Image: from SeaWaves Magazine X @seawaves_mag
By Open Chronicle Newsdesk with agencies
The U.S. Navy will commission one of its most advanced guided missile destroyers, USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128), on October 3 in Whittier, Alaska, formally bringing another Flight III Arleigh Burke class warship into the fleet.
The ceremony will carry particular significance for Alaska. It will be the first Navy ship commissioning held in the state since USS Anchorage (LPD 23) entered service in 2013 at the Don Young Port of Alaska.
Secretary of the Navy John Phelan approved Whittier as the location for the ceremony earlier this year.
Following commissioning, USS Ted Stevens is expected to sail to its permanent homeport at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.
USS Ted Stevens is the US Navy’s newest Flight III destroyer, bringing AN/SPY-6 radar, upgraded systems and advanced air and missile-defense capabilities to the fleet. pic.twitter.com/hLUmQzbtlp
— Military Mechanics (@MilitaryMechs) September 3, 2026
Third Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer
USS Ted Stevens is the third Flight III configuration of the long running Arleigh Burke class, representing a substantial evolution of the Navy’s principal surface combatant.
The destroyer was constructed by Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Its sponsors, Catherine Ann Stevens and her daughters Susan Stevens Covich and Lily Stevens Becker, christened the vessel in August 2023.
The Navy formally took delivery of the ship in December 2025. USS Ted Stevens departed Ingalls in May 2026 and arrived at Naval Station Norfolk on May 15 ahead of its eventual commissioning.
Although the Arleigh Burke design dates back several decades, the Flight III ships incorporate major improvements intended to address increasingly sophisticated air and missile threats.
At the centre of those improvements is one of the most important new radar systems entering service with the U.S. Navy.
AN/SPY 6 brings a major radar upgrade
USS Ted Stevens carries the AN/SPY 6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar, providing substantially improved detection and tracking capabilities compared with previous generations of sensors aboard Arleigh Burke destroyers.
The radar is integrated with the Aegis Baseline 10 combat system, giving the ship a sophisticated architecture for detecting, tracking and engaging threats across the maritime battlespace.
Flight III ships also incorporate upgraded electrical generation and cooling systems required to support the more demanding radar and combat systems.
The combination is intended to strengthen the Navy’s ability to respond to increasingly complex threats, including aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
“USS Ted Stevens represents the combat ready, lethal force our Navy needs to deter aggression and defend our nation,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said.
“With her advanced sensors, weapons, and air and missile defense capabilities, this ship will give our Fleet greater capacity to find, track, and defeat threats across the maritime domain.”
Built for high intensity naval warfare
Like other Arleigh Burke class destroyers, USS Ted Stevens is designed as a multimission surface combatant.
Its roles include fleet air defence, ballistic missile defence, anti submarine warfare and surface warfare.
The Flight III configuration places particular emphasis on integrated air and missile defence, reflecting the growing threat posed by sophisticated cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and other long range weapons.
The destroyer can operate independently but is also designed to function as part of larger naval formations, including aircraft carrier strike groups and other joint or allied forces.
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said the ship’s capabilities would provide the United States with a significant advantage at sea.
“Equipped with cutting edge systems and capabilities, USS Ted Stevens is ready to answer our Nation’s call to counter aggression and safeguard our interests by providing a powerful advantage at sea,” Cao said.
A ship named for one of Alaska’s most prominent senators
The destroyer commemorates Ted Stevens, one of the most influential political figures in modern Alaskan history.
Before entering politics, Stevens served as an Army Air Corps pilot during the Second World War.
He flew missions over “The Hump”, the dangerous air route across the Himalayas used to supply Allied forces in the China Burma India theatre.
His wartime service earned him two Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals.
Stevens subsequently became a prominent supporter of Alaska statehood before representing the state in the U.S. Senate from December 1968 until January 2009.
His more than four decades in the Senate made him one of the institution’s longest serving members. He also served as president pro tempore during the 108th and 109th Congresses.
The decision to commission the destroyer in Alaska therefore connects the ship directly with the state that Stevens represented for much of his political career.
From Stevens’ legacy to a new generation of sailors
Vice Adm. Joe Cahill, commander of Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said responsibility for carrying that legacy would now fall to the ship’s crew.
“That legacy now passes to the Sailors who will bring this ship to life, turn her advanced integrated air and missile defense into combat power, and carry Senator Stevens’ standard forward,” Cahill said.
Commissioning marks the formal transition of the vessel into active naval service.
During the ceremony, the ship will formally be placed in commission and its crew will bring it to life as an operational unit of the U.S. Navy.
Flight III strengthens the surface fleet
USS Ted Stevens joins the fleet as the Navy continues introducing Flight III destroyers to strengthen its surface warfare and missile defence capabilities.
The AN/SPY 6 radar and Aegis Baseline 10 represent particularly important elements of that modernization.
Modern naval forces increasingly face simultaneous threats from multiple directions, ranging from conventional aircraft and anti ship cruise missiles to ballistic weapons and increasingly sophisticated unmanned systems.
Greater sensor sensitivity, computing capacity and integrated air defence capabilities are consequently becoming essential for surface combatants expected to operate in contested environments.
Flight III represents the Navy’s effort to incorporate those capabilities into the proven Arleigh Burke platform while retaining its broad multimission role.
For USS Ted Stevens, the October 3 ceremony in Whittier will mark the beginning of that operational career.
After honoring its namesake in Alaska, the destroyer will head for Norfolk, where one of the U.S. Navy’s newest and most capable surface combatants will begin preparing for future operations.