Image source: topwar.ru
In December, the USS Shoup arrived at the Japanese base in Yokosuka to replace the US Navy missile destroyer USS Barry earlier than the average time for rotation.
This signals that the US Navy is accelerating the rotation of its ships, sending the most capable ships to the Indo-Pacific region as tensions rise in the Taiwan Strait. The replacement USS Barry USS Shoup is the Flight IIA version of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, equipped with two helicopter hangars that can accommodate the MH-60 Seahawk, the U.S. Navy's primary submarine chaser.
The USS Barry, commissioned in December 1992, is one of the oldest destroyers of the US Navy in service. It was the second ship of the Arleigh-Burke class after the lead ship USS Arleigh Burke.
These ships were the world's first destroyers equipped with the AEGIS weapon system — a combination of powerful computers and radars for tracking and targeting weapons to defeat enemy targets.
Gary Roghead, one of the first commanders of the USS Barry, said.
The USS Barry will now move to Everett, Washington, where the ship will undergo scheduled maintenance. Later, he will join the 31st destroyer Squadron Ke Koa O Ke Kai ("Warriors of the Sea"), based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
According to the Navy, during her stay in Yokosuka, the USS Barry participated in seven Allied and coalition exercises, 12 visits to foreign ports and traveled hundreds of thousands of nautical miles.
