USS Porter DDG 78 / Commodore David and Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter / Arleigh Burke class Guided Missile Destroyer – US Navy
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Naval Forces Technology, History & Information

 

Guided Missile Destroyer

DDG 78   -   USS Porter

USS Porter (DDG 78)

US Navy photo

Type, Class:

 

Guided Missile Destroyer; Arleigh Burke – class / Flight II;

planned and built as DDG 78;

Builder:

 

Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA

STATUS:

 

Awarded: July 20, 1994;

Laid down: December 2, 1996;

Launched: November 12, 1997;

Commissioned: March 20, 1999;

ACTIVE UNIT/ in commission (Atlantic Fleet)

Homeport:

 

Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Namesake:

 

Named after and in honor of Commodore David Porter (1780 – 1843)

and his son Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter (1814 – 1891);

> see history, below;

Ship's Motto:

 

> FREEDOM’S CHAMPION <

Technical Data:

(Measures, Propulsion,

Armament, Aviation, etc.)

 

see: INFO > Guided Missile Destroyer / Arleigh Burke - class.

 

Pictures, photos & more ...

 

David Porter & David Dixon Porter

David Porter

David Dixon Porter

David Dixon Porter

Photo credits: US Navy, US Naval Historical Center

 

Namesake & History:

Commodore David Porter (February 1, 1780 – March 3, 1843) and

Admiral David Dixon Porter (June 8, 1813 – February 13, 1891);

 

Commodore David Porter:

 

David Porter was born at Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 February 1780. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1798 and served in the Quasi-War with France and the Barbary Wars. He became a prisoner-of-war when USS Philadelphia was captured off Tripoli in October 1803. Following his release in 1805, Porter commanded USS Enterprise and later was in charge of naval forces at New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

During the War of 1812, Captain Porter was Commanding Officer of the frigate Essex during her wide-ranging assault on British shipping, a campaign that continued until Essex was overwhelmed by HMS Phoebe and Cherub at Valpariso, Chile, on 28 March 1814. Following the War, Porter was a member of the Board of Navy Commissioners and led an expedition to supress West Indies piracy in 1823-25. He resigned his commission in 1826 and spent three years as commander-in- chief of the Mexican navy. Porter died on 3 March 1843 while serving as U.S. Minister to Turkey.

 

David Porter was the father of Civil War leader Admiral David Dixon Porter (1813-1891). The two men, father and son, have had five U.S. Navy ships named in their honor, including: Porter (TB-6), Porter (DD-59), Porter (DD-356), Porter (DD-800) and Porter (DDG-78).

 

 

Admiral David Dixon Porter:

 

Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter was born on June 8, 1813, and was a native of Pennsylvania. He was the youngest son of David Porter, who commanded the Essex in the war of 1812-14 with Great Britain. Young Porter entered the service as midshipman in February, 1829, and served in the Mediterranean until 1835, when he was employed for several years in coast survey and river explorations. At the close of 1845 he was placed on special duty at the Washington observatory, resigning in 1846 to take part in the Mexican war. At the outbreak of the late war he was promoted to the rank of commander, and in 1862 the mortar fleet for the bombardment of the forts below New Orleans was placed under his orders.

 

Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter spent much of 1862-1863 along the Mississippi River and in smaller Mississippi Rivers, including the Yazoo, the Coldwater, the Tallahatchie, and the Yalobusha. He directed campaigns against a long list of Confederate positions in the Mississippi Delta, from he Grand Gulf batteries, to the Chickasaw Bluffs to Miliken's Bend and Port Hudson. After the capture of New Orleans he went up the river with his fleet, and was engaged in the unsuccessful siege of Vicksburg in July, 1862. During the second siege of that place, in the summer of 1863, he bombarded the works and materially assisted Gen. Grant, who commanded the besieging army. For this he made rear admiral. Porter did not leave Mississippi until his successful support of General Grant's siege of Vicksburg was completed with General Pemberton's surrender in July 1863. For his Civil War service, Porter received four letters of thanks from Congress, and was promoted to Vice Admiral in 1866. He was also engaged in the two combined attacks on Forth Fisher, which commands the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina. The first of these attempts, at the close of 1864, miscarried; the second, in January, 1865, was completely successful.

 

In July, 1866, he was made vice-admiral, and after the death of Farragut, was promoted, October, 1870, to the rank of admiral, which carried with it the command of the entire navy of the United States, subject only to the order of the president. Admiral Porter urged the importance of protecting the coast approaches to all the large cities of the United States, with heavily armored minitors, carrying the heaviest guns. David Dixon Porter was nearly forgotten because his career and accomplishments have often been misinterpreted, when, in fact, he was arguably the foremost naval hero of the Civil War. Though Porter rose faster through the ranks, commanded more men and ships, won more victories, and was awarded more Congressional votes of thanks than any other officer in the U.S. Navy, historians have been influenced by his own postwar accounts, which were flawed by an unquenchable ego, thin skin, and a burning desire to vindicate his equally controversial father. David Dixon Porter was a firebrand hero of New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Fort Fisher.

 

His unique tactics and techniques rank among the most imaginative and successful in naval history. The crew onboard Porter's flagship encountered daring, brilliant attacks against the punishing batteries at Vicksburg and Fisher and costly failures at Steele's Bayou and Red River. David Dixon Porter held critical strategy meetings with Sherman and Grant, and a thrilling chase up and down the coast of South America after Semmes on the CSS Sumter. David Dixon Porter was a talented fighter and colorful personality with a marvelous sense of humor, earning respect and friendship from the likes of Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman, but drew the ire of political generals like Butler, Banks, and McClernand. He was a potent mix of energy, ambition, courage, and creativity with rash behavior, paranoia, and a taste for intrigue.

 

USS Porter (DDG 78):

 

… DDG 78 history wanted …

 

… and patches …

 

 

 

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