About

USS DANIEL INOUYE is the 69th Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer commissioned to the Navy and the first ship to bear her name. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are the backbone of the U.S. Navy's surface fleet and critical to the future Navy. The ship is nearly 510 feet long and has a navigational draft of 33 feet. As a Flight IIA destroyer, DANIEL INOUYE is equipped with Aegis Baseline 9, which provides improved Integrated Air and Missile Defense capabilities, increased computing power, and radar capable of quickly detecting and reacting to modern air warfare and Ballistic Missile Defense threats. They are highly capable, multi-mission ships and can conduct various operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection – all supporting the United States military strategy.

The United States Navy awarded the contract for DANIEL INOUYE to Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, on June 3 2013, and the company began fabricating the ship on October 31 2014. DANIEL INOUYE’s keel was laid down May 14 2018 and she was christened June 22, 2019 by the Senator’s wife and the ship’s sponsor, Irene Hirano Inouye with the ceremonial breaking of a bottle of champagne on the bow in a christening ceremony bestowing the name on the ship. During a "mast stepping" ceremony, she placed items special to Sen. Inouye in the ship's mast. Mrs. Inouye appointed two Matrons of Honor to assist with sponsorship duties: Jessica Inouye, the wife of Senator Inouye’s only son Ken, and Jennifer Sabas, Senator Inouye’s former chief of staff and current executive director of the Daniel K Inouye Institute. In a time-honored Navy tradition, Jennifer and Jessica, along with the Maid of Honor, Maggie Inouye, Sen. Inouye’s granddaughter, gave the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life,” in Mrs. Inouye’s stead during the commissioning ceremony which took place in Pearl Harbor, HI on December 8, 2021.

The commissioning ceremony coincided with the 80th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Commemoration events. On December 7, 1941, Daniel Inouye was a 17-year-old senior at Honolulu’s McKinley High School and rushed to a Red Cross aid station to help civilians and Sailors wounded in the attack.

In 1943, when the U.S. Army dropped its enlistment ban on Japanese Americans, Inouye curtailed his pre-medical studies at the University of Hawaii and enlisted in the Army. He volunteered to be part of the all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This army infantry unit was comprised primarily of second-generation Japanese-Americans during a time when anti-Japanese racism was prevalent and internment was a matter of national policy. The motto of the unit was “Go For Broke”, a phrase that meant putting everything on the line in an effort to win big. Japanese Americans such as Inouye faced two wars during World War II—war against the Axis powers and war against racism back home—making “Go For Broke” an appropriate motto.

On April 21, 1945, while serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment Combat Team in Italy, an exploding grenade shattered his right arm during an assault. Despite the intense pain, he refused evacuation. He remained at the head of his platoon despite his other gunshot wounds until they broke the enemy resistance and his troops deployed in defensive positions, continuing to fight until the regiment's position was secured. When Inouye awoke to see the concerned men of his platoon hovering around him, his only order before being carried away was for his men to return to their positions since "nobody called off the war". The remainder of Inouye's right arm was later amputated at a field hospital without proper anesthesia.

While recovering from war wounds and the amputation of his right arm at Percy Jones Army Hospital, Inouye met future Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, then a fellow patient. While at the same hospital, Inouye also met future fellow Democrat and Senator Philip Hart, who had been injured on D-Day. Dole mentioned to Inouye that after the war he planned to go to Congress, which inspired Inouye to step into the political field later as well. The two remained lifelong friends. In 2003, the hospital was renamed the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in honor of the three World War II veterans.

Although Inouye had lost his right arm, he remained in the military until 1947 and was honorably discharged with the rank of captain. At the time of his leaving the Army, he was a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. Inouye was initially awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery and extraordinary heroism in action, with the award later being upgraded to the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton (alongside 19 other Nisei servicemen who served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were believed to have been denied proper recognition of their bravery due to their race).

His youthful dreams of becoming a surgeon dashed by the amputation of his right arm, Inouye went on to earn a law degree and serve as a prosecutor in Honolulu before Hawai’i earned its statehood in 1959, opening the doors for Inouye to become the first Japanese-American to serve as a state representative in Congress that year and, just three years later, do the same as a Senator. Senator Inouye was re-elected nine times and on June 28, 2010, Inouye was elected President pro tempore, the officer third in the presidential line of succession. Inouye held this position until his death on December 17, 2012, which at the time made him the highest-ranking Asian-American politician in U.S. history.