USS Mason (DDG-87)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Mason.

Career (US)
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 2011[update]
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 MW)
Speed:	30+ knots
Complement:	380 officers and enlisted
Armament:	1 x 32 cell, 1 x 64 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems, 96 x RIM-66 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-Asroc, missiles 1 x 5/62 in (127/62 mm), 2 x 25 mm, 4 x 12.7 mm guns 2 x Mk 46 triple torpedo tubes
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, the 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 (CVN-75) 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, the 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. The Mason returned home in May 2007.^[3]

The Mason deployed with the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on 12 September 2008 for a scheduled deployment.^[4]

On March 12, 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 uprising.^[5]

References

1. ^ History of USS Mason
2. ^ Mason Conducts Maritime Operations in Persian Gulf Navy NewsStand
3. ^ Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group Returns from Deployment Navy NewsStand
4. ^ USS Theodore Roosevelt Deploys in Support of Maritime Security, During its Seven Months The Mason Participated in several exercises with Georgian Naval forces. In Early 2009 The Mason Safeguarded russian transport ship the Faina against Somalian Pirates on the coast of Mogadishu Africa.Side Note Mason Crossed the Equator 9 times in total and participated in its first Wog Day. Operations. Nav NewsStand
5. ^ Libya Live Blog - March 12 Al Jazeera

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.

Mason in the Persian Gulf, January 2005