SEAL BEACH — The Navy commissioned the newest member of its fleet, USS Dewey, in front of thousands of spectators during a traditional ceremony that marked the first commissioning of a warship in Orange County, March 6.

Photo by: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad McNeeley Commissioning Crowd — Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the audience at the commissioning ceremony for the Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Dewey at Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.

The crowd listened and cheered as the $1 billion high-tech destroyer was christened by Naval Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“You’re getting a true gem: a ship as well-built and well-tested as they come, and manned by performance-proved, highly motivated sailors,” Mullen told the crowd.

USS Dewey, now docked in Anaheim Bay, is a 55th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that is billed as being capable of detecting threats nearly 100 miles away. The vessel is designed to fight simultaneous surface and subsurface battles.

The 508-foot warship is named in honor of Adm. George Dewey, the first man to hold the rank of admiral in the U.S. Navy. Two other ships have been named for the admiral, including a destroyer that survived the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and a destroyer commissioned during the Cold War.