USS Mason (DDG-87)
 USS Mason | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
| |
| Name: | USS Mason |
| Namesake: | Mason (DE-529) |
| Ordered: | 13 December 1996 |
| Builder: | Bath Iron Works |
| Laid down: | 19 January 2000 |
| Launched: | 23 June 2001 |
| Commissioned: | 12 April 2003 |
| Motto: | Proudly We Serve |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2016 |
| Badge: |
 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Arleigh Burke-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 9,200 tons |
| Length: | 509 ft 6 in (155.30 m) |
| Beam: | 66 ft (20 m) |
| Draft: | 31 ft (9.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 100,000 shp (75,000 kW) |
| Speed: | exceeds 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
| Complement: | 380 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 2 x SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters |
USS Mason (DDG-87) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy.
Homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, USS Mason is the 37th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and the ninth of the Flight IIA variant. She was commissioned in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in April 2003. Her first captain was Commander David Gale.
This is the third ship with the name USS Mason. The first Mason (DD-191), in service from 1920 to 1941, was named for John Young Mason, well known for his service as the Secretary of the Navy for two American Presidents. The second Mason (DE-529) was named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason, a Naval Aviator who was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. This ship is named for the crew of the second Mason (DE-529) as this was the first ship in the US Navy with this distinction of a predominantly black crew.[1]
Ship history
USS Mason conducted her maiden deployment with the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in late 2004. Mason returned home after six months on 18 April 2005.[2]
On 3 October 2006, Mason departed Naval Station Norfolk for a seven-month deployment to the Persian Gulf in support of the Global War on Terrorism. She participated in Exercise Neon Falcon. Mason returned home in May 2007.[3]
Mason deployed with the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on 12 September 2008 for a scheduled deployment.[4]
On 12 March 2011, she sailed through the Suez Canal en route to the Mediterranean, to support possible humanitarian or military action in response to the 2011 Libyan civil war.[5] In April 2011, a boarding team from the ship successfully liberated five Yemeni hostages from eleven Somali pirates who had taken over the Yemeni-flagged ship F/V Nasri. The pirates had seriously injured two other fishermen in their attack, left the wounded ashore, and then taken Nasri to sea as a pirate mothership. Assault weapons, ammunition, rocket propelled grenades and launchers were destroyed by the boarding team.[6]
On 22 July 2013, she deployed to the 5th and 6th Fleet area of responsibility as part of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group. Mason returned to her homeport on 18 April 2014.
On 7 November 2015 Mason, acting as the flagship for Destroyer Squadron 26, completed the first East Coast Passing Exercise with the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army-Navy [PLA(N)] ships and U.S. Navy warships.
Gallery
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Mason in the Persian Gulf, January 2005
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_VBSS_team_receive_a_fish_from_a_Yemeni_fisherman.jpg)
The visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team receive a fish from a Yemeni fisherman
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_VBSS_team_greet_the_crew_of_a_Yemeni_fishing_dhow.jpg)
The same team greeting the crew of the fishing dhow
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.jpg)
An MK-38 25mm gun system is fired during a live-fire exercise
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Mason in the Atlantic, 2011
References
- ↑ "History of USS Mason". United States Navy. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ↑ "Mason Conducts Maritime Operations in Persian Gulf". Navy NewsStand. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ↑ Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group Returns from Deployment Navy NewsStand Archived 13 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "USS Theodore Roosevelt Deploys in Support of Maritime Security". Navy NewsStand. GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ↑ Libya Live Blog, 12 March. Al Jazeera Archived 13 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "USS Mason Intercepts Pirate Mother-ship in Arabian Sea". Combined Maritime Forces. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Mason (DDG-87). |
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
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