US Navy USS Ralph Johnson Arleigh Burke-class destroyer conducts live-fire exercise in Arabian Gulf

According to a video released by the U.S. Navy on YouTube on September 25, 2020, the U.S.Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) conducted a live-fire exercise in the Arabian Gulf on September 17, 2020, using onboard armament like its Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, Mk.38 25mm M242 Bushmaster automatic cannon, and its Mk.45 5"/62 caliber naval gun.


According to a video released by the U.S. Navy on YouTube on September 25, 2020, the U.S.Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) conducted a live-fire exercise in the Arabian Gulf on September 17, 2020, using onboard armament like its Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, Mk.38 25mm M242 Bushmaster automatic cannon, and its Mk.45 5"/62 caliber naval gun.
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Russian Vyborg Shipyard laid the Purga ice class coastguard ship of project 23550 925 001Guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) transits the Arabian Gulf  (Picture source: U.S. Navy)


USS Ralph Johnson is part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group and is deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean through the western Indian Ocean and three critical chokepoints to the free flow of global commerce.

USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the United States Navy. The contract to build the destroyer was awarded on 26 September 2011 to Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi. The U.S. Navy commissioned USS Ralph Johnson during a ceremony held on March 24, 2020, at Columbus Street Pier in Charleston, South Carolina.

USS Ralph Johnson is the 65th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be commissioned, and the third and last of the DDG 51 Flight IIA restart ships to be commissioned. Flight IIA of the Arleigh Burke-class, authorized in the fiscal year 1994, was a redesign that incorporated alterations for littoral (coastal) warfare on a hull lengthened by six feet over Flight I and II ships.

The Arleigh Burke-class employs all-steel construction and comprises four separate variants or "Flights." DDG 51-71 represent the original design and are designated as Flight I ships; DDG 72-78 are Flight II ships; DDGs 79-116 are Flight IIA ships in service, and will continue through DDGs 124 and 127. The Flight III baseline will begin with DDGs 125-126, and continue with DDGs 128 and follow.

The Flight IIA design includes the addition of the Kingfisher mine-avoidance capability, a pair of helicopter hangars which provide the ability to deploy two MH-60 Seahawk helicopters.

USS Ralph Johnson is powered by gas turbine propulsion. Employing four General Electric LM 2500-30 gas turbines to produce 100,000 total shaft hp via a dual-shaft design, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are capable to reach a maximum speed of 35 knots in open seas.

USS Ralph Johnson is armed with one 5-inch (127 mm)/62 caliber Mk.45 Mod. 4 naval gun, two 25mm Mk.38 automatic cannons, four .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns, one 20mm Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapon System), two Mk.32 triple torpedo tubes for Mk.46 torpedo and 96-cell Mk.41 VLS (Vertical Launching System) able to fire RIM-66 Standard medium-range surface-to-air Missile 2, BGM-109 Tomahawk long-range cruise missile and RUM-139 VL-ASROC anti-submarine missiles.


US Navy USS Ralph Johnson Arleigh Burke class destroyer conducts live fire exercise in Arabian Gulf 925 001
The guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) fires a Mark 38 25mm machine gun during a live-fire exercise in the Arabian Gulf. (Picture source U.S. Navy)