A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. Most modern destroyers are of the multi-purpose guided-missile type, and they are widely deployed by advanced navies; in particular, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is the most numerous class of warship in the US Navy. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy also maintains a large fleet of destroyers that includes Type 055 and Type 052D class destroyers.
Guided-missile destroyers are equipped with large missile magazines, with modern examples typically having vertical-launch cells. Some contain integrated weapons systems, such as the United States’ Aegis Combat System, and may be adopted for use in an anti-missile or ballistic-missile defense role. This is especially true for navies that no longer operate cruisers, so other vessels must be adopted to fill in the gap.
Many guided-missile destroyers are also multipurpose vessels, equipped to carry out anti-surface operations with surface-to-surface missiles and naval guns, and anti-submarine warfare with torpedoes and helicopters.
The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers which have a primary gun armament or a small number of anti-aircraft missiles sufficient only for point-defense are designated DD. Nations vary in their use of destroyer D designation in their hull pennant numbering, either prefixing or dropping it altogether.
Active and planned
Royal Australian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy (3 ordered; 15 planned; British Type 26 design, classed as a destroyer by the RCN but not the Royal Navy) HMCS Fraser HMCS Saint-Laurent HMCS Mackenzie
Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy
Type 055 destroyer (Renhai-class cruiser) Nanchang (DDG-101) La'sa (DDG-102) Dalian (DDG-105) Anshan (DDG-103) Yan'an (DDG-106) Wuxi (DDG-104) Zunyi (DDG-107) Xianyang (DDG-108) Type 052D (Luyang III-class) destroyer Kunming (DDG-172) Changsha (DDG-173) Hefei (DDG-174) Yinchuan (DDG-175) Xining (DDG-117) Xiamen (DDG-154) Ürümqi (DDG-118) Guiyang (DDG-119) Nanjing (DDG-155) Taiyuan (DDG-131) Hohhot (DDG-161) Chengdu (DDG-120) Qiqihar (DDG-121) Zibo (DDG-156) Tangshan (DDG-122) Suzhou (DDG-132) Huainan (DDG-123) Nanning (DDG-162) Kaifeng (DDG-124) Guilin (DDG-164) Baotou (DDG-133) Zhenjiang (DDG-165) Shaoxing (DDG-134) Jiaozuo (DDG-163) Zhuhai (DDG-157) Type 052C (Luyang II-class) destroyer Lanzhou (DDG-170) Haikou (DDG-171) Changchun (DDG-150) Zhengzhou (DDG-151) Jinan (DDG-152) Xi'an (DDG-153) Type 052B (Luyang I-class) destroyer Guangzhou (DDG-168) Wuhan (DDG-169) Type 051C (Luzhou-class) destroyer Shenyang (DDG-115) Shijiazhuang (DDG-116) Type 051B (Luhai-class) destroyer Shenzhen (DDG-167)
Hangzhou (DDG-136) Fuzhou (DDG-137) Taizhou (DDG-138) Ningbo (DDG-139)
Republic of China Navy
(ex-Kidd class) ROCS Kee Lung (DDG-1801) ROCS Su Ao (DDG-1802) ROCS Tso Ying (DDG-1803) ROCS Ma Kong (DDG-1805)
French Navy Although the French Navy no longer uses the term "destroyer", the largest frigates are assigned pennant numbers with flag superior "D", which designates destroyer. (in France designated as frigate, designated as destroyers using NATO classification) Forbin (D620) Chevalier Paul (D621) (Aquitaine and Amiral Ronarc'h-class vessels also assigned destroyer ("D") pennant numbers, though classed as frigates by the French Navy)
Indian Navy
(planned)
(D66) (D67) (D68) (D69)
(D63) (D64) (D65)
(D61) (D60) (D62)
(D52) (D54) (D55)
Italian Navy
Luigi Durand De La Penne (D 560) Francesco Mimbelli (D 561)
Andrea Doria (D553) Caio Duilio (D554)
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
JS Maya (DDG-179) JS Haguro (DDG-180)
JS Atago (DDG-177) JS Ashigara (DDG-178)
JS Kongo (DDG-173) JS Kirishima (DDG-174) JS Myoko (DDG-175) JS Chokai (DDG-176)
JS Shimakaze (DDG-172)
Korean People's Navy
Choe Hyon (DDG-51) Kang Kon (DDG-52)
Republic of Korea Navy
ROKS Sejong the Great (DDG-991) ROKS Yulgok Yi I (DDG-992) ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong (DDG-993) ROKS Jeongjo the Great (DDG-995) KDDX-class destroyer (planned)
Royal Navy
Type 45 destroyer
Type 83 destroyer (cancelled as of 2026)
Russian Navy
Burny (778) (out of service for twenty years as of 2025 and may be decommissioned) Nastoychivy (610) (reported as possibly having decommissioned in 2025 - unconfirmed)
Vice-Admiral Kulakov (626) Admiral Tributs (564) Marshal Shaposhnikov (543) Severomorsk (619) Admiral Levchenko (605) Admiral Vinogradov (572) Admiral Panteleyev (548) Admiral Chabanenko (650)
Spanish Navy F110 Bonifaz class frigate Bonifaz (F111) F100 class (in Spain designated as frigate, designated as destroyers using NATO classification) Álvaro de Bazán (F101) Almirante Juan de Borbón (F102) Blas de Lezo (F103) Méndez Núñez (F104) Cristóbal Colón (F105)
Turkish Navy (planned, 8 ships to be built)
United States Navy
USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) USS Barry (DDG-52) USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) USS Stout (DDG-55) USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) USS Mitscher (DDG-57) USS Laboon (DDG-58) USS Russell (DDG-59) USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60) USS Ramage (DDG-61) USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) USS Stethem (DDG-63) USS Carney (DDG-64) USS Benfold (DDG-65) USS Gonzalez (DDG-66) USS Cole (DDG-67) USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) USS Milius (DDG-69) USS Hopper (DDG-70) USS Ross (DDG-71) USS Mahan (DDG-72) USS Decatur (DDG-73) USS McFaul (DDG-74) USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) USS Higgins (DDG-76) USS O'Kane (DDG-77) USS Porter (DDG-78) USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79) USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) USS Lassen (DDG-82) USS Howard (DDG-83) USS Bulkeley (DDG-84) USS McCampbell (DDG-85) USS Shoup (DDG-86) USS Mason (DDG-87) USS Preble (DDG-88) USS Mustin (DDG-89) USS Chafee (DDG-90) USS Pinckney (DDG-91) USS Momsen (DDG-92) USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) USS Nitze (DDG-94) USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) USS Halsey (DDG-97) USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98) USS Farragut (DDG-99) USS Kidd (DDG-100) USS Gridley (DDG-101) USS Sampson (DDG-102) USS Truxtun (DDG-103) USS Sterett (DDG-104) USS Dewey (DDG-105) USS Stockdale (DDG-106) USS Gravely (DDG-107) USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108) USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110) USS Spruance (DDG-111) USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) USS John Finn (DDG-113) USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115) USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) USS Paul Ignatius (DDG-117) USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118) USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) USS Carl M. Levin (DDG-120) USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121) USS John Basilone (DDG-122) (Launched) USS Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123) USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG-124) (Under construction) USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) USS Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG-126) (Under construction) (DDG-127) (Under construction) USS Ted Stevens (DDG-128) (Launched) USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG-129) (Under construction) (DDG-130) (Under construction) USS George M. Neal (DDG-131) (Under construction) USS Quentin Walsh (DDG-132) (Under construction) USS Sam Nunn (DDG-133) (Under construction) USS John E. Kilmer (DDG-134) (Approved for construction) USS Thad Cochran (DDG-135) (Approved for construction) USS Richard G. Lugar (DDG-136) (Approved for construction) USS John F. Lehman (DDG-137) (Approved for construction) USS J. William Middendorf (DDG-138) (Approved for construction) USS Telesforo Trinidad (DDG-139) (Approved for construction) USS Thomas G. Kelley (DDG-140) (Approved for construction) USS Ernest E. Evans (DDG-141) (Approved for construction) USS Charles Jackson French (DDG-142)(Approved for construction) USS Richard J. Danzig (DDG-143) (Approved for construction) USS Michael G. Mullen (DDG-144) (Approved for construction) USS Intrepid (DDG-145) (Approved for construction) USS Robert Kerrey (DDG-146) (Approved for construction) USS Ray Mabus (DDG-147) (Approved for construction) USS Kyle Carpenter (DDG-148) (Approved for construction)
(DDG-1000) (DDG-1001) (DDG-1002) (Sea trials) DDG(X) (planned)
Former classes
Perth-class destroyer (decommissioned/sunk as dive wrecks)
Iroquois-class destroyer (decommissioned/retired)
These classes of French "frigates" had "D" pennant numbers and were destroyer-sized
(after refit to „Klasse 101A“) (decommissioned/scrapped) (decommissioned/scrapped, except D 186 Mölders preserved as museum ship)
(decommissioned/retired) (decommissioned/retired)
Tariq-class destroyer (decommissioned/sunk as targets) County-class destroyer (decommissioned/scrapped)
Amatsukaze-class destroyer (decommissioned/retired) (decommissioned/retired)
(decommissioned/scrapped) (decommissioned/scrapped) (decommissioned/retired) (decommissioned/retired)
(decommissioned/scrapped/sunk) Type 82 destroyer (decommissioned) Type 42 destroyer (decommissioned/scrapped)
Farragut (Coontz)-class destroyer (decommissioned/scrapped) (all but one sunk for target or scrapped; one reserved for future preservation as museum ship) was designated as the DDG-47 class in its early development, prior to the United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification, which made it the CG-47 class. The first was designated DDG-51, as the hull numbers DDG-47-50 had been used for Ticonderoga-class ships.Friedman 2004, pp. 322–323, 425 (sold to Taiwan as Kee Lung-class destroyers)
References