Deployed along with the 7th fleet to ensure freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer USS Mustin successfully conducted live-fire drills in the Philippine sea.
An image released on the Dvidshub website, showing the firing of an M240B onboard the USS Mustin. The caption read, “Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Dustin Tipton, assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89), fires an M240B during a live-fire exercise.
Mustin is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.” The image was taken by the U.S. Navy’s Petty Officer 3rd Class Cody Beam.
Recently, the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Regan were deployed in the region to conduct live-fire and other naval exercises with the partner nations including the QUAD.
The Largest biennial naval exercise, RIMPAC-2020 recently concluded with the live-fire exercises termed ‘SINKEX’ off the coast of Hawaii, in which the warships fired on a decommissioned cargo ship USS Durham. The live-fire exercises provided an exclusive experience for the sailors and officers on board.
USS Mustin
Armed to the teeth, the USS Mustin has been named in honor of the Mustin family which had served exceptionally with the U.S. Navy.
The vessel has a displacement of 9,200 tons and is 155.30 meters long. Her construction began on 15th January 2001 and was launched on the 12th of December the same year. On 26 July 2003, a twilight commissioning ceremony was held at the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California.
With a maximum speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), the USS Mustin offers a range of 4,400 nm. According to Navy Recognition, the USS Mustin’s main armaments comprise of 1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/62 caliber Mk 45 Mod 4 naval gun, 2 × 25 mm Mk 38 Autocannons, 4 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns, 1 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS, 2 × Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes for Mk 46 torpedoes. It is also fitted with 96-cell Mk 41 VLS for RIM-66 Standard Missile 2, BGM-109 Tomahawk, RUM-139 VL-ASROC missiles.
