USS Bainbridge (DDG-96)

USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She is the fifth ship to carry that name, and the 46th destroyer of a planned 75-ship class. Bainbridge is named in honor of Commodore William Bainbridge, who as commander of the frigate USS Constitution distinguished himself in the War of 1812 when he and his crew captured HMS Java, a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Bainbridge.

USS Bainbridge (DDG-96)
USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) arrives at NATO Pier Facility in Souda harbour
History
United States
Name: Bainbridge
Namesake: William Bainbridge
Ordered: 6 March 1998
Builder: Bath Iron Works
Laid down: 7 May 2003
Christened: 13 November 2004
Commissioned: 12 November 2005
Homeport: Naval Station Norfolk
Motto: Competence, Dedication, Discipline
Status: in active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
Displacement: 9,200 tons
Length: 509 ft 6 in (155.3 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; 35 mph)
Range:
Complement: 270 officers and enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • AN/SPY-1D radar
  • AN/SPS-67(V)2 surface-search radar
  • AN/SPS-64(V)9 surface-search radar
  • AN/SQS-53C sonar array
  • 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:
Aircraft carried: 2 x SH-60 Seahawk helicopters

Since her commissioning in 2005, Bainbridge has been active in the Mediterranean Sea, but most of the attention she has garnered has been as a result of the failed hijacking attempt of the U.S.-flagged freighter MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates in April, 2009, which ended with the release of the vessel's master, Captain Richard Phillips, on 12 April 2009. After crewmen of the captured cargo vessel managed to retake the ship, the pirates retreated, taking the ship's master hostage in a lifeboat. Bainbridge, Halyburton, and Boxer shadowed the pirates, and with FBI assistance attempted negotiations for the safe return of the captive captain until U.S. Navy SEAL snipers resolved the situation with deadly force. The story of this incident was turned into the 2013 motion picture titled Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks.[2] Bainbridge was portrayed by sister ship Truxtun.[3]

Construction

Bainbridge is one of 75 authorized Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, and is classified as a member of the Flight IIA–class variation that incorporate the 5"/62 caliber gun mount, an improvement over the previous 5 in (130 mm)/54 caliber gun mounts on the earlier Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. In addition to her guns, Bainbridge carries over 100 missiles of various types aboard two separate Mk 41 VLS magazines. Her superstructure features the AN/SPY-1 radar indicative of the Aegis combat system, which allows the destroyer to track over 100 targets simultaneously. (Owing to the presence of the Aegis system, Bainbridge and her sisters are sometimes incorrectly referred to as Aegis-class ships.) She is also equipped with the Remote Mine-hunting System (RMS),[4] which includes the Remote Mine-hunting Vehicle (RMV), an unmanned craft that detects, classifies, and localizes underwater mines.

Bainbridge was floated from drydock and christened on 13 November 2004 [5] at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, sponsored by Susan Bainbridge Hay, Commodore William Bainbridge's great-great-great-granddaughter. She was commissioned on 12 November 2005, with Commander John M. Dorey commanding in Port Everglades, Florida.

History
As seen from a ScanEagle UAV, Bainbridge and the Maersk Alabama lifeboat, 9 April 2009.
Bainbridge sailors provide aid to the crew of Kokuka Courageous after the June 2019 Gulf of Oman incident

Bainbridge assumed flagship for Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG-1) from USS Normandy (SNMG-1 April 2007 – August 2007) and remained flagship from August 2007 until February 2008. While on deployment under SNMG-1, they visited various ports across the Mediterranean such as Valletta, Malta; A Coruña, Spain; Istanbul, Turkey; Crete, Athens, Greece; as well as Port-Louis, Mauritius; Port Victoria, Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

On 8 April 2009, Bainbridge was dispatched in response to a hostage situation in which Somali pirates had seized control of an American-flagged cargo vessel, Maersk Alabama.[6] The crew of Maersk Alabama were able to get to safety, after their captain had been taken hostage by the pirates. He was taken to and held on a lifeboat, and refused release in an unsuccessful attempt to exchange him for a pirate the ship's crew had captured. The destroyer shadowed and later encircled the Somali pirates during the standoff, at which time the pirates and Bainbridge began negotiating for the safe release of the captive captain.[7] On 12 April 2009 Captain Phillips was freed—reportedly in good condition—during a US Navy SEAL team assault. Three of the Somali pirates were killed by US Navy SEAL sharpshooters aboard Bainbridge, and one was captured.[2]

In January 2014, Bainbridge completed a six-month deployment to Sixth Fleet and returned to her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia.[8]

Upon returning to Norfolk, Virginia, in December 2015 following another deployment with the United States 6th Fleet, an investigation was conducted that resulted in the three senior commanders being removed from duty. In a press release, a spokesperson says the Navy investigated Commander Sean Rongers for allegedly allowing gambling and storing fireworks on the ship, and for "poor program management and a poor command climate." The Navy also fired the ship's former Executive Officer, Commander Brandon Murray, and Command Master Chief Richard Holmes. Commander Martin "Marty" Robertson assumed command on 8 April 2016.[9]

In the 13 June 2019 Gulf of Oman incident, Bainbridge responded to a distress signal from Kokuka Courageous, a Japanese oil tanker which caught fire after an apparent explosion while transiting the Gulf of Oman. According to US Defense officials, Bainbridge picked up all 21 crew members who had been rescued by a tugboat.[10]



Awards
gollark: Well, if we had a sanely designed network, they wouldn't be able to either. But we don't.
gollark: Do you mean your phone *network* company or phone *hardware* company?
gollark: Huh? Why would having stuff be done in software allow that?
gollark: That could be stored on a simple card or just done in software.
gollark: In a modern and sanely designed network, you would probably just need... a private asymmetric crypto key to verify the device/your identity, network ID, and probably a few other bits of data but I can't think of any right now.

References
  1. "USS Bainbridge (DDG 96)Ship Information". US Navy. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 11 April 2009.
  2. "American captain rescued, pirates killed, U.S. official says". CNN. 12 April 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  3. "Captain Phillips (2013)" – via www.imdb.com.
  4. AN/WLD-1 – Remote Minehunting System. See also DN-SD-06-08197 Archived 14 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine for a 2004 image of the RMS, aboard USS Momsen (DDG-92), with logo that says "Remote Minehunting System".
  5. Lenz, Ryan (14 November 2004). "USS Bainbridge christened at BIW; Fifth warship to be named for "Old Ironsides' commander". Bangor Daily News. Associated Press. p. B5. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  6. "U.S. warship near boat carrying pirates". CNN. 9 April 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  7. "US navy closes grip on Somali pirates". Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
  8. "USS Bainbridge Completes Mission". Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  9. "USS Bainbridge commanders relieved of duties". Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  10. "U.S. official says "highly likely" Iran behind new tanker attacks in Gulf of Oman". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
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