USS The Sullivans (DDG-68)
8315 tons
154 m
20 meters
9.5 meters
26 officers, 315 teams
Two propellers, each driven over 4 gas turbines; 100,000 shaft horsepower
31 knots
90 VLS cells, 2 triple torpedo launchers, 1 artillery 127 mm
The USS The Sullivans (DDG -68 ) is a destroyer of the Arleigh Burke-class American. It is named after the five Sullivan brothers who died in the Second World War all the sinking of the USS Juneau ( CL -52).
History
DDG -68 was given in 1992 at Bath Iron Works commissioned and placed there on 14 June 1993 at Kiel. On August 12, 1995, the ship was launched and was baptized. After the final finishing and first tests the The Sullivans was made official on April 19, 1997 at the United States Navy in service. First tests and tours of the destroyer led the ship to Saint Thomas and in the Chesapeake Bay, where on July 4, several ships through various joint missile tests. By the end of November of the year was followed by a post- shakedown availability called last dockyard time.
On 8 December 1997 closed the The Sullivans, the USS Enterprise ( CVN- 65) on. When three days later, a BAE Hawk crashed the Big E, which could involve several The Sullivans wreckage, the crew had already been picked up by a helicopter.
The first longer installation began in May 1998 when the The Sullivans at Unified Spirit '98, an exercise with participation of many NATO navies participated. The first use of relocation took place from 1999 onwards. With the USS John F. Kennedy (CV -67), the destroyer went to the Mediterranean in 2000 and continued into the Arabian Sea. At the turn of the ship in the port of Aden in Yemen was, as members of the Al - Qaeda attempted an attack on the ship. An explosive-laden boat should the The Sullivans ram and cause so much damage. However, because of overloading the boat sank before it could approach the destroyer. Later in the year a similar attack on Sullivan's sister ship USS Cole ( DDG -67) had severe damage and deaths result. The next installation, also with the Kennedy, led the The Sullivans back into the Arabian Sea, 2002, the aircraft carrier battle group support Operation Enduring Freedom.
Also in 2004, followed by a transfer to the region, in 2006 the destroyer was then involved in the NATO exercise Neptune Warrior. 2007 The Sullivans moved the turn in European waters and participated in a total of seven multinational exercises. In May 2008, the destroyer took, led by the USS Kearsarge (LHD- 3) on the part of Fleet Week in New York. In August, the The Sullivans moved to the side of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN -71) towards the Mediterranean. During a tour in the Persian Gulf, the The Sullivans collided on 20 March 2010 with a buoy in the harbor of Manama, but their use in the region was able to continue. In this case, the ship suffered damage of less than one million dollars. In the wake of this incident, the commanding officer was relieved of his post in May 2010.
On 17 August 2011, The Sullivans participated in a firing exercise off the coast of North Carolina a civilian fishing boat under attack, instead of the originally intended exercise platform. The destroyer fired 14 5 -inch projectiles on the Zig -Zag, all of which were detonated by the fishing boat in a radius of around 20 meters. In the incident, no one was injured. The commander of The Sullivans, however, was subsequently relieved of his post. A planned for early September trip use in European waters has now been delayed, but instead remained the USS Monterey (CG -61 ) for longer in use.