More than three decades after delivering USS Stout (DDG 55) to the Navy, the Ingalls-built ship is still showing its strength.
DDG 55 recently completed a 15-day Limited Integrated Training Exercise (LITEX), an accelerated training event designed to prepare naval forces for deployment in response to emerging operational requirements. The exercise was conducted alongside USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109).
BUILT TO DEFEND
The exercise challenged the crew with rapid-fire, complex scenarios using live, virtual and constructive training. The goal: ensure Stout is ready to operate in the most demanding conditions, whether independently or alongside joint forces.
“I am incredibly proud of the resilience and tactical proficiency our Sailors demonstrated throughout LITEX,” said Cmdr. Kevin Taylor, DDG 55’s commanding officer. “This exercise proved that the Stout crew is highly trained, lethal and ready to execute our mission anywhere in the world.”
That readiness is not just a reflection of the crew aboard the Stout today. It also speaks to the durability and capability built into the ship by generations of Ingalls shipbuilders.
BUILT TO HONOR A HERO
USS Stout was the 49th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built by Ingalls. The ship’s keel was laid in 1991, with the ship commissioned in 1994.
The ship is named for Rear Admiral Herald F. Stout, who distinguished himself as the WWII commanding officer of the destroyer USS Claxton. In November 1943, Cmdr. Stout received two Navy Crosses in the span of three weeks for his actions in the Pacific. He first aided Destroyer Squadron 23 in sinking five heavily armed Japanese warships and damaging four others during the Solomon Islands campaign, then went on to sink four more Japanese ships and damage two others to establish a beachhead on Bougainville Island.