USS Sampson (DDG-102)

The commissioning of USS Sampson

Sailors man the rails aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson as the ship arrives to help celebrate Portland Fleet Week festivities during the city's 103rd annual Rose Festival. Assisting Sampson is the tug Pacific Escort

She was built by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. At her christening on 16 September 2006, the principal address was delivered by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, and the vessel was christened by Clara Parsons, great-granddaughter of Rear Admiral Sampson and daughter of William Sterling Parsons, as the ship's sponsor. Commander Philip Roos was the ship's first commanding officer.

She was commissioned in Boston, Massachusetts on 3 November 2007 and home ported in San Diego. Her maiden deployment was from October 2009-May 2010 to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf as part of the NIMITZ battlegroup.

After SAMPSON returned from an 8 month maiden deployment, she was back underway from May to August with port visits to the 103rd Portland Rose Festival, Esquimalt, British Columbia to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy and the parade of ships and then participated in Exercise RIMPAC off the coast of Hawaii. SAMPSON's crew was awarded two Sea Service Ribbons in 12 months.[1]

In August 2011 USS Sampson pulled into South Harbor in Seattle, Washington, to participate in Seattle's Seafair celebration. In September, USS Sampson dispatched an inflatable boat and swimmers to retrieve about 60 bales of assorted drugs from the ocean after the small boat dumped them overboard. After that the ship participated in USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX), in preparation for an independent deployment.[1] In February 2012 USS Sampson departed San Diego for a scheduled deployment to the western Pacific and Middle East. In July, USS Sampson participated in at-sea phase of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Singapore.[1]

On 29 December 2014, Sampson was dispatched to the Java Sea to search for Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 that disappeared the day before.[2]

In 2016 the ship was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 9, working with Carrier Strike Group 11.[3] She arrived at her new homeport, Naval Station Everett in Washington, on 26 September 2016.[4]

It was announced on 15 November 2016 that, following a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Kaikoura, Sampson and other navy ships from Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore would instead proceed directly to the area to provide humanitarian assistance.[5]

The guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson (DDG 102) departed its homeport of Naval Station Everett for a scheduled deployment with the Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group , Oct. 3rd, 2017.[6]She returned May 9th, 2018 after seven months.[7]

A fun fact is that is only learned by those who have deployed aboard this ship, is that the movie “Battleship” has been banned aboard this vessel as the crew cheers when the ship is blown up in the movie. A true reflection of the moral aboard this navel vessel. {{Citation needed}}

The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) invited the United States Navy to send a vessel to participate in the RNZN's 75th Birthday Celebrations in Auckland over the weekend of 19–21 November 2016. Sampson was the first US warship to visit New Zealand in 33 years since the New Zealand nuclear-free zone came into effect and the US suspended its obligations to New Zealand under the ANZUS treaty. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key granted approval for the ship's visit under the New Zealand's anti-nuclear law, which requires that the Prime Minister has to be satisfied that any visiting ship is not nuclear armed or powered.[8]

• Navy Unit Commendation - (Jul 2009-Mar 2010)
• Battle "E" - (2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017)
• Humanitarian Service Medal - (17-20 Nov 2016) 2016 Kaikoura earthquake
• Spokane Trophy Award - (2010)
• Arizona Memorial Trophy - (2011-2012)
• Retention Excellence Award - (2008, 2014)
• Vice Admiral Thomas H. Copeman III Material Readiness Award - (2014)
• Safety Excellence Award - (2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019)

• The ship is featured in the 2012 film Battleship where she is destroyed and sunk by the Red Stinger during the intense combat in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii with its sister ship USS John Paul Jones.

• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.

• Soundings, 20 September 2006, Vol. 33, No. 38, pages 12–13 – www.soundingsnews.com.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Sampson (DDG-102).

• Official website