USS Jason Dunham

USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) is an Arleigh Burke-class (Flight IIA) Aegis guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named after US Marine Corps corporal Jason Dunham, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for service in the Iraq War.^[1] She was built by the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.^[5] She was christened by Corporal Dunham's mother, Debra Dunham, the ship's sponsor, and launched on 1 August 2009.^[1] Jason Dunham was commissioned on 13 November 2010.^[3]

USS Jason Dunham in August 2015
History
United States
Name	Jason Dunham
Namesake	Jason Dunham[1]
Awarded	13 September 2002[2]
Builder	Bath Iron Works[2]
Laid down	11 April 2008[2]
Launched	1 August 2009[1]
Sponsored by	Debra Dunham[3]
Commissioned	13 November 2010[3]
Homeport	Mayport[4]
Identification	MMSI number: 369970347 Callsign: NJDM Hull number: DDG-109
Motto	Semper Fidelis, Semper Fortis (Always faithful, always strong)
Status	in active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class & type	Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
Displacement	9,200 long tons (9,300 t)[2]
Length	510 ft (160 m)[2]
Beam	66 ft (20 m)[2]
Draft	33 ft (10 m)[2]
Propulsion	4 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 100,000 shp (75 MW)[2]
Speed	>30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement	380 officers and enlisted[2]
Armament	Guns: 1 × 5-inch (127 mm)/62 Mk 45 Mod 4 (lightweight gun) 1 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Phalanx CIWS 2 × 25 mm (0.98 in) Mk 38 machine gun system 4 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) caliber guns Missiles: 1 × 32-cell, 1 × 64-cell (96 total cells) Mk 41 vertical launching system (VLS): RIM-66M surface-to-air missile RIM-156 surface-to-air missile RIM-174A Standard ERAM RIM-161 anti-ballistic missile RIM-162 ESSM (quad-packed) BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile RUM-139 vertical launch ASROC Torpedoes: 2 × Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes: Mark 46 lightweight torpedo Mark 50 lightweight torpedo Mark 54 lightweight torpedo
Aircraft carried	2 × MH-60R Seahawk helicopters

Ship's history

In May 2022, Jason Dunham was homeported out of Naval Station Mayport and a part of Destroyer Squadron 28, along with Carrier Strike Group 8 led by the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.^[6]

In August 2025, Jason Dunham sailed for Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea. The destroyer was among the warships ordered to the area to combat drug smuggling traffic. On 4 September, in response to the presence of U.S. Navy warships in the region, two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets conducted a flyover of Jason Dunham,^[7] after which Trump gave permission to shoot down Venezuelan planes if they presented a danger to U.S. ships.^[8]

Gallery

• 
  The newly commissioned USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) arriving at its new homeport of Naval Station Norfolk.
• 
  USS Jason Dunham transiting the Arabian Sea on 14 March 2013.
• 
  (PCU) Jason Dunham conducting sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean on 20 May 2010