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USS John S. McCain (DDG 56)

USS JOHN S. McCain is an ARLEIGH BURKE - class guided missile destroyer and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name However, DDG 56 is the first ship to honor three members of the McCain family: John S. McCain, Sr.; John S. McCain, Jr. and John S. McCain III.

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Crew List:

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

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

Dark blue and gold, the colors traditionally associated with the Navy and represent the sea and excellence; red is emblematic of courage and sacrifice. The three sections of the shield honor the famous navy family, the McCains. The crossed sabers symbolize strength, unity and cooperation, while honoring the naval heritage of the McCain family.

The oriental deagon is symbolic of "good fortune", is known for its bravery, resourcfulness and dedication. It is also dangerously armed and able to strike quickly with deadly accurace, recalling the family's participation in support of the Pacific theater in World War II.

The trident symbolizes sea prowess while alluding to the modern weapons of USS John S. McCain: the Verticle Launch and AEGIS systems; while the three tines represent anti-submarine, -surface, and -air warfare. The eagle denotes strength, vigilance and the principles of freedom. The broken chain highlghts breaking the grip of tyranny in World War II by US forces. The palm, indigenous to the Pacific, is expressive of victory.

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History of USS JOHN S. McCAIN:

USS JOHN S. McCAIN entered the Navy's rolls after a compressed three-year build at Bath Iron Works: her keel was laid on September 3, 1991, she was launched on September 26, 1992 with Cindy McCain as sponsor, and she was commissioned at Bath on July 2, 1994, with former President George H. W. Bush speaking at the ceremony. The Flight I destroyer joined the Atlantic Fleet and then shifted to the Pacific, completing post-shakedown trials and work-ups for a first long deployment.

Her maiden cruise ran from November 10, 1995 through May 10, 1996, split between Fifth and Seventh Fleet waters. The itinerary - Kochi, India; Fremantle and Newcastle in Australia; and Suva, Fiji - framed a deployment that also touched the Northern Arabian Gulf for maritime security and sanctions enforcement in the wake of the 1991 cease-fire with Iraq, an era when U.S. surface units routinely conducted maritime interception operations under United Nations mandates. Liberty ports included Dubai over Christmas week before the ship exited the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz.

After returning to Pearl Harbor, the destroyer was reassigned forward: in late June 1997 she arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, to become part of the Seventh Fleet's permanently deployed surface force. Within months the ship reflected the period's cautious U.S.-China naval engagement - making an October 1997 visit to Qingdao during a year that saw reciprocal events and high-level diplomacy - while maintaining a steady tempo of Western Pacific patrols and exercises.

By 1998, she was back in the Arabian Gulf for boarding operations and sanctions enforcement in the run-up to Operation Desert Fox. Photographs from that spring show a JOHN S. McCAIN visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team inspecting documents during a maritime interception, the routine centerpiece of the Navy's post-1991 Gulf presence. She closed the decade alternating deterrence and engagement patrols in Northeast and Southeast Asia from her Yokosuka base.

On March 2, 1999, the destroyer got underway with the KITTY HAWK (CV 63) battle group for a three-month Western Pacific deployment that opened with Exercise Tandem Thrust off Guam. As the Kosovo crisis unfolded in Europe and Iraq remained under post-Gulf-War sanctions, the group was redirected to the Arabian Gulf to enforce the Southern Watch no-fly regime, then turned home across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, making port calls in Perth, Australia, and Pattaya, Thailand, before returning to Yokosuka on August 25, 1999. After a short upkeep, the ship again headed north on October 22 to the Sea of Japan to participate alongside U.S. and Japanese forces in FOAL EAGLE and the bilateral fleet exercise ANNUALEX 11G, the principal alliance training event focused on Japan's maritime defense.

In 2000, the carrier group left Yokosuka on April 11 for a spring underway that culminated in COBRA GOLD, May 9-23, a Thai-U.S.-Singapore exercise emphasizing joint air-sea coordination and amphibious operations, before the force returned to Japan on June 5. In the fall, the group sortied again on September 26 to work up for FOAL EAGLE (October 24-November 1) and ANNUALEX 12G (November 10-17), as well as KEEN SWORD, with JOHN S. MCCAIN operating among a large Seventh Fleet ensemble that included USS CHANCELLORSVILLE (CG 62), USS COWPENS (CG 63), USS VINCENNES (CG 49), USS CUSHING (DD 985), USS VANDEGRIFT (FFG 48), USS GARY (FFG 51) and others around Japan. During FOAL EAGLE that spring, JOHN S. MCCAIN also served as the Maritime Air Support Operations Center (MASOC) for the Sea of Japan before handing the role over to USS COWPENS on March 26, highlighting the destroyer's ability to coordinate air-maritime tasking in a high-threat theater against the backdrop of North Korean missile development and infiltration scenarios.

On March 2, 2001, the KITTY HAWK group again deployed, and from May 10 the force executed Tandem Thrust 2001 in and around Australia, a complex crisis-response and amphibious rehearsal with U.S., Australian and Canadian forces. JOHN S. MCCAIN took part as a KITTY HAWK escort. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 triggered a rapid Seventh Fleet re-posturing: the carrier herself sailed for the Arabian Sea to support the opening phase of Operation Enduring Freedom with a special operations air group. Open records for the destroyer in the final quarter of 2001 are sparse. While the carrier operated in the north Arabian Sea, JOHN S. MCCAIN remained forward deployed in the Western Pacific maintaining tasking under Commander, Task Force 70, preserving regional presence and readiness during a period of heightened alert on the Korean Peninsula and in the East China Sea.

The ship's 2002 calendar year began in upkeep at Yokosuka, followed by early-year weapons workups in the Okinawa operating areas that included a missile exercise and naval surface fire support shoots to keep air-defense and gunnery teams sharp. In the spring and summer the destroyer pushed west with other Seventh Fleet combatants into Fifth Fleet waters for maritime interdiction operations tied to the UN sanctions regime then in force against Iraq and to broader post-9/11 maritime security aims. Contemporary command histories record JOHN S. MCCAIN conducting maneuvering drills and small-boat operations with USS HOPPER (DDG 70), sailing in company with USS CUSHING (DD 985) and logistics ship USNS NIAGARA FALLS (T-AFS 3), working through Singapore and the Strait of Malacca, making a brief logistics stop at Colombo, Sri Lanka, and subsequently operating out of Manama, Bahrain with Coast Guard law-enforcement detachments embarked for boarding operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf. Across May-August, the destroyer's pattern included repeated Straits of Hormuz transits, replenishments with U.S. and allied oilers (including JDS TOKIWA and HMCS PROTECTEUR), deck-landing qualifications, and integrated air-defense and gunnery events while rotating on and off maritime interception patrol stations - an operational tempo shaped by enforcement of sanctions on Iraq and coalition presence missions in the lead-up to war.

On January 21, 2003, JOHN S. MCCAIN emergency-deployed with KITTY HAWK and COWPENS toward the Persian Gulf as the U.S.-led coalition moved from coercive diplomacy to the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Once on station the destroyer became a frequent Tomahawk shooter, launching on multiple nights over a two-week span and, in one instance, taking a full salvo when a planned submarine launch fell through. In parallel, two embarked small-boat teams from the ship shifted ashore to operate at the mouth of the Khor Abd Allah leading to Umm Qasr, where, under an Australian commander and supported from the Polish support ship ORP CZERNICKI, they helped clear hazards and safeguard humanitarian shipping into Iraq's only deep-water port. The deployment closed with a Straits of Hormuz egress and homecoming to Yokosuka on May 6, 2003, after which the crew began a maintenance reset and training stand-down.

Training cycles and alliance exercises dominated 2004-2005. At sea on February 6, 2004, the destroyer fired an SM-2 surface-to-air missile during a live exercise off Okinawa - one of a series of Aegis air-defense events run to maintain weapons-system proficiency across the forward-deployed force. In 2005, the ship earned the Navy's James F. Chezek Memorial Gunnery Award for excellence in naval surface fire support, reflecting sustained team performance in shore-fire qualification shoots. That same mid-decade period also saw the crew earn repeated Battle "E" recognition at the DESRON/Seventh Fleet level as the unit refined anti-submarine, anti-surface and air-defense tactics with Japanese and Korean partners during recurrent fall ANNUALEX iterations and Korea-focused spring evolutions. These activities unfolded against wider regional concerns - from DPRK ballistic-missile testing to cross-strait tensions - that kept combined air and maritime defense skills at a premium.

In June 2006, JOHN S. MCCAIN took part in VALIANT SHIELD 2006 around Guam - the first in a new series of large, joint U.S. Pacific war games and the first time in a decade that three carrier strike groups maneuvered together at sea. As part of the KITTY HAWK team with USS LASSEN (DDG 82) and USS COWPENS (CG 63), the destroyer ran demanding anti-submarine and air-defense problems, including defending a 60-by-60-nautical-mile box against multiple "hostile" submarines. The exercise also coincided with rising tensions over North Korean missile activity, underscoring the deterrent signaling inherent in massed joint training.

Through 2007 and 2008, the ship remained a high-tempo contributor to Seventh Fleet operations from Japan, balancing local underway periods, alliance training, and upkeep. On February 16, 2007, JOHN S. MCCAIN received the 2006 Battle Effectiveness Award, a fleet-level recognition of sustained combat readiness across combat systems, engineering, navigation/seamanship, and command excellence. While detailed day-by-day public logs for these two years are limited, the destroyer's pattern tracked the forward-deployed playbook: Multi-Sail workups out of Okinawa and Guam, bilateral and trilateral anti-submarine and air-defense events with the JMSDF and ROK Navy, and fall ANNUALEX serials around Japan, all against the strategic backdrop of North Korean nuclear and missile testing and ongoing coalition operations farther west.

In early 2009, the ship entered the spring exercise window that included the alliance command-post drill Key Resolve alongside the field-training portion Foal Eagle (late February into March), part of the annual Korean-Peninsula readiness cycle. Three months later, on June 11, 2009, while towing its multifunction towed-array sonar in the South China Sea near the Philippines, JOHN S. MCCAIN's array was struck and damaged by a Chinese submarine in what both sides later characterized as an inadvertent close-quarters encounter. The destroyer proceeded to Sasebo for inspection and follow-on repairs to the array. As the UN tightened sanctions on North Korea after a May nuclear test, the ship was then tasked in June to shadow the North Korean general cargo vessel KANG NAM 1 suspected of carrying proscribed arms toward Myanmar, an early, visible test of the new interdiction regime. The freighter ultimately turned back without reaching its reported destination. The period closed on a public-engagement note when the destroyer berthed at Yokohama's international passenger terminal and opened to visitors on July 22, 2009, as part of celebrations marking the port's 150th anniversary - an outreach interlude between two very different security-focused tasks.

Amid the tense aftermath of the ROKS CHEONAN sinking and North Korean artillery attacks in 2010, JOHN S. McCAIN joined anti-submarine and deterrence drills with South Korea and U.S. units including USS FITZGERALD (DDG 62), USNS VICTORIOUS (T-AGOS 19), a fast-attack submarine, and P-3C patrol aircraft - sea control training calibrated to signal allied resolve while refining combined prosecution of underwater threats.

When the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11, 2011, the destroyer operated off northeastern Honshu with USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76) and other Seventh Fleet ships during Operation Tomodachi. Over subsequent days the task force delivered hundreds of tons of relief supplies, flew search-and-rescue profiles, and supported Japanese Self-Defense Force aviation from the carrier deck - an alliance demonstration with more than 20 ships at peak.

In 2013 and 2014, JOHN S. McCAIN cycled back to the Korean theater amid renewed DPRK provocations and then south to the Philippines for CARAT 2014. She moored at Subic Bay on June 26-27, worked at-sea interoperability drills with the Philippine Navy, and hosted the series' closing aboard on July 1, part of the annual Southeast Asian training arc aimed at small-unit maritime security skills, boarding practice, and communications procedures.

An extended dry-dock selected restricted availability at Yokosuka filled early 2016, with the destroyer in Dry Dock 6 in January for hull, machinery, and combat-systems maintenance that reset the platform for a heavy engagement year. She resumed operations that spring and, on September 28, 2016, entered Da Nang for the U.S.-Vietnam Naval Engagement Activity. After several days of professional exchanges and at-sea CUES communications and search-and-rescue drills, she and USS FRANK CABLE (AS 40) made a landmark port call to Cam Ranh Bay on October 2 - the first U.S. warships to visit the base since 1975 - reflecting deepening defense ties in the South China Sea's strategic geography.

Through early 2017, the ship patrolled the South China Sea and made another call to Cam Ranh in May. By August, she was back on freedom-of-navigation profiles. On August 10, 2017, she conducted a FONOP near Mischief Reef in the Spratlys, challenging excessive maritime claims. Eleven days later, at 5:24 a.m. on August 21, the destroyer collided with the tanker ALNIC MC east of the Strait of Malacca while transiting the westbound lane of the Singapore Strait's traffic scheme. The impact holed the port side, flooding machinery and berthing compartments. Ten sailors died. After initial stabilization at Changi Naval Base, JOHN S. McCAIN was loaded aboard the heavy-lift ship MV TREASURE on October 6-7 and carried to Subic Bay and onward to Yokosuka, arriving December 13 to begin repairs at the Ship Repair Facility-Japan Regional Maintenance Center.

While pier-side in Japan, the ship's namesake was formally expanded on July 11, 2018, to honor Senator John S. McCain III alongside his father and grandfather, both Four-Star admirals, an unusual tri-generational recognition that reflected service across three eras of Pacific strategy. Structural and systems work continued into late 2018, with images documenting undocking on November 27 and a cautious return to sea for trials on October 28, 2019 - the first underway since the collision - before resuming a full operational slate.

On November 24, 2020, the destroyer executed a freedom-of-navigation operation in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan, to challenge Russia's historic-waters claim. Seventh Fleet emphasized the transit remained in international waters consistent with the Law of the Sea. A month later, on December 22, 2020, she conducted another FONOP in the Spratly Islands to contest unlawful restrictions asserted by China, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

The ship transited the Taiwan Strait on February 4, 2021, under routine rules, demonstrating high-seas freedom at a time of increased PLA air and naval activity. Later that year, the Navy ended her 24-year forward-deployment to Japan: JOHN S. McCAIN departed Yokosuka on September 17 for a scheduled homeport shift and arrived at Naval Station Everett, Washington, in October, joining Third Fleet after nearly a quarter-century of Seventh Fleet duty.

With the homeport change complete, she operated in the North Pacific and Alaska approaches. On August 6-7, 2023, as Chinese and Russian forces conducted a combined surface patrol near the Aleutians, the U.S. dispatched four destroyers - JOHN S. McCAIN, BENFOLD (DDG 65), JOHN FINN (DDG 113), and CHUNG-HOON (DDG 93) - plus a P-8A patrol aircraft, which monitored the foreign formation until it left the area without incident, a signaling move consistent with increased great-power maritime activity in the Arctic gateway.

Coming out of local 3rd Fleet underway periods in March 2024, JOHN S. McCAIN joined the THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) Carrier Strike Group (CSG-9) for an eight-month deployment that would span the 3rd, 5th, and 7th Fleet areas. In the Pacific during March 2024, the ship executed routine readiness work: a Mark 45 5-inch live-fire on March 5, 2024 while operating under 3rd Fleet, and RHIB small-boat operations on March 11, 2024. Late in the month, deck operations and small-arms shoots continued as she shifted west toward the Indo-Pacific. By mid-April, the destroyer was in U.S. 5th Fleet. On April 15, 2024, she conducted a live-fire event in the Arabian Sea. On April 18, she was photographed preparing for flight ops in the Gulf of Oman. After a short sea period, she shifted pier-side in Manama, Bahrain for maintenance and logistics April 23-26 - including a MK-46 torpedo hoist and harbor movements with a pilot - and on May 1 ran visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) training with U.S. Coast Guard personnel.

Through June 2024, JOHN S. McCAIN operated in the Arabian Gulf, with dated imagery from June 10 and June 14 documenting routine evolutions on station; additional photos show ship-preservation work in Manama on June 27. On July 12, 2024, the THEODORE ROOSEVELT CSG conducted cooperative operations with the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean, part of the strike group's wider theater engagement.

During the deployment the Navy relieved JOHN S. McCAIN's commanding officer in Manama on August 30, 2024, citing a loss of confidence. The service noted there was no impact to the ship's mission or schedule. After redeployment across the Pacific with CSG-9, JOHN S. McCAIN returned to Everett on October 31, 2024, closing out an eight-month cruise that included port time in Bahrain and sustained sea time across the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Arabian Gulf.

For 2025, the ship's headline tasking is deep maintenance. NAVSEA awarded Vigor Marine (Portland, Oregon) a firm-fixed-price DSRA contract for JOHN S. McCAIN on August 28, 2024, with place of performance in Portland and expected completion by November 2025. Procurement notes describe the availability as roughly nine months, beginning in February 2025. Contracting records show early-2025 modifications consistent with work commencing. While in Portland, the crew also supported local civic events during the Portland Rose Festival in late May.

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Homeports of USS JOHN S. McCAIN:

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Accidents aboard USS JOHN S. McCAIN:

Date	Where	Events
August 21, 2017	east off Singapore	USS JOHN S. McCAIN collides with the Liberian-flagged 600-foot oil and chemical tanker (gross tonnage of 30,000) ALNIC MC while underway to Singapore for a port visit. The collision was reported at 5:24 a.m. local time. Significant damage to JOHN S. McCAIN's hull resulted in flooding to nearby compartments, including crew berthing, machinery, and communications rooms. Damage control efforts by the crew halted further flooding. There are currently 10 sailors missing and five injured. Four of the injured were medically evacuated by a Singapore Armed Forces helicopter to a hospital in Singapore for non-life threatening injuries. The fifth injured sailor did not require further medical attention. No injuries were reported aboard the ALNIC MC. Following the collision, the JOHN S. McCAIN sailed under her own power to Changi Naval Base in Singapore arriving there a few hours later. At that point, no fuel or oil was visible on the water's surface near the ship. ALNIC MC also continued to Singapore under her own power. Search and rescue efforts continue in coordination with local authorities. The Republic of Singapore patrol ships RSS GALLANT (97), RSS RESILIENCE (82), and Singaporean Police Coast Guard vessel BASKING SHARK (55) are in the area rendering assistance. Additionally, MH-60S helicopters and MV-22 Ospreys from the amphibious assault ship USS AMERICA (LHA 6) are in the area providing search and rescue assistance.          On August 24, Navy and Marine Corps divers recovered and identified two of the missing sailors while the search for the eight other missing sailors continued in flooded compartments of the ship.

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About the Ship's Name:

The original namesakes of USS JOHN S. McCAIN are two McCains, John Sidney Sr., and John Sydney Jr., both served in World War II and both were Navy Admirals.

John Sidney Sr. graduated from Annapolis in 1906 and was sent to the Asiatic where he served on the battleship OHIO, the cruiser BALTIMORE, the destroyer CHAUNCEY, and the gunboat PANAY. He was on the CONNECTICUT, one of Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet. McCain escorted convoys during World War I. In 1936, McCain, as a Captain, became a naval aviator.

John Sidney Sr., went on to command two naval air stations and the carrier USS RANGER, and was promoted to Rear Admiral in Feb. 1941. In May 1942 he became the commander of all land-based naval aircraft in the South Pacific. After a stint in Washington as Chief of Naval Aeronautics, where he was promoted to Vice Admiral, McCain Sr. was sent back to the Pacific in the Summer of 1944, as Commander of the Second Fast Carrier Force in the Pacific and Task Force 38.1. Three months later he took over Task Force 38. He was awarded the Navy Cross for defending the crippled cruisers HOUSTON and CANBERRA. McCain was present on the USS MISSOURI as the instruments of surrender were signed in August 1945. At the end of his career he was an Admiral.

John S. Jr., entered Annapolis at the age of 16, in 1927. He graduated in 1931 and was sent to the battleship OKLAHOMA. After being turned down for flight school due to a heart murmur, McCain applied to submarine school where he later graduated. McCain went on to teach at Annapolis.

After the start of World War II McCain went on to command three different submarines in the Pacific, where he won the Silver Star and Bronze Star for his achievements. Following the war, McCain went on to command a submarine division and other various duties. He ultimately reached the rank of Admiral, and went on to command Amphibious Forces Atlantic, was Military Representative to the United Nations, was Commander Naval Forces Europe, and from 1968 to 1972 was CINCPAC.

On July 11, 2018, just 1 1/2 months before he died, at a rededication ceremony, Senator John McCain was added as a namesake, along with his father and grandfather.

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USS JOHN S. McCAIN Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Shiu On Yee during USS JOHN S. McCAIN's port visit to Hong Kong June 16 - 20, 2014, while the ship was assigned to the USS George Washington (CVN 73) Strike Group.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the USS JOHN S. McCAIN at Yokosuka, Japan, on August 3, 2019.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the USS JOHN S. McCAIN at Naval Station Everett, Wash., on June 12, 2022.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on June 9 and 10, 2023, and show USS JOHN S. McCAIN (DDG 56) during the Rose Festival in Portland, Or.

			Click here for more Photos.

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