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USS John Finn (DDG 113)

USS JOHN FINN is one of the Navy's ARLEIGH BURKE Flight IIA guided missile destroyers and the first ship in the Navy named after Lt. John Finn who was the first Medal of Honor recipient of World War II. USS JOHN FINN is the first ship built with the Aegis Baseline 9 Weapon System that allows simultaneous air warfare and ballistic missile defense capability.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS JOHN FINN. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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• Click here to see which USS JOHN FINN memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

The Shield:

Dark blue and gold are the colors of the United States Navy. The shield’s elements are counterchanged to keep them dominant. The seven aerial bombs represent the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941). The three black chevronelles allude to John Finn’s Navy Chief Petty Officer rank, and the color black recalls that he was the last living Medal of Honor recipient from the Pearl Harbor attack. The trident represents naval authority, and the three spikes stand for the ship’s multi-mission capability. The blue barbed shamrock against the yellow field represents John Finn’s naval career and his lineage as a tough American-Irishman who embodied the motto, “Status Et Pugno” (Stand Fast and Fight).

The Crest:

The anchor, the color and stars on the winged bomb, and the superimposed star on the bomb are elements representing the Navy Medal of Honor. (As a Chief Petty Officer, John Finn received this award at the start of WWII.) The winged bomb symbolizes John Finn’s rating of chief aviation ordnance man stationed at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay. The 50-caliber rounds recall his manning a machine gun from an exposed position throughout the attack on 7 December 1941. The winged bomb also represents that DDG 113 is the first ship built with the Aegis Baseline 9 Weapon System that allows simultaneous air warfare and ballistic missile defense capability. The twelve shamrocks recall CPO Finn’s Irish heritage and the numerous times he was hit by enemy fire.

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About the Ship's Namesake:

Chief Finn’s heroism and bravery earned him the first Medal of Honor to be awarded in World War II. On September 15, 1942, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz awarded him the Medal of Honor for his “magnificent courage in the face of almost certain death.”

John William Finn was born on July 24, 1909 in Los Angeles, California. He enlisted in the navy just before his seventeenth birthday in July 1926. After briefly working with a ceremonial guard company, he attended General Aviation Utilities Training, initially working in aircraft repair and later became an Aviation Ordnanceman, working on anti-aircraft guns. By 1935, he had risen to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, just nine years after enlisting.

Once Chief Finn was officially an Aviation Ordnanceman, he deployed aboard USS LEXINGTON (CV 2). Following his tour with LEXINGTON, Chief Finn moved on to be a part of the precommissioning crew with USS HOUSTON (CA 30). Chief Finn also served aboard USS JASON (AC 12), USS SARATOGA (CV 3), and the USS CINCINNATI (CL 6). He then transferred to shore duty with Patrol Squadron Fourteen/Forty-Five in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Just before 8 o’clock in the morning on December 7, 1941, Chief Finn, who was in bed with his wife, Alice, heard the sound of low-flying aircraft and machine guns. On his way to the hangars, he caught sight of Japanese planes in the sky attacking the base. Chief Finn grabbed a 50-caliber machine gun and mounted it on an improvised tripod and set it up in an open area near a runway and began firing. After two and a half hours of shooting at Japanese Zeroes, Chief Finn had sustained over twenty injuries, including a bullet wound in his left arm; a broken left foot; shrapnel to his chest, stomach, right elbow and thumb; and a laceration to his scalp. Chief Finn did not leave his post until he received direct orders to go seek medical attention. He put himself back into the fight after receiving emergency treatment by rearming planes as they returned.

Chief Finn’s heroism and bravery earned him the first Medal of Honor to be awarded in World War II. On September 15, 1942, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz awarded him the Medal of Honor for his “magnificent courage in the face of almost certain death.”

In June 1942, Chief Finn was temporarily commissioned as an Ensign, rising in rank to Lieutenant two years later serving with Bombing Squadron 102 aboard the USS HANCOCK (CV 19). Following his transfer to the Fleet Reserve in March 1947, he reverted to the enlisted rate of Chief Petty Officer. In September 1956, he was placed on the retired list as a Lieutenant.

After the military, Chief Finn moved to a ranch near Pine Valley, California with his wife and son. He and his wife fostered five Native American children which led to them being honored by the Diegueno tribe.

Chief Finn passed away at the age of 100 on May 27, 2010 in a veteran’s home in Chula Vista, California. He was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the attack on Pearl Harbor, the oldest living recipient, and the only Aviation Ordnanceman to have ever received the medal.

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USS JOHN FINN History:

USS JOHN FINN was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding at Pascagoula, Mississippi. Ingalls authenticated the keel on November 4, 2013, with sponsor Laura Elizabeth Stavridis presiding; the ship entered the water on March 28, 2015, and was christened on May 2, 2015. After a series of builder's and acceptance trials, Ingalls delivered JOHN FINN to the Navy on December 7, 2016 - symbolically the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack that made the namesake famous. The pre-commissioning crew moved aboard on February 28, 2017, and the ship was commissioned at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on July 15, 2017, before shifting to its initial home port of San Diego for post-delivery workups.

Through 2017 and 2018, JOHN FINN conducted shakedown, basic phase training, and fleet integration along the Southern California operating areas, punctuated by routine port calls in San Diego as the crew refined air, surface, and undersea warfare certifications typical of a first-of-class "restart" Flight IIA destroyer. By January 2019, the ship's timeline shows specialized work such as deperming at Naval Base Point Loma, followed by additional local operations that set the stage for expeditionary tasking with carrier strike forces.

In 2020, the destroyer shifted from routine fleet integration to a landmark ballistic-missile defense event. On November 16, 2020, while operating northeast of Hawaii, JOHN FINN launched an SM-3 Block IIA interceptor and - during Flight Test Aegis Weapon System-44 (FTM-44) - destroyed a threat-representative ICBM-class target fired earlier from Kwajalein Atoll. The Missile Defense Agency and Navy described the developmental shot as the first successful intercept of an ICBM-class target by an SM-3 Block IIA and the first such intercept executed from a ship, a data point relevant to debates about a layered homeland defense "underlay".

Soon after, JOHN FINN deployed for the first time with the THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) Carrier Strike Group, getting underway on December 23, 2020. Early in that cruise, the strike group conducted bilateral training with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on January 15, 2021, underscoring alliance deterrence messaging amid regional frictions. From January 31 to February 4, the strike group made a port call in Guam, a critical logistics hub that supported maintenance and crew rest under COVID-19 protocols then in effect. On March 10, 2021 (local time), operating independently within the strike group's broader plan, JOHN FINN transited the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, one of several U.S. passages intended to signal support for navigational freedoms during a period of heightened cross-Strait tensions. The ship returned to San Diego from its maiden deployment on April 2, 2021.

After continued West Coast operations through 2022, the Navy executed a major posture change: JOHN FINN shifted its home port from San Diego to Yokosuka, Japan, arriving March 4, 2023, to join Commander, Task Force 71/Destroyer Squadron 15 - the forward-deployed surface force of Seventh Fleet. From that base the destroyer quickly settled into a tempo of exercises, patrols, and theater-security cooperation. Its 2023 movements included a July 20 port visit to Busan, Republic of Korea, reflecting trilateral U.S.-Japan-ROK coordination emerging from summit-level commitments, and operations around Japan interspersed with a five-day call at Sasebo after activity in the Sea of Japan. A change-of-command ceremony at Yokosuka on September 20 marked the ship's maturation within the forward-deployed community.

Operating under Seventh Fleet in 2024, JOHN FINN figured prominently in several high-visibility transits and engagements. On January 24, 2024, it conducted a Taiwan Strait transit shortly after elections in Taiwan, and on March 5 executed a south-to-north passage through the strait, both presented by the Navy as routine and lawful. Between these transits the ship worked at sea with the JMSDF in the South China Sea, training alongside JS SHIMAKAZE (DDG 172) and JS SUZUNAMI (DD 114), a bilateral event nested in wider U.S.-Japan posture updates. During this period JOHN FINN also made a port visit to Pattaya, Thailand (February 25-29), underscoring long-standing U.S.-Thai naval ties and engagement with Southeast Asian partners.

The destroyer's 2025 slate further reflected its role as a forward presence ship. In late August it entered Jakarta, Indonesia, for a five-day port visit tied to Super Garuda Shield 25, a large Indonesia-led, U.S.-supported multilateral exercise that showcases growing U.S.-Indonesia defense cooperation and broader Indo-Pacific networked security. Departing Jakarta on August 29, the ship returned to sea for follow-on events. The next month, September 11-13, JOHN FINN operated with JS OSUMI (LST 4001) and BRP JOSE RIZAL (FF 150) during a Japan-Philippines-U.S. Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity inside the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone, an evolution explicitly framed by the participants as demonstrating interoperability and support for a free and open Indo-Pacific amid ongoing South China Sea disputes.

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Homeports of USS JOHN FINN:

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USS JOHN FINN Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by Sebastian Thoma and shows the JOHN FINN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on November 10, 2017.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the JOHN FINN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on March 2, 2019.

The photos below were taken by Sebastian Thoma and show the JOHN FINN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on November 28 and November 29 (aerial photos), 2021.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the JOHN FINN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 28, 2021.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the JOHN FINN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on May 29, 2022. Note the name "Alice" on the 5-inch mount.

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