USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53)
Encyclopedia
USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) is the third Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer
Arleigh Burke class destroyer
The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers is the United States Navy's first class of destroyer built around the Aegis combat system and the SPY-1D multi-function phased array radar. The class is named for Admiral Arleigh "31-Knot" Burke, the most famous American destroyer officer of...

 and the first ship of the class homeported on the west coast. She is named after American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...

. She was built at Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...

 in Maine.

Description

The mission of John Paul Jones is to conduct prompt and sustained operations at sea in support of U.S. national interests. John Paul Jones is capable of operating independently, as an element of a coordinated force, or as the nucleus of a surface action group, and to direct and coordinate anti-air, surface, undersea, and strike warfare operations. The ship is named in honor of Naval hero John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...

 and derives her motto from a famous quote of his, "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way."

In order to successfully conduct this mission, John Paul Jones has been fitted with the latest weapons, engineering, and damage control systems. The AEGIS
Aegis combat system
The Aegis Combat System is an integrated naval weapons system developed by the Missile and Surface Radar Division of RCA, and now produced by Lockheed Martin...

 Weapons system is one of the most advanced and most capable air defense systems currently in use. John Paul Jones is capable of conducting both offensive and defensive operations using Tomahawk and Harpoon cruise missiles, Standard
RIM-66 Standard
The RIM-66 Standard MR is a medium range surface-to-air missile originally developed for the United States Navy . The SM-1 was developed as a replacement for the RIM-2 Terrier and RIM-24 Tartar that were deployed in the 1950s on a variety of USN ships...

 missiles, CIWS
Close-in weapon system
A close-in weapon system , often pronounced sea-whiz, is a naval shipboard point-defense weapon for detecting and destroying at short range incoming anti-ship missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses....

, and 5 inch (127 mm) gun. The Arleigh Burke Class is the first class of U.S. warships to be fitted with an integrated Chemical, Biological and Radiological defense system.

John Paul Jones was selected as the Shock Trial platform for the DDG-51 Class. The ship was subjected to a series of close range explosions in order for the Navy to obtain critical information concerning the survivability of the DDG-51 class in a shock environment. The crew prepared the ship for the most demanding and complex surface ship shock trial test in the history of the Navy. The ship has completed four deployments to the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

.

On 20 September 1995, an F-14A Tomcat crashed in the vicinity of John Paul Jones. A fly-by at transonic speed was performed, during which the engine exploded (due to "compression failure") 55 miles away from the carrier, . Both pilot and WSO ejected and survived with only minor burns.

On 7 October 2001, John Paul Jones launched the first tomahawk missiles into Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

On 13 March 2006, John Paul Jones was named, along with the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)
USS Bonhomme Richard is an Amphibious Assault Ship, and the third United States Navy ship of that name. It was named in honor of John Paul Jones' famous frigate, which he had named the French language equivalent of "Good man Richard," in honor of Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. Ambassador to France at...

, an honorary flagship for the upcoming search for the remains of the original .

On June 10, 2011, she anchored off the coast of Malibu, California at the beginning of a three day celebration called Navy Days designed to thank the sailors and their families for their service to the country.

In Popular Culture

The upcoming movie Battleship
Battleship (film)
Battleship is an upcoming 2012 science fiction naval war film based on the game of the same name. The film is being directed by Peter Berg and will be released by Universal Pictures...

features the USS John Paul Jones in the teaser trailer.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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