The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with 50 to 70 ships, 150 aircraft and 27,000 Sailors and Marines. Its principal responsibilities are to provide joint command in natural disaster or military operations and operational command of all US naval forces in the region.
USS Decatur (DDG-73) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named for the former naval officer Stephen Decatur, Jr. This ship is the 22nd destroyer of her class. USS Decatur was the 13th ship of this class to be built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and construction began on 11 January 1996. She was launched on 10 November 1996 and was christened on 8 November 1996. On 29 August 1998 she was commissioned at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon.
USS Joseph Strauss (DDG-16), named for Admiral Joseph Strauss USN (1861–1948), was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy.
USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer currently in the service of the United States Navy. She is part of the Destroyer Squadron 23 within the Third Fleet, and has her homeport at Naval Station Everett in Everett, Washington.
USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) is the fourth Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. Curtis Wilbur was named for Curtis D. Wilbur, forty-third Secretary of the Navy, who served under President Calvin Coolidge. In 2016, she was based at Yokosuka, Japan, as part of Destroyer Squadron 15.
USS Cowpens (CG-63) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser in service with the United States Navy. The ship is named after the Battle of Cowpens, a major American victory near Cowpens, South Carolina, in the American Revolution. She was built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine. Cowpens is stationed at Naval Base San Diego.
USS Benfold (DDG-65) is a Flight I Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is a multi-mission platform capable of anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) with the powerful Aegis Combat System suite and anti-aircraft missiles, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), with towed sonar array, anti-submarine rockets, anti-surface warfare (ASUW) with Harpoon missiles, and strategic land strike using Tomahawk missiles. Benfold was one of the first ships fitted with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System and during the 2010 Stellar Daggers exercise was the first ship to simultaneously engage a ballistic missile and a cruise missile.
USS McCampbell (DDG-85) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named in honor of Naval Aviator Captain David S. McCampbell, a Medal of Honor and Navy Cross recipient who was the Navy's leading ace in World War II. This ship is the 35th destroyer of her class. USS McCampbell was the 20th ship of this class to be built by Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and construction began on 16 July 1999. She was launched and christened on 2 July 2000. On 17 August 2002, the commissioning ceremony was held at Pier 30 in San Francisco, California.
A destroyer squadron is a naval squadron or flotilla usually consisting of destroyers rather than other types of vessel. In some navies other vessels, such as frigates, may be included. In English the word "squadron" tends to be used for larger and "flotilla" for smaller vessels; both may be used for destroyer units. Similar formations are used in non-English-speaking countries, e.g., the "escadrille"—which would translate directly as "squadron"—in France.
Forrest Percival Sherman was an admiral in the United States Navy and the youngest person to serve as Chief of Naval Operations until Admiral Elmo Zumwalt in 1970. The Forrest Sherman-class destroyer was named for him.
USS Fife (DD-991), a Spruance-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Admiral James Fife, Jr. (1897–1975), a distinguished Submarine Force commander during World War II.
United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka or Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka is a United States Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan. Its mission is to maintain and operate base facilities for the logistic, recreational, administrative support and service of the U.S. Naval Forces Japan, Seventh Fleet and other operating forces assigned in the Western Pacific. CFAY is the largest strategically important U.S. naval installation in the western Pacific.
USS Gravely (DDG-107) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named after Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. Commissioned in 2010, she has been on several overseas deployments.
United States ship naming conventions for the U.S. Navy were established by congressional action at least as early as 1862. Title 13, section 1531, of the U.S. Code, enacted in that year, reads, in part,
The vessels of the Navy shall be named by the Secretary of the Navy under direction of the President according to the following rule: Sailing-vessels of the first class shall be named after the States of the Union, those of the second class after the rivers, those of the third class after the principal cities and towns and those of the fourth class as the President may direct.
USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. She is the 60th ship in her class. The ship is named for Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence (1930–2005), a naval aviator, fighter pilot, test pilot, Mercury astronaut finalist, Vietnam War prisoner of war, a U.S. Third Fleet commander, a Chief of Naval Personnel, and a Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy.
USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), named for United States Navy officer Lieutenant William Charles Fitzgerald, is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the US Navy.
Henry Croskey Mustin was a pioneering naval aviator who undertook the task of establishing the first Naval Aeronautic Station on the site of the abandoned Navy Yard at Warrington, Florida in 1914. He was designated Navy Air Pilot No. 3 and later Naval Aviator No. 11. Two U.S. Navy destroyers have borne the name Mustin in honor of Captain Mustin and his descendants, three of whom have served as flag officers.
Lloyd Montague Mustin was a vice admiral in the United States Navy and among the namesakes of USS Mustin (DDG-89). He took part in developing the Navy's first lead-computing anti-aircraft gun sight, which proved of major importance in the air-sea actions of World War II, and he served on the cruiser USS Atlanta during the naval battle of Guadalcanal. His ship was lost during that action, and with other survivors he landed on Guadalcanal and served ashore with a naval unit attached to the First Marine Division. His postwar service included commands at sea and development and evaluation of weapon systems. He later served as director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Vietnam War.
The Mustin family has recorded a tradition of service in the United States Navy extending from 1896 to the present. Their naval roots trace back to the first Arthur Sinclair, of Scalloway, in Shetland, father of Commodore Arthur Sinclair, who as a boy seaman sailed with Commodore George Anson in 1740, on a British mission to capture Spanish possessions in the Pacific, during the War of Jenkin's Ear. He later settled in Colonial Virginia and served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolution. Probably the most famous member was Henry Croskey Mustin, a pioneering naval aviator who was designated Navy Air Pilot No. 3 and later Naval Aviator No. 11. Two U.S. Navy destroyers have borne the name Mustin in honor of members of the family, U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mustin (DD-413) and the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG-89).
Henry "Hank" Croskey Mustin was a vice admiral in the United States Navy and among the namesakes of USS Mustin (DDG-89). He distinguished himself during both the Vietnam and Cold Wars. As a flag officer he commanded Cruiser Destroyer Group 2, US Second Fleet, NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic, and Joint Task Force 120, where he was responsible for 225 ships and 2,100 aircraft spanning over 45 million square miles from the Arctic Circle to the Equator. Vice Admiral Mustin directed US Navy arms control planning, including the START negotiations with the Soviet Union. He led high-level US interagency delegations to Moscow, London, Paris, Lisbon, Oslo and Seoul. As Commander, NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic, he instituted major strategic changes to the defense of NATO that shaped the nation's maritime strategy. He also served as the senior US military representative to the United Nations. He retired from the navy on January 1, 1989, after nearly 34 years of active duty service.
United States
