USS John S. McCain (DDG-56)

For other ships of the same name, see USS John S. McCain.

Career
Name:	USS John S. McCain
Namesake:	John S. McCain, Jr. and John S. McCain, Sr.
Ordered:	13 December 1988
Builder:	Bath Iron Works
Laid down:	3 September 1991
Launched:	26 September 1992
Commissioned:	2 July 1994
Homeport:	Yokosuka, Japan
Motto:	Fortune Favors the Brave
Status:	in active service, as of 2011[update]
General characteristics
Class and type:	Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
Displacement:	Light: approx. 6,800 long tons (6,900 t) Full: approx. 8,900 long tons (9,000 t)
Length:	505 ft (154 m)
Beam:	66 ft (20 m)
Draft:	31 ft (9.4 m)
Propulsion:	4 General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, two shafts, 100,000 total shaft horsepower (75 MW)
Speed:	>30 knots (56 km/h)
Range:	4,400 nautical miles at 20 knots (8,100 km at 37 km/h)
Complement:	33 Officers 38 Chief Petty Officers 210 Enlisted Personnel
Sensors and processing systems:	• AN/SPY-1D 3D Radar • AN/SPS-67(V)2 Surface Search Radar • AN/SPS-73(V)12 Surface Search Radar • AN/SQS-53C Sonar Array • AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array Sonar • AN/SQQ-28 LAMPS III Shipboard System
Electronic warfare and decoys:	• AN/SLQ-32(V)2 Electronic Warfare System • AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures • MK 36 MOD 12 Decoy Launching System • AN/SLQ-39 CHAFF Buoys
Armament:	1 × 29 cell, 1 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems with 90 × RIM-156 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-Asroc missiles 1 × Mark 45 5/54 in (127/54 mm) 2 × 25 mm chain gun 4 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) guns 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:	1 SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter can be embarked

USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is part of the Seventh Fleet, and she has her homeport at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan.

This warship is named after John S. McCain, Jr., and John S. McCain, Sr., both Admirals in the United States Navy. John S. McCain, Jr., commanded the U.S. Navy submarines USS Gunnel and USS Dentuda during World War II. Subsequently he held a number of posts, rising to Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Command before retiring in 1972. John S. McCain, Sr., commanded the aircraft carrier Ranger (CV-4), and acted as commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force during the latter stages of World War II. These men were the grandfather and father of John S. McCain III, former naval aviator captain, a U.S. Senator representing the state of Arizona, and the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 election.

Service

John S. McCain's keel was laid down on 3 September 1991, at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The warship was launched on 26 September 1992, sponsored by Cindy McCain, the wife of Senator John McCain. McCain was commissioned on 2 July 1994, at the Bath Iron Works. The former President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, was the ceremony's principal speaker.^[1]

The ship was initially assigned a home port of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and shifted home port to Yokosuka, Japan in 1997.

On 16 February 2007, John S. McCain was awarded the 2006 Battle "E" award.^[2]

On 11 June 2009, a Chinese submarine reportedly collided with the towed sonar array of the John S. McCain near Subic Bay, the Philippines. The incident caused damage to the array but was described as an "inadvertent encounter".^[3]

In June 2009, John S. McCain pursued the North Korean cargo ship Kang Nam 1 toward Burma in enforcement of the new United Nations resolution of an arms export embargo against North Korea. The vessel was suspected of carrying arms for the Burmese junta government. The Kang Nam 1 returned to North Korea without delivering its cargo to Burma.^[4]

In July 2009, the destroyer berthed at Yokohama's international passenger terminal on a goodwill tour. The ship was opened to the public on 22 July 2009.^[5]

In March 2011, in company with the carrier Ronald Reagan, the ship was deployed off northeastern Honshu, Japan to assist with relief efforts after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.^[6] During that time, the ship may have been exposed to leaking radiation from the Fukushima I nuclear accidents.^{[7][dead link]}

Ship gallery

• 

  McCain firing a missile: 6 February 2004

• 

  John S. McCain and Australian destroyer HMAS Brisbane: 19 May 2001

• 

  McCain family at ship's launching: 26 September 1992

See also

• List of United States Navy destroyers

Notes

1. ^ "USS John S. McCain (DDG 56)". www.navysite.de. http://www.navysite.de/dd/ddg56.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-10. 
2. ^ US Navy: Surface Force Ships, Crews Earn Battle "E" Story Number: NNS070219-04, Release Date: 2/19/2007 11:10:00 AM
3. ^ "Sub collides with sonar array towed by U.S. Navy ship". CNN.com. 12 June 2009. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/06/12/china.submarine/index.html. Retrieved 27 May 2010. 
4. ^ Sang-Hun, Choe (June 21, 2009). "U.S. Destroyer Shadows N. Korean Ship". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world/asia/22korea.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
5. ^ Kyodo News, "U.S. destroyer visits Yokohama passenger pier", Japan Times, July 22, 2009, p. 2.
6. ^ Rabiroff, John. "U.S. military delivers 40 tons of supplies to hardest-hit areas," Stars and Stripes (US). March 17, 2011; Seawaves,"Warships Supporting Earthquake in Japan"
7. ^ Stewart, Joshua. "Navy ships off Japan move to avoid radiation," Japan Times, 14 March 2011, retrieved 15 March 2011.

External links

• US Navy: USS McCain (Official website)
• Yokosuka Naval Base Community Website
• Global Security's page on John S. McCain
• USS John S. McCain News
• Fred Willshaw. "USS John S. McCain (DDG-56)". NavSource Naval History. http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/01056.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-10.