USS McFaul

USS McFaul underway in the Atlantic Ocean.
History
United States
Name: McFaul
Namesake: Donald L. McFaul
Ordered: 21 January 1993
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down: 26 January 1996
Launched: 18 January 1997
Acquired: 23 February 1998
Commissioned: 25 April 1998
Motto: Courage, Honor, Sacrifice
Status: in active service, as of 2016
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
Displacement:
  • Light: approx. 6,783 tons
  • Full: approx. 8,915 tons
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:
Complement:
Sensors and
processing systems:
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
Armament:
Aircraft carried: Cannot embark rotary wing aircraft, but is equipped with a flight deck that allows a single SH-60 Seahawk helicopter to conduct underway replenishment.

USS McFaul (DDG-74) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named for Chief Petty Officer Donald L. McFaul, a Navy SEAL who was killed in action on 20 December 1989 while serving in Panama.[1] McFaul was awarded a posthumous Navy Cross for attempting to rescue a platoon mate at the cost of his life.[2]

Recent events

On 22 August 2005, McFaul was involved in a minor collision with the destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. Both ships suffered minor damage, and no injuries were reported. Both ships returned to their homeport at Naval Station Norfolk under their own power.[3]

On 16 February 2007, McFaul was awarded the 2006 Battle "E" award.[4]

Humanitarian supplies being loaded on McFaul 20 August 2008, at Souda Bay, Crete for delivery to Georgia

On 24 August 2008, McFaul arrived in Batumi, Georgia, as part of Operation Assured Delivery to "deliver humanitarian relief supplies...as part of the larger United States response to the government of Georgia request for humanitarian assistance" in the wake of the 2008 South Ossetia war.[5] McFaul offloaded nearly 155,000 pounds (70,000 kg) of supplies—including hygiene items, baby food and care supplies, bottled water, and milk—donated by the United States Agency for International Development.[5][6]

On 5 April 2010, McFaul responded to a distress call from the merchant vessel MV Rising Sun after she was attacked by pirates. McFaul was able to neutralize the threat, and captured ten suspected pirates and successfully rescued eight crewmembers from on board a dhow near Salalah, Oman. The pirates were then transferred to the destroyer USS Carney for a week before they were transferred back to McFaul where 30 days later they were turned over to the Somalian Transitional Federal Government for subsequent prosecution.[7]

On 12 September 2012, McFaul was ordered to the coast of Libya in what the Pentagon called a "contingency" in case a strike was ordered. This was in response to the 2012 diplomatic missions attacks.[8]

The ship may have been assigned to Carrier Strike Group Ten in the 2010s.

Upgrade

On 12 November 2009, the Missile Defense Agency announced that McFaul would be upgraded during fiscal 2013 to RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) capability in order to function as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.[9]

References

  1. "History". United States Navy, USS McFaul. Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  2. "Full Text Citations for Vietnam Era and Post Vietnam War Awards of the Navy Cross". HomeOfHeroes.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  3. "USS MCFAUL (DDG 74) and USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL (DDG 81) Collision". Damage Control Museum. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  4. Ludwick, Paula M. (19 February 2007). "Surface Force Ships, Crews Earn Battle "E"" (Press release). United States Navy. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  5. 1 2 "USS McFaul Brings Aid to Batumi, Georgia". U.S. Sixth Fleet (CNE-C6F) Public Affairs. 24 August 2008. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  6. "US warship reaches Georgian port". BBC News. 24 August 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  7. McMarr, Rachel (4 April 2010). "USS McFaul Captures Suspected Pirates, Rescues Crew" (Press release). United States Navy. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  8. Starr, Barbara (12 September 2012). "US moving Navy destroyers off coast of Libya". CNN. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  9. Ewing, Philip (12 November 2009). "MDA announces next 6 BMD ships". Navy Times. Retrieved 9 October 2015. (subscription required (help)).

External links

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