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USS Donald Cook (DDG 75)

USS DONALD COOK is the 25th ship in the Navy's ARLEIGH BURKE - class of Guided Missile Destroyers and the first ship in the Navy named after US Marine Corps Colonel Donald Cook. In February 2014, the DONALD COOK shifted her homeport from Norfolk, Va., to Rota, Spain., where she remained for the following 7 years. In mid-July 2021, DONALD COOK shifted her homeport to Mayport, Fla.

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Crew List:

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

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History of USS DONALD COOK:

USS DONALD COOK was laid down at Bath Iron Works on July 9, 1996, launched on May 3, 1997, and commissioned at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, on December 4, 1998. After the crew embarked in late November, the destroyer shifted from Maine to Philadelphia for the ceremony and then began post-commissioning operations in the Virginia Capes ranges. By December 14, 1998, she was moored in Norfolk to start the ship's first cycle of trials, qualifications, and workups that would carry through the following spring.

Through early 1999, the crew completed combat systems grooming and initial certifications before entering her first major maintenance period: a Post-Shakedown Availability at Bath Iron Works' Portland, Maine, facility from June 1 to August 22, 1999. A short liberty visit followed immediately afterward, and the ship returned south to resume training. The remainder of 1999 was spent in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean operating areas, qualifying watch teams and proving out AEGIS and vertical-launch systems in preparation for deployment.

In early 2000, DONALD COOK executed integrated training alongside the GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) Battle Group and the SAIPAN (LHA 2) Amphibious Ready Group, serving as the air-defense commander ("Green Crown") during a two-week large-force exercise off the East Coast. Late in June 2000, she got underway from Norfolk on her maiden deployment. She crossed into the Mediterranean during the night of July 5-6 and made a first liberty call in Cartagena, Spain, from July 6-11, before continuing eastward for Sixth Fleet tasking and onward movement to Fifth Fleet waters in support of Operation Southern Watch. In October 2000, while still deployed, the ship supported the Navy's response to the terrorist attack on USS COLE (DDG 67) in Aden, a watershed security event that triggered immediate changes to force-protection posture across the fleet. DONALD COOK returned to Norfolk in December 2000, closing out her first cruise.

After a short Selected Restricted Availability and systems checks, the destroyer got back to sea on July 13, 2001, for trials and then in August joined the THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) force for a large Joint Task Force Exercise along the U.S. East Coast. The September 11 attacks reshaped the operating environment almost overnight. DONALD COOK shifted to heightened security while continuing pre-deployment training and certification work.

In February-March 2002, the ship deployed to Northern European waters for NATO's exercise "Strong Resolve", crossing the Atlantic and operating with allied ships while honing strike-group and maritime-security skills. She returned to the East Coast to complete another major battle group workup and then, on June 20, 2002, sailed with the GEORGE WASHINGTON Carrier Battle Group toward the North Arabian Sea, where the force relieved another carrier and supported Operation Southern Watch and early phases of Operation Enduring Freedom. After several months of air-defense and sea-control duty the group headed west. Later that year, on December 5, 2002, DONALD COOK departed again - this time with the HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75) Carrier Battle Group - toward the Eastern Mediterranean as coalition preparations for operations against Iraq accelerated.

Through early 2003, she operated with TRUMAN's force in the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea, executing strike exercises and maritime-interdiction training as the coalition finalized plans. On March 20-21, 2003, in the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, DONALD COOK launched Tomahawk land-attack missiles as part of the initial coalition strike package. The ship then settled into sustained combat operations, remaining continuously at sea for more than two months while providing air-defense, maritime-interdiction, and escort services to the carrier and transiting units. Following the major-combat phase, she made a brief liberty stop in Palma de Mallorca and returned to Norfolk in the summer of 2003 for maintenance and post-deployment reset.

The tempo in 2004 was dominated by maintenance, certifications, and fleet readiness events characteristic of the then-new Fleet Response Plan, including tailored engineering assessments and boarding-team training as the Navy's emphasis on maritime security operations grew in the wake of OEF/OIF. In 2005, the ship's records reflect periods of local operations in the Virginia Capes operating areas punctuated by at-sea exercises and certifications as DONALD COOK prepared for her next extended employment.

By mid-2007, the destroyer was again forward in Sixth Fleet, operating across the Mediterranean on theater-security cooperation tasking and calling at Souda Bay, Crete, in August during a deployment that paired routine presence with combined training alongside NATO partners. In 2008, she worked in the North Atlantic and northeastern approaches, including participation in the U.K.-led Joint Warrior series that focused on air-defense, anti-submarine, and maritime-interdiction profiles under multi-threat conditions. The 2009 operating year kept DONALD COOK busy in Europe as well, with tasking that blended port visits intended to deepen defense ties - such as calls in the Eastern Mediterranean - with multinational training evolutions under Sixth Fleet.

In 2010, the destroyer completed a long deployment that included a late-January liberty stop in Barcelona and a February return to Norfolk after seven months away, a period that overlapped with the U.S. Navy's broader humanitarian relief surge to Haiti. For DONALD COOK herself, that cruise emphasized standard air-defense and maritime-security roles for Atlantic-based destroyers. Across 2011, she executed the usual sequence of maintenance, basic phase training, and integrated workups as strike-group schedules were realigned to meet global demand.

A major inflection came in 2012, when the Navy announced that four BMD-capable destroyers would be forward-based in Rota, Spain, to underpin the European Phased Adaptive Approach to ballistic-missile defense. DONALD COOK spent 2013 completing the combat-systems upgrades, certifications, and pre-shift preparations required for sustained operations from the Iberian Peninsula.

She arrived in Rota in mid-February 2014, and immediately shifted to a pattern of persistent Sixth Fleet patrols. In April 2014, during the months after Russia's seizure of Crimea, she entered the Black Sea to conduct maritime-security operations and exercises with regional navies, a profile she would repeat multiple times in the ensuing years. Throughout 2014 and 2015, the ship executed Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean patrols, conducted gunnery and air-defense events at sea, and made port calls including Constanta, Romania, and Varna, Bulgaria, to underscore allied interoperability and reassure partners on NATO's periphery.

In April 2016, while operating in international waters about 70 nautical miles from Kaliningrad, DONALD COOK encountered a series of low-altitude passes by Russian Su-24 aircraft and orbits by a Ka-27 helicopter during ship-helicopter training with a Polish aircraft. The U.S. government publicly protested the unsafe nature of the approaches. The ship continued her forward-deployed rhythm through 2017, alternating patrols with maintenance availabilities at Rota, frequent calls at Souda Bay, and participation in alliance exercises across the Mediterranean and Baltic approaches.

In April 2018, as allied strikes targeted Syrian regime chemical-weapons facilities, DONALD COOK operated in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of the U.S. Sixth Fleet posture that underwrote deconfliction, air- and missile-defense, and maritime situational awareness in the region. Forward patrols continued into 2019. In February she entered the Black Sea for exercises with the Turkish Navy and a high-visibility visit to Odesa, Ukraine, before resuming patrol and logistics stops around the theater. In October 2019, she made a rare and diplomatically notable visit to Runavik in the Faroe Islands - the first U.S. destroyer call there in decades - highlighting evolving North Atlantic and Arctic security linkages within the Kingdom of Denmark.

The destroyer began 2020 with another Black Sea patrol in February, conducting routine operations with regional allies and partners. Pandemic protocols complicated liberty ashore but not the ship's at-sea tasking. In the autumn, she shifted north to the U.K.-led Joint Warrior 20-2 in the North Atlantic and launched an SM-2 during live-fire events, a highlight in a year otherwise marked by careful health precautions and steady patrol work. Early 2021 saw a final Black Sea deployment as a Rota-based ship, including a logistics stop in Batumi, Georgia, before DONALD COOK concluded her eleventh and last forward-deployed patrol and prepared to leave Spain. She departed Rota in the spring and officially shifted homeport to Naval Station Mayport, Florida, arriving there on July 18, 2021, after seven years of continuous Sixth Fleet duty.

In early 2022, she surged back to Europe from Mayport amid heightened tensions following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Operating with NATO units in the North Sea and Baltic, DONALD COOK took part in electronic-warfare training during Dynamic Guard 22-1 (February 22-25), made a port call in Rostock, Germany, on March 17, and then called in Copenhagen on March 21 alongside USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG 68) while continuing seamanship drills with the German Navy. She returned to Mayport on April 24, 2022, after more than seventy days at sea and three European port visits - Rostock, Copenhagen, and the Isle of Portland - that underlined allied logistics and interoperability during a volatile period.

The ship spent 2023 primarily in the U.S. Second Fleet area, sustaining readiness with basic and integrated training off the East Coast and hosting a change-of-command ceremony at Mayport on December 13, while the crew prepared for future tasking. In 2024, DONALD COOK again figured in an event with geopolitical resonance: in June, as a Russian flotilla transited near South Florida en route to Havana for exercises, the Navy assigned three destroyers, including DONALD COOK, to monitor the group along with allied and Coast Guard units, a routine but closely watched shadowing mission in the Caribbean approaches. Through 2025 the destroyer has continued to operate from Mayport, alternating local exercises, short deployments, and maintenance with occasional high-visibility port calls - such as a Fourth of July visit to Boston - while remaining aligned to the fleet’s air- and missile-defense, sea-control, and maritime-security roles on the Atlantic seaboard and across the North Atlantic.

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Homeports of USS DONALD COOK:

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

(Click on the coat of arms for a larger version)

The Shield:

Dark blue and gold are the colors traditionally used by the US Navy; red is emblematic of valor and sacrifice. The reversed star denotes the Medal of Honor, our country's highest honor, posthumously awarded to Colonel Donald G. Cook for his spirit of sacrifice and extraordinary heroism. The gauntlet grasps a broken chain underscoring Colonel cook's internment as a prisoner of war by the Viet Cong during which he unselfishly put the interests of his comrades before that of his own well-being and, eventually, his life. The swords are crossed to signify the spirit of teamwork while symbolizing the heritage of the US Navy and Marine Corps. The Mameluke represents Colonel Cook's service as a Marine.

The Crest:

The eagle symbolizes the principles of freedom upon which our country as founded and highlights military vigilance and national defense. The tridents represent sea power and underscore USS DONALD COOK'S AEGIS firepower and the capability to conduct operations in multi-threat environments.

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USS DONALD COOK Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Carl Groll in February 2002 during exercise Strong Resolve in the Baltic Sea. The first two pictures show the DONALD COOK entering the port of Kiel, Germany. The third photo shows the COOK at anchor in the Kieler Förde.

The photos below were taken by me and show the DONALD COOK during overhaul at the BAE Shipyard Norfolk on November 10, 2008.

The photos below were taken by me and show the DONALD COOK during overhaul at Norfolk, Va., on October 27, 2010.

The photos below were taken by me and show the DONALD COOK at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on May 6, 2012. On April 19, 2012, the ship had returned from a seven-month deployment to the 6th and 5th Fleet areas of operation.

The photos below were taken by Philip Petersen and me and show the DONALD COOK alongside USS VICKSBURG (CG 69) and USS ANZIO (CG 68) at Naval Base Faslane, UK, prior to their participation in exercise Joint Warrior 151 on April 11, 2015.

The photos below were taken by Philip Petersen and me and show the DONALD COOK departing Faslane, UK, on April 12, 2015, to join exercise Joint Warrior 151.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show USS DONALD COOK arriving at Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, UK, on July 29, 2017. DONALD COOK departed her homeport Rota, Spain, on July 26, for her sixth forward-deployed patrol and is visiting Portsmouth in preparation for Exercise Saxon Warrior 17.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show USS DONALD COOK berthed alongside USS PHILIPPINE SEA (CG 58) at Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, UK, on July 29, 2017. Both ships, as well as the USS GEORGE H. W. BUSH (CVN 77), are at Portsmouth in preparation for Exercise Saxon Warrior 17.

The photos below were taken by me and show USS DONALD COOK at Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, UK, on September 30, 2017, prior to her participation in Exercise Joint Warrior 172. DONALD COOK is presently on her sixth forward-deployed patrol.

The photos below were taken by me and show USS DONALD COOK after departure from Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, UK, on October 1, 2017, to join Exercise Joint Warrior 172. Note the two new white communications antennas next to the aft VLS. They were installed during the ship's recent upkeep period in Rota, Spain, between mid-August and mid-September.

The photos below were taken by Helwin Scharn and show USS DONALD COOK at Naval Base Kiel, Germany, on April 14, 2020. DONALD COOK only made a brief stop to refuel and departed Kiel later that day. The ship is presently on its tenth forward-deployed patrol.

The photos below were taken by Michael Siweris and show USS DONALD COOK departing Rostock, Germany, on March 20, 2022 after a three-day port visit. The first three photos show the ship in the Port of Rostock while the other photos show the DONALD COOK passing Warnemuende on her way out to the Baltic Sea. The DONALD COOK departed her homeport Mayport, Fla., on January 21 for a surge deployment to the 6th Fleet AoR and has since visited Rota, Spain, and Portland, UK.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show USS DONALD COOK at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., on October 12, 2023.

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