USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125), an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, was commissioned on October 7, 2023, at Tampa, Florida, becoming the United States Navy's first Flight III destroyer, according to the Navy's October 2023 release. The ship is the first hull built around the AN/SPY-6(V)1 air and missile defense radar, which the Navy describes as significantly more sensitive than the SPY-1 series it replaces. As of the Navy's release, the ship was assigned to the fleet following the ceremony.
Naval Pages records the open record only. This report states the event and its documented context per the named sources; it makes no statement about the ship's schedule or employment beyond the release.
What does the record establish about the ship?
The ship is named for Jack H. Lucas, a Marine who received the Medal of Honor for actions at Iwo Jima in 1945 at age 17, the youngest recipient of the medal in the Second World War, per the Navy's release. HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Mississippi, built the hull, delivered it to the Navy in June 2023 per the shipbuilder's announcement, and the commissioning followed acceptance trials earlier that year, per the Navy's statements.
The Flight III configuration restructures the Arleigh Burke design's power generation and cooling to serve the SPY-6 radar while retaining the class hull form, per the Congressional Research Service's DDG-51 program report. Subsequent Flight III hulls remain in construction at both Ingalls and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works as of 2024, per the same report.
What follows from the event, per the sources?
What the named sources establish is a class transition: from DDG-125 onward, new Arleigh Burke construction delivers in the Flight III configuration. What they do not establish is the radar's measured performance against specific threats; such figures, where the Navy releases them, will carry their own dates and conditions. This report states the commissioning as an event in the record, with its date.
For more context, read How U.S. Navy Ships Get Their Names.