The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) was photographed transiting the English Channel past the White Cliffs of Dover on 17 August 2025.
The U.S. Navy confirmed that the destroyer, part of Carrier Strike Group Twelve, is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.
The mission is focused on supporting “the warfighting effectiveness, lethality and readiness of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, and defending U.S., Allied and partner interests in the region.”
The passage follows the earlier transit of USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the world’s largest aircraft carrier, which serves as the deployed flagship of Carrier Strike Group Twelve. Both vessels entered the North Sea after navigating the Strait of Dover.
The striking image of USS Winston S. Churchill passing one of Britain’s most recognisable landmarks highlighted the ship’s namesake ties to the UK.
The ship
The USS Winston S. Churchill is an Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA Aegis guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy. Built at Bath Iron Works in Maine, construction began in May 1998, and the ship was launched in April 1999 before being commissioned in March 2001 at Norfolk, Virginia. She is named after Sir Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, and is the 18th vessel of her class produced at Bath.
The decision to name the ship was announced by President Bill Clinton in 1995 during a visit to the United Kingdom. Winston S. Churchill became the first destroyer and only the fourth American warship named after a British citizen. She was also the first U.S. ship since 1976 to bear the name of a non-American, though Churchill himself held honorary U.S. citizenship and had American heritage through his mother. Other U.S. warships named for Britons include Alfred, Raleigh, and Effingham, while the frigate Harold E. Holt carried the name of an Australian Prime Minister.
The ship has a unique relationship with the Royal Navy. A Royal Navy officer, usually serving as Navigation Officer, is permanently assigned to her crew. Until 2005 the reciprocal arrangement placed a U.S. officer on HMS Marlborough. In recognition of her namesake, Winston S. Churchill is also the only U.S. Navy vessel permitted to fly a foreign ensign. On ceremonial occasions the Royal Navy’s White Ensign is flown on the port side, with the U.S. flag to starboard, while in normal operations only the U.S. flag is displayed.
Displacing 9,496 long tons at full load, the destroyer measures 509.5 feet in length with a beam of 59 feet and a draft of 31 feet. Powered by four General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines producing 100,000 shaft horsepower, she exceeds 30 knots and carries a crew of 380. Her armament includes a 5-inch Mk 45 naval gun, Phalanx CIWS, Mk 38 machine guns, and .50 calibre weapons. She also fields 96 Mk 41 VLS cells capable of launching Standard surface-to-air missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles, ASROC anti-submarine weapons, and ESSMs. Additional capability comes from triple torpedo tubes and two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, making her a versatile multi-role combatant.
We should name one of our Royal Navy ships Winston
Not for the woke my friend. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
They can have him as their national hero, if they like. He did more for them, than he ever did for us.
Ahhh, spoken like a Corbyn follower.
Congratulations you’ve just won the ‘ Vatnik of the Week’ award. Idiot!
Nobel prize winner, prolific author,artist, soldier, journalist,historian.Prime Minister, the only US Honorary citizen, Orator. You should do some more research regarding this man. Watch the movie Young Winston, note that whilst he was voted out of office in 1945, he was recalled to the job of PM a few years later by the British Electorate at the age of 75 plus. He is widely regarded as playing a huge role in winning the War against the Nazis. He was far from perfect as a human being-drank too much, smoked cigars…
Your comment remind me of-What did the Romans do for us apart from the..etc
There are eight honorary citizens of the US. Only two were granted it during their lifetimes – Churchill and Mother Teresa. Three of the eight are British, and there is one Pole, one Swede, one Spaniard, one Albanian, and one French.
Thanks for updating me PK
To be fair I am impressed with the US on this specific issue – they recognise a foreign leader who did more for world freedom than anyone else in history. It is easy for people to critisise 19th and 20th century people against 21st century aspirations however it is essential to note that their achievements and sacrifices have made it possible to even contemplate what might be possible in the future.
The largest aircraft carrier in the world, transitting the English Channel (dodging the smaller boats) and the BBC doesn’t think it warrants a couple of minutes on the News. Ah well… that’s Auntie for you.
The BBC lost the plot years ago, for reasons this white English male hetro can not say anymore.
Can’t wait to see HMS Donald Trump docking at Portsmouth
Personally, I’d prefer HMS Sheldon L Cooper. 🖖
Hmm like raleigh the nation to defeat the horrible Naxis and Japanese . Churchill was a man of action did lots of things for the UK
Well im glad my comment got you thinking. I knew it would get some salivating of course. It always does on here. As for the Romans they did alot. Which is your line, they also destroyed alot. Mine is just an opinion of course and opinions are like a*****, everyone has one. However back to the point. Churchill was not well liked among the general population. People rememebered the general strikes and how he behaved, which resulted in people dying. Churchill was very ‘laissez faire’ when it cames to the lives of others. Dieppe springs to mind, Gallipoli was another, although not entirely a British failure. Churchill handed over billions in gold to the Americans. It still sits today in Fort Knox. He handed over our radar technology, sonar technology, our jet technology and of course there was Operation Tube. Which he handed over. Plus he handed us and the empire over on a plate. The latter dissolving because we were broke, unsurprisingly. In 1945 the USA dropped the bomb, twice. On neither occasion did they ask Churchill. Despite the Quebec agreement saying otherwise. There was no respect. Churchill was a buffoon, my grandfather never saw him fighting on the beaches of Dunkirk or in the jungles of Burma. My other grandfather didn’t see him at D-Day either. No you worship him, if you like. The man who ‘won’ the war and lost everything else. Personally, I’ll take Nelson as my inspiration any day of the week.
Immigrants welcome here I suppose no mate stop the boats, Churchill will always stand for the man that carried on when other would have surrendered. 🇬🇧🇬🇧
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to do few ,lest we forget 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
So in essence,if not for Churchill we would still have the empire then? All the things we “gave” to the cousins was the cost of ensuring our survival as a nation or do you think we would have got on fine without the convoys etc of supplies coming across the Atlantic? Did your grandparents see ANY politician at the battles you mention?ii don’t think so!
Hi DragonWight,
You make some reasonable points about Churchill, he was deeply flawed, just like every other human being. He was a great war leader when it came to rallying the country around a necessary and just cause. His use of the English language was, frankly, devastating to the Axis cause as it meant that they ended up fighting on two fronts.
Churchill believed in democracy, but he also defended the old social contract between the aristocracy and the nation where the nation got to vote which aristos got into government but at least as a class they maintained ruling class dominance. He was brilliant at seeing which way the wind was blowing, e.g. the rise of the Nazis, but made some very questionable strategic decisions e.g. pulling troops out of the Western Desert to support Greece and then to reinforce Singapore. Both were doomed to fail and both denuded the Western Desert Force / 8th Army of mass at critical moments.
For me Churchill earns his place in history with his leadership and speeches, particularly in May to June 1940. He out manoeuvred Chamberlain and Halifax who wanted to negotiate with Hitler and rallied Parliament and the country to what must as seemed an impossible task.
He mobilised the English Language and sent it to war brilliantly. For that reason I think he deserves his place in history, but he was, still is and probably justifiably should always be a Marmite kind of character in British history. We are still dealing with his successes and failures to this day and probably will be for decades to come.
Cheers CR
Churchill was nearly 65 years old when the war broke out so I’m not surprised your Grandfathers didn’t see him at Dunkirk , Burma or D Day . Their fathers may have seen him on the Western Front in WWI though! There are only a few hundred , if that , veterans from D Day , from all the Allied nations , still alive today . You are fortunate that your Grandfather is one of them
Shame they don’t uphold the values they once did, when Sir Winston was around. If he were alive today, he may well be furious to have his name on a US warship.
The USA’s new adversarial approach to Europe HAS to mean that they are no longer welcomed as the dependable ally of Western democracy.
Didn’t someone remove his bust or portrait from the Oval Office or something like that recently?
I was on HMS Marlborough and did a visit to Norfolk Virginia. Winston Churchill was.also alongside. We hosted their CPOs mess… It was very messy.
Their Command Master Cheif hosted us at her house. Not sure if her swimming pool was ever the same again…