USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) is a modern American missile destroyer, the keel of which was laid in 1991, launched in September 1992, and commissioned by the US Navy in 1994. The total length of the ship is 154 meters and 20 meters wide. Full displacement is around 9,000 tons and the maximum speed is just over 30 knots. The destroyer is armed with: 2 VLS Mk. 41 - one 29-rail and one 61-rail, 2 quad Harpoon rocket launchers, a single 127mm Mark 45 cannon or two 20mm Vulcan Phalanx kits. The ship may operate with the use of in-flight helicopters, eg the Sikorsky MH-60R.
USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) is one of 65 active service destroyers belonging to the Arleigh Burke class. Units of this type were designed, were and are being built as multi-role destroyers, in which, however, special emphasis was placed on countering air targets. In the construction of these ships, the British experience from the Falklands war was used, and as a result, Kevlar armor was added to the most viable parts of ships of this class. At the same time, the Arleigh Burke-class ships have the revolutionary AEGIS network combat system, cooperating with the AN / SPY-1 radar, which provides them with unprecedented possibilities to control the airspace and counter air targets. This is the same system used on the Ticonderoga-class cruisers. One of the units of this class is the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56). The ship was built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The unit was built to the Flight I standard. Shortly after entering service, USS John S. McCain was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. In 2003, the unit was transferred to the Persian Gulf region and took an active part in the actions against Iraq. A few years later (2007), the ship was awarded the Battle Effectiveness Award for 2006. In 2009, a Chinese submarine collided with the USS John S. McCain towed sonar antenna. As a result of the collision, the destroyer did not suffer any serious damage. A few years later (2013), the unit operated in the area of the Korean, and in August 2017 she was involved in a collision with a Liberian oil tanker, in which ten crew members were killed and four injured. From the first half of 2018, USS John S. McCain has been in the US base in Yokosuka, where it is undergoing appropriate repairs.