USS JOHN PAUL JONES (DDG-53) [WEAPON OF THE FORTNIGHT ~ SUNDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2013 TO SATURDAY 2 MARCH 2013]

            I chose the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) as the weapon of the fortnight to celebrate the 281^st birthday of President George Washington and also to speak of lessons learn from the 2012 film, Battleship. USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) was the destroyer used in the film. I got the information from Wikipedia. 

USS John Paul Jones in the Persian Gulf

             I learn several lessons from the movie, they are:

1. Discipline – Please refer to George Washington’s Soldiers’ Quote of the Fortnight.

2. It is time to be more matured and not be childish - C.S. Lewis was quoted in "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" (1952):

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

3. Teamwork is important for the soldiers – Please refer to my blog post,  ‘TEAMWORK IN THE COURTS [HAPPY 223RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES]’.

4. You will not regret if you listen to the advice of your elders.

5. Courage - the 24th scene of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: "Courage is the Best Defense."

6. If there is a problem, we must fix it.

7. Actions speak louder than words - It is more effective to act directly than to speak of action.

Quote from news.navy.mil: "010905-N-6259P-002 Forward Deployed in the Persian Gulf (Sep. 5, 2001) -- The guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) awaits the return of a helicopter slung with cargo during a vertical replenishment operation. John Paul Jones is currently underway in the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch. U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Douglas M. Pearlman. (RELEASED) "

Name:	USS John Paul Jones
Namesake:	John Paul Jones
Ordered:	25 September 1987
Awarded:	25 September 1987
Builder:	Bath Iron Works
Laid down:	8 August 1990
Launched:	26 October 1991
Commissioned:	18 December 1993
Homeport:	Naval Base San Diego
Motto:	In Harm's Way
Status:	in active service, as of 2013
Badge:

General characteristics
Class & type:	Arleigh Burke class destroyer
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	Light: approx. 6,800 long tons (6,900 t) Full: approx. 8,900 long tons (9,000 t)
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:	AN/SPY-1D 3D Radar AN/SPS-67(V)2 Surface Search Radar AN/SPS-73(V)12 Surface Search Radar AN/SQS-53C Sonar Array AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array Sonar AN/SQQ-28 LAMPS III Shipboard System
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32(V)2 Electronic Warfare System AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures MK 36 MOD 12 Decoy Launching System AN/SLQ-39 CHAFF Buoys
Armament:	1 × 29 cell, 1 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems with 90 × RIM-156 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-Asroc missiles 1 × Mark 45 5/54 in (127/54 mm) 2 × 25 mm chain gun 4 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) guns 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:	1 SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter can be embarked

Coral Sea (June 23, 2005) – The guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), foreground, and the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) underway in formation in preparation to fire the ship's MK-45 5-inch lightweight guns during a ship sinking exercise. Accompanying USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) and part of the Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Group, Fitzgerald and John Paul Jones are currently operating in the Coral Sea in support of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2005. Talisman Sabre is an exercise jointly sponsored by the U.S. Pacific Command and Australian Defence Force Joint Operations Command, and designed to train the U.S. Seventh Fleet commander's staff and Australian Joint Operations staff as a designated Combined Task Force (CTF) headquarters. The exercise focuses on crisis action planning and execution of contingency response operations. U.S. Pacific Command units and Australian forces will conduct land, sea and air training throughout the training area. More than 11,000 U.S. and 6,000 Australian personnel will participate. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Bo J. Flannigan (RELEASED)

Description

John Paul Jones is capable of operating independently, as an element of a coordinated force, or as the nucleus of a surface action group, and to direct and coordinate anti-air, surface, undersea, and strike warfare operations. The ship is named in honor of Naval hero John Paul Jones and derives her motto from a famous quote of his, "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way."

In order to successfully conduct this mission, John Paul Jones has been fitted with the latest weapons, engineering, and damage control systems. The Aegis combat system is one of the most advanced and most capable air defense systems currently in use. John Paul Jones is capable of conducting both offensive and defensive operations using Tomahawk and RGM-84 Harpoon cruise missiles, RIM-66 Standard missiles, CIWS, and 5 inch (127 mm) gun. The Arleigh Burke Class is the first class of U.S. warships to be fitted with an integrated Chemical, Biological and Radiological defense system.

John Paul Jones was selected as the Shock Trial platform for the DDG-51 Class. The ship was subjected to a series of close range explosions in order for the Navy to obtain critical information concerning the survivability of the DDG-51 class in a shock environment. The crew prepared the ship for the most demanding and complex surface ship shock trial test in the history of the Navy. The ship has completed four deployments to the Persian Gulf.

On 20 September 1995, an F-14A Tomcat crashed in the vicinity of John Paul Jones. A fly-by at transonic speed was performed, during which the engine exploded (due to "compressor failure") 55 miles away from the carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln. Both pilot and Weapons Systems Operator ejected and survived with only minor burns.

On 7 October 2001, John Paul Jones launched the first Tomahawk missiles into Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

On 13 March 2006, John Paul Jones was named, along with the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, an honorary flagship for the upcoming search for the remains of the original USS Bonhomme Richard (1765).

In June of 2010 she began a ten month yard period during which her machinery control system and many HM&E systems were upgraded. This was a first in class effort, similar to the CG-47 mid life upgrade undertaken on the Ticonderoga Hull.

On 10 June 2011, she anchored off the coast of Malibu, California at the beginning of a three day celebration called Navy Days designed to thank the sailors and their families for their service to the country.

On 29 November 2011, John Paul Jones was the first ship to deploy after receiving the DDGMOD (HM&E) upgrade. Making her in the words of Thomas Rowden the most advanced warship on the planet.

Coral Sea (July 11, 2005) - An MH-60S Seahawk, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Two Five (HSC-25), flies near the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) during a vertical replenishment. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Dylan Butler (RELEASED)

In popular culture

The ship was featured prominently in the 2012 film Battleship where she was shown to destroy three alien craft before she sunk.

The ship is mentioned in the last mission of Homefront as she escapes a naval blockade of San Diego to provides support to the player in the climatic final battle on the Golden Gate Bridge along with sister ship USS Milius (DDG-69).