Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin has conducted replenishment operation in Philippine Sea

On May 1, 2020, U.S. Navy sailors aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) deployed in the Philippine Sea have conducted replenishment operation as sea with the dry cargo and ammunition Ship USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3).

US Navy sailors aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) prepare for a replenishment as sea with the dry cargo and ammunition Ship USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3). (Picture source US Navy)

The USS Mustin is underway conducting operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific while assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest forward-deployed DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force.

The USS Mustin (DDG-89) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. This ship is the 39th destroyer of her class. USS Mustin was the 18th ship of this class to be built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and construction began on 15 January 2001. She was launched on 12 December 2001 and was christened on 15 December 2001. On 26 July 2003, a twilight commissioning ceremony was held at the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California.

The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers (DDGs) is a United States Navy class of destroyer built around the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D multifunction passive electronically scanned array radar. The ship is armed with 56 Raytheon Tomahawk cruise missiles, with a combination of land-attack (TLAM) missiles with a Tercom-aided navigation system, and anti-ship missiles with inertial guidance. The Standard SM-2MR block 4 surface-to-air missiles with command / inertial guidance remain at the centre of the Aegis system.

The USS Mustin feature is also armed with BAE Systems weapon system 127mm mk45 gun with Kollmorgen mk46 mod 1 electro-optic sight and two Raytheon / General Dynamics 20mm, six-barrelled Phalanx mk15 close-in weapon systems (CIWS). Phalanx block 1B was installed on USS Howard, Bulkeley and Cole and will be installed on new-build vessels.

The USS Mustin destroyers is equipped with six (two triple) 324mm mk32 mod 14 torpedo tubes for launching ATK mk46 or mk50 active / passive homing anti-submarine torpedoes.

The USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3) is a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship in the United States Navy. It is a class of 14 Combat Logistics Force (CLF) underway replenishment vessels operated by the United States Navy's Military Sealift Command. In configuration to T-AKE-3 to -14, the mission of this ship is to provide selective offload of cargo for resupply and sustainment of U.S. Marine Corps forces ashore.

In their primary mission role, the T-AKEs provide logistic lift to deliver cargo (ammunition, food, limited quantities of fuel, repair parts and ship store items) to U.S. and allied ships at sea. In their secondary mission, the T-AKEs may be required to operate in concert with a Henry J. Kaiser-class (T-AO 187) fleet replenishment oiler as a substitute station ship to provide direct logistics support to the ships within a carrier strike group.

U.S. Navygunner’s Mate 3rd Class Leonardo Carrizales, assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89), fires a shot line during a replenishment as sea with the dry cargo and ammunition Ship USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3). (Picture source US Navy)