Change of Duty Sation: USS Milius (DDG-69)

Well, my orders finally came in! The Navy is sending me to the USS Milius (DDG-69)!!! Yes, it's homeported in San Diego, so fortunately Heather and I won't have to move!

:)


My last ship (USS Valley Forge, CG-50) was a Guided-Missile Cruiser. Cruisers are the largest traditional warships out there (not counting "amphibs" who aren't used to fight sea-wars as their purpose is to carry Marines, nor Carriers as their purpose is air-dominance) and basically replaced the WWII-era BattleShips as lighter, smaller versions.

My new ship (USS Milius, DDG-69) is a Guided-Missile Destroyer. Destroyers are one step down from Cruisers (in size anyways) and have most of their armaments reduced somewhat from the amount that a Cruiser carries and they generally have less personnel stationed onboard as well. However, because DDG's are somewhat smaller they are also more mobile. They are the Navy's NEWEST type of ship and have more modern technologies and combat/weapons systems than most of the other types of ships in the fleet. They also incorporate some improvements that make living onboard a little nicer; for example, they have been designed so that the entire crew only enters or leaves the ship (under normal circumstances, not emergencies of course) through ONE entrance which is composed of two doors and a pressurized room. The entire ship is pressurized (much like an airplane's cabin), which causes any dust/dirt from the outside to be KEPT outside the ship thus creating a cleaner environment.

One of the neater aspects of being assigned to this ship is the fact that the USS Milius was part of the Constellation Strike Group during the Western Pacific Deployment in from Nov. 2002 to June 2003 as was the USS Valley Forge. We did a lot of Ops together and I saw the Milius frequently at sea near us as well as in port enjoying liberty with us!

Here is a link to the USS MILIUS's Website, and here are a few photos of my new ship:

"Manning The Rails" onboard the USS Milius


Missile Launch, Iraqi Freedom

Missile Launch, Iraqi Freedom