ROCS ''Kee Lung'' (基隆; DDG-1801) is the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of her class of guided-missile

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s currently in active service of

Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy (ROCN, Chinese, 中華民國海軍) , colloquially known as the Taiwanese Navy ( Chinese, 台湾海军) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Navy ( Chinese, 國軍海軍) ...

History

While ''Kee Lung'' is the lead ship of her class, she was actually not the first ship in her class built. ''Kee Lung'' was formerly the American , which was decommissioned by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

in 1998. ''Scott'' was sold to the

along with the other three ''Kidd''-class destroyers in 2001. ''Scott'' was then renamed to ''Kee Long'' was the first of the four ships to be commissioned in the Republic of China Navy which made her the lead ship in the Republic of China Navy. Ironically, the , which was the original lead ship of the class, was also sold to the Republic of China Navy in 2006 and was renamed ROCS ''Tso Ying'' (DDG-1803). For a period of time ''Kee Lung'' was tentatively named ''Chi Teh'' (紀德), a

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

of ''Kidd'' into

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

. But it was later decided to name her after the port of

Keelung Keelung ( ; zh, p=Jīlóng, c=基隆, poj=Ke-lâng), Chilung or Jilong ( ; ), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city in northeastern Taiwan. The city is part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area with neighboring New Ta ...

, a major naval port in northern Taiwan. ''Kee Lung'', along with her three sister ships, is the largest destroyer and second largest ship in displacement ever in Republic of China Navy service, only smaller than ROCS ''Hsu Hai'' (LSD-193), a

dock landing ship A dock landing ship (also called landing ship, dock or LSD) is an amphibious warfare ship with a well dock to transport and launch landing craft and amphibious vehicles. Some ships with well decks, such as the Soviet Ivan Rogov class, also hav ...

. ''Kee Lung'' was re-fitted for service in the ROCN at Detyen's Shipyard in

North Charleston, South Carolina North Charleston is a city in Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina.City Planning Department (2008-07)City of North Charleston boundary map. City of North Charleston. Retrieved January 21, 2011. As ...

. She was formally commissioned on 17 December 2005 along with

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

. In May 2022, during the

Han Kuang Exercise The Han Kuang Exercise () is the annual military exercise of the Republic of China Armed Forces in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu Islands, Matsu for combat readiness in the event of an attack from the People's Liberation Army of the People's Re ...

"Joint Intercept Operation Live-Fire Exercise", President Tsai Ing-wen specially boarded the Keelung ship to go out to sea to supervise the "actual combat" exercises from emergency port departure, anti-mine warfare, fleet air defense, joint sea and air anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and air control operations, and combined the three armed forces and the coast guard to use firepower to block the enemy's invasion. On September 13, 2023, the Ministry of National Defense released footage of the ship monitoring the Chinese aircraft carrier

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. On May 23, 2024, the ship monitored the PLA's 052C

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

conducting the "Joint Sword 2024A" exercise.

Specifications

''Kee Lung'' is the only one of her sister ships to be equipped with LAMPS III system and flight deck strengthened. This enables ''Kee Lung'' to carry up to two of the more capable Sikorsky S-70(M)-1/2 Seahawk helicopters for anti-submarine warfare, compared to her sister ships.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kee Lung (DDG-1801) Kidd-class destroyers Kee Lung-class destroyers Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi 1980 ships Destroyers of the Republic of China