USS Rafael Peralta

USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115) is an Arleigh Burke-class (Flight IIA Restart) Aegis guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. The destroyer can operate with a Carrier Strike Group (CSG), Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG), as an element of a Surface Action Group (SAG), or independently. The ship can conduct a variety of missions in support of national military strategy. From peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, 115 will be capable of carrying out Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD), Undersea Warfare (USW), Surface Warfare (SW), and Strike Warfare (STW) in multi-threat environments.^[7]

USS Rafael Peralta on 30 June 2017
History
United States
Name	Rafael Peralta
Namesake	Rafael Peralta
Ordered	26 September 2011
Builder	Bath Iron Works
Laid down	30 October 2014[1]
Launched	31 October 2015
Sponsored by	Rosa Maria Peralta
Christened	31 October 2015[2]
Acquired	3 February 2017[3]
Commissioned	29 July 2017[4]
Homeport	Yokosuka[5]
Identification	MMSI number: 368926053 Hull number: DDG-115
Motto	Fortis ad Finem (Courageous to the End)
Status	in active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class & type	Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
Displacement	9,217 tons (full load)[6]
Length	513 feet (156 m)[6]
Beam	66 feet (20 m)[6]
Propulsion	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines 100,000 shp (75,000 kW)[6]
Speed	30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement	380 officers and enlisted
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 inches (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
Aviation facilities	Double hangar and helipad

The $679.6 million contract to build her was awarded on 26 September 2011 to Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine.^[8][9] On 15 February 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the ship's named to be Rafael Peralta in honor of Marine Rafael Peralta, who was petitioned for the Medal of Honor for shielding several Marines from a grenade in November 2004 during the Iraq War; however, he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross instead.^[10][11]

Namesake

Rafael Peralta was born in Mexico City and immigrated to the United States as a child. Peralta joined the United States Marine Corps when he received his green card in 2000 and became a U.S. citizen while serving in the Marine Corps. Peralta was killed during the Second Battle of Fallujah in Iraq when he was wounded by small-arms fire while clearing houses with his fellow Marines. The insurgents threw a hand grenade into the room. Despite being injured, Peralta pulled the grenade underneath his body (thus absorbing most of the blast), killing him instantly and saving his fellow Marines. For his actions, Peralta was recommended for the Medal of Honor but was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross instead.

Design

Rafael Peralta is the 65th ship of the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers, the first of which, USS Arleigh Burke, was commissioned in July 1991.^[12] With 75 ships planned to be built in total, the class has the longest production run for any U.S. Navy surface combatant warship.^[13] As an Arleigh Burke-class ship, Rafael Peralta's roles will include anti-aircraft, anti-submarine, and anti-surface warfare, as well as strike operations.^[6] During its long production run, the class was built in three flights—Flight I (DDG-51 to DDG-76), Flight II (DDG-72 to DDG-78), and Flight IIA (DDG-79 onward).^[14] Rafael Peralta is a Flight IIA ship, and as such, features several improvements in terms of ballistic missile defense, an embarked air wing, and the inclusion of mine-detecting ability.^[6]

Construction and career

By January 2014, the aft portion of the ship had been completed and had begun outfitting^[15] and she was laid down on 30 October 2014.^[1][16]

The ship was christened on 31 October 2015 at Bath Iron Works by Rosa Maria Peralta, Sgt. Peralta's mother.^[2][17] In February 2017, the ship was accepted by the United States Navy.^[3]

Rafael Peralta was commissioned at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California on 29 July 2017^[4] and was homeported at Naval Base San Diego^[18] before moving to Japan in 2021.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers Rafael Peralta and USS Russell arrived in Sasebo for a port visit on 8 February 2020.^[19]

Rafael Peralta joined HMAS Stuart, HMAS Sirius, KDB Darulehsan and RSS Supreme on their way to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in preparation for RIMPAC 2020 on 6 August 2020.^[20]

Deployments

• 17 January 2020 - 3 September 2020 - 5th/7th fleet - Maiden deployment^{[citation needed]}

Awards

• PACFLT Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Bloodhound Award - 2024 ^[21]

In Popular Culture

Rafael Peralta was used in the Amazon Prime Video series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, season 2 episode 8 in November 2019.^[22]

Gallery

• 
  Launching of Rafael Peralta on 31 October 2015
• 
  Rafael Peralta's sea trial on 16 December 2016
• 
  Commissioning of Rafael Peralta on 29 July 2017