USS Benfold (DDG-65)

Benfold in the Andaman Sea
Career (US)
Name:	USS Benfold
Namesake:	USN Hospital Corpsman Edward Clyde Benfold
Operator:	United States Navy
Ordered:	16 January 1991
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	27 September 1993
Launched:	9 November 1994
Commissioned:	30 March 1996
Homeport:	Naval Base San Diego
Motto:	Onward with Valor
Nickname:	Mighty Benfold
Status:	Active in service as of 2011[update]
Badge:
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)
Installed power:	3 X Rolls Royce AG9130F (Allison 501-K34) (2.5 MW Each)
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:	None Embarked
Aviation facilities:	1 Flight Deck accommodating all U.S. Military Helocopters except CH-53 Sea Stallions.

The USS Benfold (DDG-65) is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for the USN Hospital Corpsman Edward Clyde Benfold. She is the first U.S. Navy ship bearing the name Benfold.

Description

Built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the Benfold is the 15th of 35 planned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers. She joined the U.S. Pacific Fleet for service on 30 March 1996.

A US Navy guided-missile destroyer equipped with the AEGIS air-defense system and the Mark-41 Vertical Launch System for multiple types of guided missiles, the Benfold is capable of defensive and offensive operations against warplanes, anti-ship missiles, surface ships, submarines, and shore targets. In addition to her missiles, she carries one 5-inch rapid-fire naval gun for action against surface ships and for shore bombardment. She also carries anti-submarine torpedoes, and two Phalanx anti-missile guns. She has a flight deck for LAMPS III Seahawk helicopters and is capable of refueling and re-arming these helicopters, but she does not have a hangar for storing and maintaining helicopters.

Her former captain, Commander D. Michael Abrashoff, the commanding officer from 1997 to 1999, wrote the best-selling book It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy (Warner Business Books 2002), based upon his experiences aboard the warship.

Jihadist sailor

In 2001, a Benfold signalman, Paul Hall, who later changed his name to Hassan Abu-Jihaad, provided information on the ship's upcoming movements through the Strait of Hormuz to a London-based website that openly espoused terrorist attacks against the US. The ship was not attacked. Hall was honorably discharged in 2002. Abu-Jihaad was convicted in 2008 for disclosing classified information, including the information about Benfold and, in April 2009, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Said US District Judge Mark Kravitz of the sentence, "I cannot really overstate the seriousness of this crime."^[1]

Gallery

• 

  Benfold firing her 5"/54 MK45 gun

Notes

1. ^ Christoffersen, John, (Associated Press), "Sailor Turned Jihadist Gets Max", Arizona Republic, April 4, 2009.

References

• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.

External links

• Official ship's site
• Ex-Sailor Paul R. Hall Convicted for Spying Aboard Benfold. FBI Press Release