# USS Laboon

USS Laboon (DDG-58) is an Arleigh Burke-class (Flight I) Aegis guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named for Father John Francis Laboon (1921–1988), a captain in the Chaplain Corps of the United States Navy, who was awarded the Silver Star during World War II while serving on the submarine USS Peto.
Laboon's keel was laid down in 1992 at the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine. She was launched in 1993, and commissioned in 1995.

## Ship's history

Laboon's keel was laid down on 23 March 1992 at the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine. She was launched on 20 February 1993. Laboon was commissioned on 18 March 1995.
In late 1996, she fired Tomahawk missiles at targets in Iraq, thus becoming the first Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to engage in combat.
In 1998, Laboon took part in NATO Exercise Dynamic Response 98, together with USS Wasp's Amphibious Ready Group.
On 12 September 2012, Laboon was ordered to the coast of Libya in what the Pentagon called a "contingency" in case a strike was ordered. This was in response to the 2012 diplomatic missions attacks.
On 21 June 2015, Laboon entered the Black Sea along with the French ship Dupuy de Lôme as part of NATO's presence missions following the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. While in the Black Sea, Laboon participated in joint maneuvers with a Romanian Navy Rear-Admiral Eustațiu Sebastian-class corvette for two days beginning on 22 June 2015. On 27 June 2015, Laboon began a two-day visit to the Black Sea port of Batumi, Georgia, to participate in training with the Coast Guard of Georgia and offer tours of the ship.
On 14 April 2018, she fired seven Tomahawk missiles from a position in the Red Sea as part of a bombing campaign in retaliation for the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons against people in Douma.

### 2023 Israel-Hamas war

On 14 October 2023, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin directed Dwight D. Eisenhower and her carrier strike group, which includes the cruiser Philippine Sea, along with Laboon, and sister-destroyers Mason and Gravely, to the eastern Mediterranean in response to Israel's war with Hamas. This was the second carrier strike group to be sent to the region in response to the conflict, following Gerald R. Ford and her group, which was dispatched only six days earlier.
On 23 December 2023, while patrolling in the southern Red Sea, Laboon shot down four unmanned aerial attack drones that originated from areas controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and were inbound toward Laboon. On 26 December, Laboon shot down three anti-ship ballistic missiles in the Red Sea fired by Houthi rebels with multiple SM-6 missiles. This was the first intercept of a ballistic missile in combat.
On 6 January 2024, Laboon shot down a Houthi drone in the Red Sea. On 9 January, at approximately 9:15 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Southern Red Sea, towards international shipping lanes where dozens of merchant vessels were transiting. Eighteen OWA UAVs, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile were shot down by a combined effort of F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft from Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gravely, Laboon, Mason, and the United Kingdom’s HMS Diamond. This was the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since 19 November 2023. There were no injuries or damage reported. On 14 January, an anti-ship missile was fired in the direction of Laboon from a Houthi-controlled portion of Yemen, according to CENTCOM.
On 2 February 2024, Laboon and F/A-18 Super Hornets from Dwight D. Eisenhower shot down at least 12 drones launched by Houthis over the Red Sea. On 6 February at 4:30 p.m., while patrolling in the Gulf of Aden, Laboon, operating near the cargo ship MV Star Nasia, intercepted and shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis. On 20 February at 12:30 a.m., while operating in the Gulf of Aden, Laboon detected and shot down one anti-ship cruise missile fired by the Houthis.

## Awards

* Combat Action Ribbon - (October 2023 - April 2024)
* Navy Unit Commendation - (2021 (IKE CSG), Oct-May 2024)