US Destroyer USS Roosevelt Visits Italy to Reinforce NATO Defense in Mediterranean.

The US destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) made a scheduled visit to Italy on Sept. 21–23. The stop supports NATO readiness by positioning a high-capability air- and submarine-defense asset in the central Mediterranean.

US officials confirmed the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) conducted a routine port call in Italy in September. 21–23. The visit provided logistics and maintenance while placing an Aegis-equipped platform in the central Mediterranean to reinforce NATO air and anti-submarine defense, supporting allied maritime security and interoperability amid elevated regional tensions.
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The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) at Naval Station Taranto, Italy, Sept. 23, 2025 (Picture source: US DoD)

Roosevelt is a Flight IIA ship built around the Aegis combat system. The vessel measures 155 meters and displaces about 9,200 tons, a balance that provides endurance without complicating port entries. The system is based on the AN SPY 1D V fixed array radar and the Mk 41 vertical launch system with ninety-six cells. These cells can carry Standard missiles for area defense Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles for close-in defense and Tomahawk land attack missiles. The main gun is a 127 mm Mk 45 Mod 4 accurate and reliable for surface targets and naval gunfire support. Self protection is provided by the Phalanx CIWS and 12.7 mm machine guns. Below the hull the ship employs the AN SQQ 89 V suite, combining a hull mounted sonar a towed array, and onboard processing that integrates with the helicopters.

The ship operates with two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters from Squadron HSM 79, and in the first days of the patrol, the ship and squadron completed the certification cycle. The figures are relevant. More than fifty flight hours, twenty four vertical replenishments, three helicopter in-flight refueling events, more than three hundred deck landing qualifications three emergency response drills, and one search and rescue drill. These actions allow the ship to remain at sea far from a carrier or shore base. The crews reinforce procedures and the bridge team measures a feasible tempo and identifies friction points. Nothing flashy all of it useful.

With Aegis and SPY the Roosevelt sorts and tracks a large number of air contacts while the VLS provides options to the commanding officer. Standard missiles extend the protective bubble around allied units and merchant traffic. ESSM provides a final layer against complex low-altitude attacks. Tomahawk enables deep strike when a group needs to neutralize a shore battery or a command post without exposing aircraft. The MH 60R team extends anti submarine warfare beyond the ship’s sonars. With dipping sonar sonobuoys a surface search radar and Link 16 the helicopter can locate and then engage a threat. In practical terms Roosevelt can protect a high value unit act as the local air defense commander for a small group or operate alone for a period in a contested area.

This deployment fits into NATO’s integrated air and missile defense architecture. The Forward Deployed Naval Forces Europe arrangement positions four destroyers with BMD capability in Rota to shorten response times. When one of these ships moves into the central or eastern Mediterranean it connects directly to allied sensors and effectors. The air picture it produces feeds the network, and if required the ship contributes to missile defense in complement to the Aegis Ashore site in Romania and other ground systems. This is not the daily task since most days focus on presence and training, but the capability exists and partners are familiar with it.

Russian units continue to transit the Mediterranean often supported by submarines that alternate between the eastern Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The Black Sea remains constrained by the legal regime of the Turkish Straits, which shifts much of the signaling to the Mediterranean. Italy sits at the center of this picture. Taranto links the central basin to the Adriatic and hosts assets of the Italian fleet and industry. Regular U.S. port calls are practical and also political since they mark alignment with Rome and the attention paid to NATO’s southern flank. Energy routes migration pressures and spillover from conflicts on land, maintain a steady level of activity.

For U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa, based in Naples this is continuity. The Sixth Fleet has operated here for decades, and the pattern remains with slight variations. A destroyer leaves Rota, completes certifications, meets allied ships, rehearses air defense and anti-submarine scenarios and moves to the next point. Roosevelt’s short call at Taranto fits this pattern. Two days to pause exchange with the Italian Navy and prepare for a demanding period at sea. Then on 23 September the lines were cast off and the ship returned to patrol.