According to information released by the U.S. Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) from U.S. Navy is participating as part of the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group for Naval Exercise Joint Warrior 20-2.
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The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) is sailing as part of the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group for Exercise Joint Warrior 20-2.(Picture source U.S. Navy)
Naval Exercise Joint Warrior 20-2 is a U.K.-hosted, multilateral training exercise designed to provide NATO and Allied forces with a unique multi-warfare environment to prepare for global operations. The exercise incorporates surface, subsurface, airborne, and land assets, providing joint training in a multi-threat environment for NATO units, and a certification of forward-deployed naval forces (FDNF), preparing them to operate as part of a Combined/Joint Task Force.
The other U.S. participants include the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) and USS Ross (DDG 71), two P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA), one Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE-13), along with U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft assigned of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211 and a detachment from 2d Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company embarked aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R 08).
JW 20-2’s participants include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the U.K., and the U.S.
U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.
The USS The Sullivans (DDG-68), is an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer. She was commissioned on April 19, 1997, in Staten Island, New York, and is homeported in Mayport, Florida. The ship is named in honor of the five Sullivans brothers, who served together aboard USS Juneau (CL 52) during World War II and lost their lives during the Battle of Guadalcanal on Nov. 13, 1942, when Juneau was sunk by a Japanese submarine.
The USS The Sullivans is armed with one29 cell, one 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launching systems with 90 × RIM-156 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-ASROC missiles, two Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher SSM, one Mark 45 5/54 in (127/54 mm) naval gun, two 25 mm chain gun, four .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns, two 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Close-In Weapon Systems, and Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes.
The Arleigh Burke-class also called DDG 51 is a guided missile destroyer that provides multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities. Destroyers can operate independently or as part of carrier strike groups, surface action groups, amphibious ready groups, and underway replenishment groups.
