FIRST PATROL: USS Destroyer In Operation After Move To Spain

This video highlights the completion of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius’ first Forward Deployed Naval Forces-Europe (FDNF-E) patrol.

USS Paul Ignatius (DDG-117) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy named after Paul Ignatius who served as United States Secretary of the Navy under President Lyndon Johnson from 1967 to 1969.

Paul Ignatius is the second of eight planned Flight IIA "technology insertion" ships, which contains elements of the Flight III ships.

She was launched on 12 November 2016, and was christened on 8 April 2017.

Paul Ignatius is homeported in Rota, Spain after departing from Mayport in Florida on 28 April 2022

The arrival her Phalanx CIWS was moved to the forward mount and she received the SeaRAM close-in weapon system on her aft mount.

In the autumn of 2022, Paul Ignatius conducted a routine patrol in the Baltic Sea, where she was accompanied by the support ship William McLean.

The ship also passed the area in the Baltic Sea where Nord Stream gas pipelines have been sabotaged. According to Danish media, the destroyer assisted in "guarding the crime scene of the gas leaks".