The ship is named for Vice Admiral Lawson P. Ramage, a notable submarine commander and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II.

Heavy machinery, such as propulsion equipment, as well as piping, duct work, and electrical cabling were installed in hundreds of sub-assemblies, which were joined to form dozens of assemblies.

Ramage deployed with the George Washington Surface Strike Group to the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Ramage was also the first ship to respond to the Horn of Africa during the Ethiopian and Somalian hostilities of late December 2006 providing extended coordination for P-3 coverage of the events.

In late January 2010, Ramage was dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea to assist with the search-and-rescue effort in the wake of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409.

Ramage's port visits included: Naples, Italy; Haifa, Israel; Kuşadası, Bodrum, and Aksaz, Turkey; Limassol, Cyprus; Rhodes, Greece; Augusta Bay, Sicily; and Ponta Delgada, Azores.

On 8 August 2013, Ramage departed for an eight-month deployment into the US Navy 6th Fleet area of responsibility to assist with ballistic missile defense.

The destroyer was specifically deployed after allegations that President Bashar al-Assad's regime had used chemical weapons on its own people in suburbs of Damascus.

On 28 October 2013, the destroyers Gravely and Ramage answered a distress call from a vessel carrying immigrants located 160 nautical miles (300 km; 180 mi) off the coast of Kalamata, Greece.

In November 2015, Ramage deployed to the US Navy 6th Fleet area of responsibility to assist with ballistic missile defense, and to escort the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group.

In October 2018, Ramage received short-notice Presidential tasking, and deployed to the US Navy 4th fleet area of responsibility to provide radar surveillance support for the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

During this time, she was assigned as the flagship for Commander, Task Force 55, in a defensive response to the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

[13] On 8 October 2023, the day after the Hamas attack on Israel, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, directed the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean in response.