USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) is an Arleigh Burke-class (Flight IIA) Aegis guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy.

The ship was named for Boatswain's mate Petty officer first class James Eliott Williams (1930–1999), a River Patrol Boat commander and Medal of Honor recipient from the Vietnam War who is considered to be the most decorated enlisted man in Navy history.

The strike group consisted of the aircraft carrier Enterprise, the destroyers Forrest Sherman, Arleigh Burke and Stout; the guided-missile cruiser Gettysburg; and the fast-attack submarine Philadelphia, along with the fast combat support ship USNS Supply.

The destroyer arrived in the vicinity of the Korean ship midday local time and contacted the pirates via bridge-to-bridge radio, ordering them to give up their weapons.

At that point, the Korean crew had confronted the Somali pirates, regained control of the ship and began communicating with James E. Williams, requesting medical assistance.

[7] On the evening of 8 August 2012, James E. Williams rescued ten mariners from a burning Iranian-flagged dhow (pictured) while operating in the Gulf of Oman.

[16] During the 2017 Deployment, the ship visited Rotterdam, Netherlands; Kiel, Germany (as a part of Kiel Week); Reykjavik, Iceland; Rota, Spain; Trondheim, Norway; Bergen, Norway; Riga, Latvia; Lisbon, Portugal; Souda Bay, Greece; Manama, Bahrain; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Odesa, Ukraine prior to returning home to Norfolk, VA on 23 December 2017.