Japanese forces. Later that spring and summer the ship was among the Yokosuka-based units that supported the local response and relief effort after USS FITZGERALD’s June 17 collision, providing manpower and watchstanding to help stabilize the situation on the waterfront.

In March 2018, CURTIS WILBUR shifted south to Guam to join Multi-Sail 2018, a U.S.-Japan advanced readiness exercise built around live-fire events and integrated anti-submarine warfare. She operated in company with cruiser ANTIETAM (CG 54), destroyers BENFOLD (DDG 65) and MUSTIN (DDG 89), and the JMSDF destroyer JS FUYUZUKI. The exercise's ship-to-air and ASW serials - the core of BURKE-class training - closed with underway logistics at Apra Harbor and preparations for subsequent patrols. The ship capped that cycle by completing her Basic Phase on July 30, 2018, formalizing certifications across damage control, engineering, seamanship, and combat-systems employment.

Regional deterrence missions dominated 2018-2019. On October 22, 2018, CURTIS WILBUR transited the Taiwan Strait with cruiser ANTIETAM, a routine international-waters passage publicly acknowledged by U.S. Pacific Fleet. On March 25, 2019, she again made the transit - this time paired with the U.S. Coast Guard cutter BERTHOLF - highlighting a growing Navy-Coast Guard teaming approach to upholding lawful navigation amid rising cross-Strait tensions. In late May 2019, she was photographed maneuvering in formation with the JMSDF destroyers JS ARIAKE and JS ASAHI in the Philippine Sea, another snapshot of day-to-day allied integration at sea. A change of command followed on October 17, 2019, at Yokosuka as the ship prepared for the next training cycle.

From the outset of 2020, USS CURTIS WILBUR operated in a year defined by COVID-19 restrictions that kept most port visits off the calendar and pushed nearly all engagement at sea. As autumn approached, the ship entered the large, Japan-U.S. field training exercise Keen Sword 21. Unit updates from the ship and allied command releases place CURTIS WILBUR on station with U.S. and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force units as the exercise ran from October 26 to November 5 across the waters around Japan, rehearsing integrated air and missile defense, surface action, resupply and amphibious elements while limiting ashore contact because of health protection measures.

The end of 2020 brought a headline transit. On December 31, 2020 (local time), CURTIS WILBUR and USS JOHN S. McCAIN (DDG 56) made a routine north–south passage through the Taiwan Strait, an operation announced by Seventh Fleet that underscored the U.S. practice of lawful navigation through international waters and the steady cadence of such movements in the region.

In early 2021 the destroyer moved swiftly through a series of alliance and presence operations at sea. On February 19, 2021, CURTIS WILBUR executed a trilateral replenishment-at-sea alongside JMSDF replenishment ship JS HAMANA and French light frigate FS PRAIRIAL - an underway logistics evolution purposefully staged to deepen Japanese-French-U.S. coordination and keep crews proficient despite pandemic limits on pier-side training. Four days later, on February 24, the ship again transited the Taiwan Strait on a north-south track under international law, a passage publicly noted by Seventh Fleet. On May 18, 2021, she transited the Taiwan Strait once more, and on June 22, 2021, she did so again, both passages conducted under international law and publicly released by the Seventh Fleet. After twenty-five consecutive years in the forward-deployed force, CURTIS WILBUR departed Yokosuka on August 18, 2021 and arrived in her new homeport of San Diego on September 16, 2021, ending one of the longest unbroken forward-deployed runs by a U.S. surface combatant.

From 2022, the destroyer re-entered the U.S. Third Fleet training and maintenance cycle. A change of command occurred on September 8, 2022, in San Diego, and over 2022-2023 the ship executed a dry-docking availability that refreshed hull and combat-systems readiness in preparation for West Coast tasking. These yard and basic-phase periods are less visible than high-profile deployments but are essential to restoring material condition for the next multi-mission cruise.

On March 4, 2024, while underway off Southern California, CURTIS WILBUR diverted to rescue two boaters from a sinking craft - an at-sea assist that demonstrated the standing search-and-rescue obligations of naval vessels regardless of training status. A change of command on May 31, 2024, closed out a stateside cycle that had included the dry-dock period and crew workups. By then the ship was aligned under Destroyer Squadron 9 for upcoming operations.

In 2025, the destroyer returned to the Western Pacific with the NIMITZ (CVN 68) Carrier Strike Group (CSG-11). On May 6 and again on May 14 she conducted replenishments-at-sea with the fleet oiler USNS JOHN LEWIS (T-AO 205) in the South China Sea, and on May 24 she moored alongside NIMITZ for a port call at Port Klang, Malaysia. In September the ship joined Japanese and Republic of Korea Navy units for "Freedom Edge 25", a trilateral exercise series focused on integrated air defense, at-sea logistics, and visit-board-search-and-seizure drills. On September 17 she was photographed conducting RAS with the ROK fast combat support ship ROKS DAECH EONG and participating in medical evacuation training embarked in the JMSDF helicopter destroyer JS HYUGA. These serials reflected the deepening trilateral naval coordination announced by regional leaders and translated at sea by front-line ships like CURTIS WILBUR.

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Homeports of USS CURTIS WILBUR:

Period	Homeport
commissioned at Long Beach, calif.
1994 - 1995	San Diego, Calif.
1995 - 2021	Yokosuka, Japan
2021 - present	San Diego, Calif.

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Interesting Facts:

In October of 1995, CURTIS WILBUR became the first AEGIS ship to integrate women into the crew.

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

( Click on the Coat of Arms for a larger version )

The Shield:

Red, white and blue are our national colors. Dark blue and gold are the colors traditionally associated with the Navy. Red denotes courage, white is for integrity and gold stands for excellence and high ideals. The anchor is reminiscent of maritime tradition and excellence of achievement. The gavel represents Curtis Wilbur, for whom the ship is named, as a distinguished jurist. The hammer suggests his role in shipbuilding revival. His major objective was to unite a strong Navy. The gavel and hammer are crossed to express strength. The embattled bordure alludes to the fortress like quality of a DDG ship.

The Crest:

The eagle is adapted from the Secretary of Navy seal referring to Curtis Wilbur's support of naval aviation. The three missiles are reminiscent of a trident, a traditional symbol of sea power, and represent the modern technology and power of the ship in the three traditional warfare missions of a destroyer: air, surface, and subsurface.

The Motto:

Latin for "Judicious Power for Country"

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About the Destroyer's Name, about Secretary of the Navy, Curtis Dwight Wilbur:

The forty-third Secretary of the Navy, Curtis Dwight Wilbur, was born in Boonesboro, Iowa, on May 10, 1867. He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in 1884. Shortly after graduation, Curtis Wilbur resigned his commission, a common practice at the time, and moved to Riverside, California. He was admitted to the California bar in 1890 and served as Los Angeles Deputy Assistant District Attorney. Curtis Wilbur moved to the Superior Court in 1903, and finally, in 1918, to the California Supreme Court where he served as Chief Justice.

On March 19, 1924, Curtis Wilbur was sworn in as Secretary of the Navy. The first appointee of President Calvin Coolidge. Curtis Wilbur came into the position with a reputation as a man of high intellect and a character of "unimpeachable integrity."By the end of his term, Curtis Wilbur had achieved success in enlarging and modernizing the fleet and established a naval air force which would grow to become a potent component in the war with Japan.

When Herbert Hoover became president in 1929, he appointed Curtis Wilbur to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. He served with distinction as the presiding judge until his retirement in 1945. Following retirement, Curtis Wilbur spent time with his wife, Olive Doolittle, and his three children; Edna, Paul and Lyman Dwight. The Honorable Curtis D. Wilbur passed away in 1954.

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USS CURTIS WILBUR Image Gallery:



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The photos below were taken by Hagen Wagner and show the CURTIS WILBUR at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan, on July 28, 2017.

The photos below were taken by Shiu On Yee during USS CURTIS WILBUR's port visit to Hong Kong November 21-25, 2018.



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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the CURTIS WILBUR at Yokosuka, Japan, on August 3, 2019.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the CURTIS WILBUR at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 28, 2021.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the CURTIS WILBUR undergoing her Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability (DSRA) at General Dynamics NASSCO, San Diego, Calif., on October 10, 2022.