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About the Name "The Sullivans"

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USS The Sullivans (DDG 68)

USS THE SULLIVANS is the second ship in the Navy named after the five Sullivan brothers. Homeported in Mayport, Fla., she is part of the Atlantic Fleet. According to the German news magazine "Der Spiegel", in January 2000, 10 months before the attack on USS COLE (DDG 67) in Aden, USS THE SULLIVANS was the target of a failed terrorist attack in the port of Aden, Yemen.

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Crew List:

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

• Click here to view the list.

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• Click here to see which USS THE SULLIVANS memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS THE SULLIVANS Cruise Books:

• Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Cruise Book 2004-05

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USS THE SULLIVAN's Commanding Officers:

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History of USS THE SULLIVANS:

USS THE SULLIVANS was laid down on 14 June 1993 at Bath, Maine, by Bath Iron Works Co.; launched on 12 August 1995; sponsored by Kelly Sullivan Loughren, granddaughter of Albert Leo Sullivan; and commissioned at Staten Island, N.Y., on 19 April 1997, Commander Gerard D. Roncolato in command.

On 26 April, THE SULLIVANS departed New York for Norfolk where, after arriving on the 27th, the crew completed underway replenishment qualifications with PLATTE (AO 186). The warship then sailed for Mayport on 29 April and arrived in her new homeport on 2 May.

After completing two days of gunnery trials in mid-May, THE SULLIVANS embarked upon her shakedown deployment to the West Indies on 27 May. That cruise took her to the waters off Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where the destroyer conducted numerous sonar, gunnery, and torpedo exercises. The warship also twice entered Roosevelt Roads and stopped once at St. Thomas for port visits. On 29 June, THE SULLIVANS conducted test firings of Standard SM-2 ER missiles from her vertical launch system (VLS). After a brief stop at Mayport for the 4 July weekend, the warship joined other ARLEIGH BURKE - class destroyers, cruisers, destroyers, and frigates off the Virginia Capes for a multiple-ship missile firing exercise. She returned to Mayport on the 12th for upkeep.

Following three days of damage control exercises in mid-August, the crew began preparations for a post shakedown availability. She sailed for Maine on 3 September, arriving at Bath Iron Works on the 5th. The shipyard repainted the hull, altered the superstructure, and installed equipment upgrades in the engineering plant and combat systems suite. When the yard work was completed THE SULLIVANS got underway for Mayport, arriving there on the 23 November.

On 8 December the destroyer joined ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) off Georgia for a week of underway training. While providing plane guard services on the 11th, a McDonnell Douglas T-45A trainer ("Goshawk") splashed following take-off. THE SULLIVANS made a high-speed dash to the site. While the carrier's rescue helicopter safely rescued the pilot, boats launched by THE SULLIVANS picked up considerable pieces of wreckage which were helpful in determining the cause of the crash. The crew also completed helicopter deck landing qualifications before returning to port for the holidays on the 12th.

In January 1998, the crew of THE SULLIVANS began a series of exercises designed "to build the capability for long-term self-sustained training onboard." They included engineering, combat, seamanship, and battle scenario training exercises. These local operations lasted until 18 May when the warship got underway for New York and the annual "Fleet Week" celebrations.

Following a week long port visit, THE SULLIVANS got underway on 26 May for Halifax, Nava Scotia to conduct training workups for the upcoming Exercise "Unified Spirit `98." During the exercise she joined an amphibious task force formed around NASSAU (LHA 4), two LPDs, and two LSDs. The warship screened the "gator" ships during an exercise focusing on multi-national peace enforcement operations. Ships from Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and Portugal also participated in the exercise. After this exercise, the ship visited Boston and then sailed with relatives and family for Mayport, arriving on 1 July.

After a summer of conducting midshipmen training off the Florida coast, Commander Roncolato was relieved by Commander E. Scott Hebner, USN, in a change of command ceremony on 4 September 1998. THE SULLIVANS is assigned to Destroyer Squadron Twenty-Four, a component of the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) Battle Group. In 1999, the ship participated in various training exercises to prepare for her maiden deployment in October to the Mediterranean and then in 2000 continued into the Arabian Sea and participated in exercises and boarding operations until late March. On 9 February, 2000, Commander Daniel Paul Keller, USN relieved Commander Heber in a change of command ceremony, held at sea on station in the Arabian Gulf. After port visits in the Persian Gulf, she returned through the Mediterranean to her homeport in April 2000, successfully completing her first six month deployment. After participating in BEACHFEST at Port Canaveral, FL, THE SULLIVANS underwent a major maintenance overhaul to prepare for future operations.

In February 2002, the destroyer again deployed with the KENNEDY Battle Group to the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. In mid-August 2002, THE SULLIVANS returned to Mayport.

In 2003, THE SULLIVANS moved from basic readiness events into increasingly complex multinational operations. In December 2003, she conducted coordinated live-fire missile events off the U.S. East Coast - VANDALEX - launching SM-2s in a volley alongside VICKSBURG (CG 69), ROOSEVELT (DDG 80) and CARNEY (DDG 64), a capstone to that year's air-defense workups. These serials were designed to refine layered area-air defense against drone surrogates before the ship's next forward tasking.

On 3 November 2004, the destroyer transited the Suez Canal to join Commander Task Force 150 in the Gulf of Oman and northwestern Indian Ocean for counter-terrorism and maritime security operations. Working with ships from France, Italy, Germany, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, she helped patrol an enormous sea space and chokepoints central to the Global War on Terrorism. After a six-day liberty and logistics stop in Oman in early December, she was back at sea on 13 December to continue patrols, boardings, and coalition presence missions in the region.

In the mid-2000s, her Atlantic and European commitments expanded. During June 2006, she took part in the Royal Navy-led NEPTUNE WARRIOR off Scotland, integrating with allied air and sea forces to exercise task-group air defense, surface action procedures, and maritime interdiction under a complex threat picture. The ship also supported high-visibility community events such as Fleet Week port visits in New York (June 2007), before returning to Atlantic training events in early 2008. These periods kept the crew current in strike group procedures and ensured combat systems were exercised under NATO standards.

By 2010, deployments again centered on the Middle East. Early that year, THE SULLIVANS conducted an independent ballistic-missile defense–oriented deployment and broader Fifth Fleet tasking that included repeated Strait transits and Persian Gulf patrols. On 20 March 2010, while entering Manama, Bahrain, the ship struck a harbor buoy and suffered damage that was later repaired. She returned home to Mayport from the seven-and-a-half-month deployment on 22 September 2010. The following year, on 17 August 2011, during a gunnery exercise off North Carolina, inert rounds were mistakenly fired near a civilian fishing vessel - no injuries occurred - and the ship subsequently reset training and safety procedures.

In 2013, while again supporting Arabian Gulf security, THE SULLIVANS provided medical assistance to an ill mariner on the Saudi-flag dhow ABIR ALQARAY NO. 4 on 18 August, a routine but important example of mariner-to-mariner aid during regional presence operations. Two years later, on 18 July 2015, an SM-2 fired during a test event off the Virginia Capes malfunctioned shortly after launch, causing a small topside fire. There were no injuries, and follow-on inspection and repair requirements were assessed as modest. These events bookended a period in which the destroyer's AAW team continued to qualify and re-qualify the AEGIS suite and SM-2 employment in preparation for future deployments.

A sustained operational rhythm resumed with a seven-month deployment in 2018 across the Sixth and Fifth Fleet theaters. Returning to Mayport on 21 December 2018, the crew reported more than 40,000 nautical miles steamed, multiple transits of the Strait of Gibraltar, Suez Canal, Bab-el-Mandeb, and Hormuz, and extensive escort and maritime-security tasking. Port visits included Rota, Limassol, Souda Bay, Manama, Muscat, Fujairah, and Duqm. In the Gulf, THE SULLIVANS led a trilateral exercise with Iraqi and Kuwaiti navies and provided layered defense and command-and-control for a Griffin missile exercise with U.S. Cyclone-class patrol craft. Later in the deployment she screened ESSEX (LHD 2) during F-35B missions, reflecting the increasing integration of amphibious aviation into regional deterrence.

After a pandemic-era workup cycle with the Royal Navy, the destroyer embarked on a global cruise as part of the U.K.-led CARRIER STRIKE GROUP 21. Departing in spring 2021 and returning to Mayport on 24 November 2021, THE SULLIVANS served as the U.S. surface combatant in the HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH (R08) group, operating across Second, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Fleets. Port calls included Portsmouth, Gaeta, Limassol, Souda Bay, Toulon, Rota, Guam, and Yokosuka. The deployment featured large exercises - STEADFAST DEFENDER and STRIKE WARRIOR in the Atlantic, KONKAN in the Indian Ocean, NOBLE UNION and a three-carrier integration phase with RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76), CARL VINSON (CVN 70), and a JMSDF carrier group in the Indo-Pacific - and concluded with a bilateral exercise with the Tunisian Navy in the Mediterranean.

Within weeks, as European security deteriorated following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 Februar 2022, THE SULLIVANS surged back across the Atlantic for operations under U.S. Second Fleet in support of NATO. Activities included air-defense and anti-surface patrols in the High North and North Sea approaches and a port visit to Copenhagen on 22 March 2022, while working with regional partners, including the Danish PETER WILLEMOES (F 362). She returned to Mayport on 18 April 2022 after this three-month European deployment.

By late 2022, she was again in Fifth Fleet. Photographed arriving in Manama on 20 November 2022, THE SULLIVANS completed a four-month deployment that included 14 strait transits, routine flag-verification operations in the Gulf of Oman, and maritime-security evolutions with regional partners. The ship got underway replenishments, extensive small-boat operations, and provided persistent presence in the Arabian Gulf before returning home on 12 Februar 2023 - her third deployment in two years.

After stateside maintenance and training, the destroyer departed Mayport on 2 November 2024 for another independent deployment to Fifth Fleet, part of the broader multinational effort to ensure freedom of navigation amid heightened threats to commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Gulf. Through spring 2025, she conducted patrols, escorted merchant traffic, and transited regional chokepoints including the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM imagery documented her in theater during May 2025. THE SULLIVANS returned to Mayport on 12 July 2025, concluding an eight-month cruise that underscored the ship's recurring role as a rapidly employable air- and missile-defense unit for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

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Homeports of USS THE SULLIVANS:

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Accidents aboard USS THE SULLIVANS:

Date	Where	Events
July 22, 2015	off Virginia	A SM-2 Block IIIA missile detonates during a test launch while the ship is underway off the coast of Virginia. The explosion causes a small fire on the ship's stern and slightly damages THE SULLIVANS' port side. No injuries are reported. The photo below is an official US Navy photo taken just after the explosion.

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About the Ship’s Name:

Destroyers are named for naval heroes and leaders. Thus the Navy decided to honor the five Sullivan brothers by naming a new destroyer THE SULLIVANS. This name has caused some confusion because the Navy does not use the article "the" in front of the names of its ships. In this particular instance "the" is part of the ship's name.

George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert Sullivan, all sailors from Waterloo, Iowa, gave their lives in World War II, when on November 12, 1942, the cruiser JUNEAU (CL 52) was sunk during the battle of Guadalcanal. Tragically, most of the crew was lost, including all five Sullivan brothers.

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USS THE SULLIVANS Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me and show THE SULLIVANS at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., on July 31, 2000.

The photos below were taken by Verena Suess and show THE SULLIVANS at Reykjavik, Iceland, on July 6, 2013. The port visit was the first stop for THE SULLIVANS after her departure from Mayport, Fla., on June 24, 2013. The ship is presently on an independent deployment.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows THE SULLIVANS at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., on April 28, 2015.

The photos below were taken by me and show THE SULLIVANS getting underway from Faslane, UK., on October 4, 2015, to join Exercise Joint Warrior 15-2. Note the markings on the portside of the 5-inch gun on the first two photos.

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