SAN DIEGO - USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60) will swap homeports with USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) this summer, the U.S. Navy announced March 17.

William P. Lawrence departed San Diego on a regularly scheduled deployment in January and will arrive in Hawaii in mid-2016, and Pearl Harbor-based Paul Hamilton will move to San Diego.

This move supports the rebalance to the Indo-Asia-Pacific, placing our most advanced capabilities and greater capacity in that vital theater. Likewise, it will allow Paul Hamilton, also a guided-missile destroyer, to proceed to San Diego for a scheduled extended dry-docking selected restricted availability.

Both Paul Hamilton and William P. Lawrence are Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers that perform key roles in support of a carrier strike group, expeditionary strike group, or surface action group.

DDGs are capable of sustained combat operations supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence. These combatants operate in a network centric warfare environment and execute multi-mission tasking to include air, surface, undersea, space and cyber warfare. DDGs coordinate with units of a task group to conduct naval operations and execute the Maritime Strategy under a naval component commander.

Maintaining the most technologically advanced ships supports the United States’ commitment to the security, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Asia-Pacific.