Officially Licensed US Navy USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) ship's patch.
Aegis on the front line — first FDNF destroyer in Rota.
USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) is an Arleigh Burke-class (Flight II) Aegis guided-missile destroyer, the 14th ship of her class built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. She was laid down on July 9, 1996, launched on May 3, 1997, and commissioned on December 4, 1998 at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia — named in honor of Marine Colonel Donald Gilbert Cook, a Vietnam War prisoner of war and posthumous Medal of Honor recipient. On February 16, 2012 the Secretary of the Navy announced that Donald Cook would be one of four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers forward-deployed to Naval Station Rota, Spain in support of NATO ballistic missile defense, and on January 31, 2014 she departed Norfolk for Rota — becoming the first destroyer permanently stationed there and joining Destroyer Squadron 60. USS Ross (DDG-71), USS Porter (DDG-78), and USS Carney (DDG-64) followed her across the Atlantic to round out the four-ship Rota detachment. Since 2014, Donald Cook has run continuous forward-deployed naval forces patrols across the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations — anti-submarine warfare, ballistic missile defense, NATO maritime exercises, Black Sea presence, and partner-nation engagements from Norway to North Africa. This patch is for every Sailor who stood the watch on the front line.
Perfect For: USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) plankowners and veterans, Arleigh Burke-class destroyermen, NAVSTA Rota and Destroyer Squadron 60 Sailors, U.S. 6th Fleet operators, Aegis ballistic missile defense crews, NATO maritime warfare professionals, and Bath Iron Works heritage collectors.
USS Donald Cook — Rota forward, Aegis ready.
