About The USS Jack H. Lucas

  • USS Jack H. Lucas is homeported in San Diego, California, and is the first ship to bear this name. 
  • The ship was built in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and was commissioned on October 7, 2023. 
  • USS Jack H. Lucas is named after Private First Class Jack H. Lucas, who served in the U.S. Marines Corps during World War II, earning the Medal of Honor for his heroism at Iwo Jima, when he was just 17 years old. Lucas was the youngest Marine and youngest serviceman in World War II to be awarded the United States’ highest military decoration for valor. In 1961, he returned to military service as a captain in the U.S. Army and trained younger troops headed for Vietnam. Lucas passed away on Jun. 5, 2008, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The selection of Jack H. Lucas is a constant reminder of the immense impact that actions taken by any Sailor or Marine can truly have. 
  • The ship is 509 feet in length and has a crew of 359 enlisted Sailors, 27 Chief Petty Officers and 41 officers.   
  • The USS Jack H. Lucas is the Navy’s first Flight 3 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer. It’s the first AEGIS Weapon System, Baseline 10, to be commissioned. It integrates air and missile defense capability with a new air and missile defense radar to provide significantly greater detection and tracking capacity among its warfighting capabilities across mission areas. Flight III also incorporates upgrades to the electrical power and cooling capacity, plus additional associated changes to provide enhanced warfighting capability to the fleet.  
  • Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet. These highly capable, multi-mission ships conduct various operations, from peacetime presence to national security.