New Destroyer Commissioned in Key West

KEY WEST, Fla. — A new chapter in Key West's nearly 200-year military history was written Saturday evening, when the island city hosted the commissioning of U.S.S. Spruance (DDG-111), the U.S. Navy's most advanced Arleigh Burke-class Aegis Guided Missile Destroyer.

The ceremony took place at sunset on Key West's waterfront.

A 509 feet and costing $1.2 billion, Spruance is a multi-mission ship that carries Tomahawk cruise missiles, a 5-inch gun, sonar systems and two helicopters. The vessel is powered by four gas-turbine engines and can reach speeds of more than 30 knots.

Highlights of the commissioning ceremony included the traditional raising of the ship's colors and a flyover by a Naval Air Station Key West fighter squadron.

Although Key West has a long Navy tradition, with operations beginning in 1823, Saturday's ceremony was the first time that the subtropical island hosted a Naval vessel commissioning.

The battleship "Maine" sailed from Key West prior to her 1898 sinking in Havana that motivated the Spanish-American War. In 1917, Navy seaplane and blimp activity began at Naval Air Station Key West. The facility expanded to nearby Boca Chica Key in 1943 and today remains a strategic air base.

"We have such a proud history and tradition with the U.S. Navy down here all the way back to the Civil War," said Key West Mayor Craig Cates. "To have the navy commission a new warship in our city makes us so very proud."

The U.S.S. Spruance is named after Admiral Raymond Spruance, an aircraft carrier task force commander during the Battle of Midway in World War II. Ellen Spruance Holscher, granddaughter of the late admiral, spoke the traditional order to man the ship.