The U.S. Navy Zumwalt-class destroyer USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) arrives at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Feb. 17. Michael Monsoor is visiting Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam while operating in U.S. 3rd Fleet. Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam is a United States military base adjacent to Honolulu, Hawaii. It is an amalgamation of the United States Air Force’s Hickam Air Force Base and the United States Navy’s Naval Station Pearl Harbor, which were merged in 2010. It is part of Navy Region Hawaii and provides Navy and joint operations Base Operating Support that is capabilities-based and integrated.
USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) is the second ship of the three-ship Zumwalt class of guided-missile destroyers. The Zumwalt-class was designed as a multi-mission surface combatant for land attack and littoral operations with a mission of supporting both ground campaigns and the joint/naval battlespace. The main guns are a pair of Advanced Gun Systems (AGS). The ship is 600 feet (180 m) in length, with a beam of 80.7 feet (24.6 m) and displacing approximately 15,000 tons. Michael Monsoor has a crew size of approximately 148 officers and sailors; she can make speed in excess of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph).
Michael Monsoor is named after Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael A. Monsoor (1981–2006), a United States Navy SEAL killed during the Iraq War and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Assembly of modules for Michael Monsoor began in March 2010. The keel laying and authentication ceremony for Michael Monsoor was held at the General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works shipyard on 23 May 2013. Michael Monsoor was launched on 21 June 2016. Michael Monsoor was delivered to the Navy in April 2018,[16] and commissioned on 26 January 2019, at Naval Air Station North Island.
The U.S. Navy chose to use an unusual two-part commissioning scheme for the Zumwalt-class. The initial commissioning was done prior to weapons systems integration, and the ships were placed in the status of “in commission, special”, before sailing to San Diego for weapons installation and final acceptance. Zumwalt and Michael Monsoor used this scheme, while the third and final ship in the class, Lyndon B. Johnson, will use the more traditional approach with formal commissioning after final acceptance. She is homeported at Naval Base San Diego. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday visited Michael Monsoor while in San Diego on 25 February 2021.
