USS Fletcher, a 8280-ton Spruance class destroyer, was built at Pascagoula, Mississippi. Commissioned in July 1980, she was immediately sent to join the Pacific Fleet, with which she has served up to the present. Starting in 1982, Fletcher has made regular deployments to the western and southern Pacific, with some of those extending into the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf areas. During the 1990s, she was modernized with the vertical launch system, giving her a much broader range of capabilities.

USS Fletcher (DD-992) was named in honor of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, USN, (1885-1973).