Sea is the natural environment of any ship. The biggest agony of a ship is being apart from sea for some reason. Because a ship without sea is incomplete. That’s why this is a happy day for USS McCain, an Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer of the U.S. Navy.
Repairs have been completed on USS John S. McCain, which was involved in a collision in 2017 that left 10 sailors dead and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, and the vessel is now conducting “comprehensive at-sea testing,” the U.S. Navy declared Monday (28th Oct).
The guided-missile destroyer departed its pier at Fleet Activities Yokosuka around 11 a.m. local time on Monday and is currently headed out to open water.
The underway is the first set of sea trials to prove the ship is ready to return to active service after the repairs.
“During the at-sea testing, the ship and her crew will perform a series of demonstrations to evaluate that the ship’s onboard systems meet or exceed Navy performance specifications,” reads the statement from 7th Fleet. “Among the systems that will be tested are navigation, damage control, mechanical and electrical systems, combat systems, communications, and propulsion application.”
After the underway, the crew will begin a series of training events and will eventually be folded back into operations with Japan-based Destroyer Squadron 15
