USS Donald Cook
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Donald Cook |
| Namesake: | Donald Cook |
| Ordered: | 19 January 1993 |
| Builder: | Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine |
| Laid down: | 9 July 1996 |
| Launched: | 3 May 1997 |
| Acquired: | 21 August 1998 |
| Commissioned: | 4 December 1998 |
| Homeport: | Naval Station Rota |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2015 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Arleigh Burke class destroyer |
| Displacement: | Light: approx. 6,765 tons Full: approx. 8,900 tons |
| Length: | 505 ft (154 m) |
| Beam: | 66 ft (20 m) |
| Draft: | 31 ft (9.4 m) |
| 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: |
|
| Electronic warfare and decoys: |
|
| Armament: | 1 × 29 cell, 1 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launching systems with 90 × RIM-156 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-ASROC missiles 2 x Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher SSM |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 × SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter can be embarked |
| Motto: | Faith Without Fear |
USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy.
Named for Donald Cook, a Vietnam War prisoner of war who died in captivity, the destroyer was commissioned in 1998. It was one of the first U.S. warships to come to the aid of the USS Cole after it was damaged by suicide bombers on 12 October 2000. In 2003, the ship fired Tomahawk missiles during Operation Iraqi Freedom.[1]
The Donald Cook was featured in the "Super Fast Warship" episode of Build It Bigger.
On 16 February 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Donald Cook will be one of four ships to be homeported at Naval Station Rota, Spain.[2]
On 24 February 2012, Donald Cook was awarded the 2011 Battle Efficiency "E" award.[3]
Deployments
On 8 April 2014, U.S. military officials confirmed the deployment of Donald Cook to the Black Sea as part of the latest U.S. military effort to demonstrate support for Eastern European allies concerned about Russia's troop buildup along its border with Ukraine.[4]
On 12 April 2014, state run Voice of Russia claimed that USS Donald Cook was "buzzed", 12 times by a Russian Su-24 attack jet.[5] According to the report U.S. military officials said the crew aboard Donald Cook made several attempts to radio the Russian warplane asking the pilot what his intentions were and sending warnings to remain at a safe distance, but the Russian pilot did not respond.[6] Russian state media also claimed that the SU-24, carrying upgraded Khibiny Electronic Warfare equipment, was able to jam the Aegis System, but this claim was neither officially supported nor independently verified.[5] On 14 April 2014, Donald Cook visited Constanta, Romania. The President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, toured the ship during the visit. Donald Cook then conducted various exercises in concert with the Romanian Navy before departing the Black Sea on 24 April, 2014.[7]
On 26 December 2014, for the second time, according to the US Navy, the destroyer entered the Black Sea in order to reassure and demonstrate US commitment to work closely with NATO allies.[8] Donald Cook participated in exercises with the Turkish Navy including an underway replenishment and other exercises with Yavuz-class frigate TCG Fatih (F-242) on 28 December 2014. The ship visited Constanta, Romania on 30 December and Varna, Bulgaria on 8 January 2015. Donald Cook participated in exercises with Ukrainian Navy ship UKRS Hetman Sahaidachny (U130) 11 January 2015. Donald Cook departed the Black Sea 14 January 2015.[9]
Upgrade
On 12 November 2009, the Missile Defense Agency announced that Donald Cook would be upgraded during fiscal 2012 to RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) capability in order to function as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.[10]
Further reading
- Sanders, Michael S. (1999). The Yard: Building a Destroyer at the Bath Iron Works. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-019246-1. (Describes the construction of Donald Cook at Bath Iron Works.)
References
- ↑ "Command History Report 2003 from Commander USS Donald Cook to Director of Naval History, Department of the Navy" (PDF). history.navy.mil. 2004.
- ↑ "Navy Names Forward Deployed Ships to Rota, Spain". United States Navy. 16 February 2012.
- ↑ "Naval Surface Forces Announces 2011 Battle E Awardees". United States Navy. 1 March 2012.
- ↑ Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent (8 April 2014). "U.S. Navy ship to arrive in Black Sea by Thursday". cnn.com.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Russian Su-24 scores off against-the American USS Donald Cook". Voice of Russia. 21 April 2014.
- ↑ "Russian Fighter Jet Buzzed U.S. Ship: Officials". NBC News.
- ↑ "USS Donald Cook Departs Black Sea". cne-cna-c6f.dodlive.mil. 24 April 2014.
- ↑ "US Naval Forces Europe – Africa/US 6th fleet: USS Donald Cook to enter Black Sea". KyivPost.
- ↑ Schumacher, Daniel (14 January 2015). "USS Donald Cook Departs Black Sea". cne-cna-c6f.dodlive.mil.
- ↑ "MDA announces next 6 BMD ships". Navy Times. 12 November 2009.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Donald Cook (DDG-75). |
- "USS Donald Cook Official Web-Site"
- USS Donald Cook Command History Reports
- USS Donald Cook webpage
- Naval Vessel Register DDG-75
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