The ship was named for Admiral Günther Lütjens, who commanded a battlegroup comprising the German battleship Bismarck and the cruiser Prinz Eugen during Operation Rheinübung (Exercise Rhine).
Lütjens was killed when Bismarck was surrounded by overwhelming British naval force on 27 May 1941 in the North Atlantic.
She was laid down at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine on 1 March 1966 with the hull classification symbol DDG-28.
She was launched on 11 August 1967 and commissioned on 22 March 1969.

On 14 September 2001, three days after the terrorist attacks on 11 September, the crew of Lütjens manned the rails, and as they approached the destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Gonzalez, they displayed an American flag and a banner reading "We Stand By You."

After over 30 years of service and a travelled distance of 800,000 nautical miles (1,500,000 km) Lütjens was decommissioned on 18 December 2003.
She was the last steam-powered vessel and the last ship classified as a destroyer of the German Navy.
The ship was named for Admiral Günther Lütjens, who commanded a battlegroup comprising the German battleship Bismarck and the cruiser Prinz Eugen during Operation Rheinübung (Exercise Rhine). Lütjens was killed when Bismarck was surrounded by overwhelming British naval force on 27 May 1941 in the North Atlantic. She was laid down at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine on 1 March 1966 with the hull classification symbol DDG-28. She was launched on 11 August 1967 and commissioned on 22 March 1969. 
On 14 September 2001, three days after the terrorist attacks on 11 September, the crew of Lütjens manned the rails, and as they approached the destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Gonzalez, they displayed an American flag and a banner reading "We Stand By You."
After over 30 years of service and a travelled distance of 800,000 nautical miles (1,500,000 km) Lütjens was decommissioned on 18 December 2003. She was the last steam-powered vessel and the last ship classified as a destroyer of the German Navy.
German destroyer Lütjens