the most powerful surface warship ever built. Arleigh Burke is one-third longer and correspondingly heavier than the Fletcher-class destroyers of the squadron Burke commanded in World War II; but about the same complement. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers were based around the "Aegis" Combat System, like the larger s. The Arleigh Burke class was introduced in four "flights": Flight I, consisting of Arleigh Burke; Flight IA composed of 20 ships; Flight II, composed of 7 ships; and Flight IIA, composed of 34 ships. The Arleigh Burke class became the U.S. Navy's only active destroyer class when the last member of the Spruance class was decommissioned in 2005. destroyer production was limited to three ships due to burgeoning costs. Including research, the program costs reached $22.5 billion for the three ships. The first was commissioned in 2016 and the last is scheduled to be commissioned in 2019. Production summary A decade passes... during which some of the previously produced destroyers are even scrapped to comply with treaty limitations. In the early 1930s the Navy begins to modernize its destroyer fleet. is the point in time where U.S. destroyers start carrying 5-inch main guns that can shoot at aircraft with a high rate of fire and good accuracy (in contrast to previous single purpose destroyer guns and much less capable contemporary dual purpose guns) as well as many other improvements. Destroyer design basically starts from scratch. Production during this period is a cold arms race where each nation tries to make the most of the limited tonnage the international treaties allow. There are 3 production periods covered in the following table. 6 Benson and 18 Gleaves in FY38, FY39, FY40 (8 per year) 24 Benson and 48 Gleaves roughly in a vastly extended FY41 covering the regular FY41 approriations act of 11 June (8 ships) and the first and second supplemental appropriations acts of 26 June and 9 September (64 ships), in addition most of the Fletchers in the same 1940 acts the remaining Fletchers, all Sumners, Smiths and Gearings covered by later legislation, continuing the expansion of production initiated in 1940, carried out starting during 1941, slowing down by 1944 and lasting into 1946 The Consolidated Steel yard in Orange, the Seattle-Tacoma plant in Seattle and Bethlehem San Pedro were essentially purpose-built to produce destroyers between the fall of 1940 and the spring of 1941. Gulf Shipbuilding was reactivated from essentially nothing,