History
John Hancock was laid down on 16 January 1976 by Ingalls Shipbuilding, in Pascagoula, Miss.; launched on 29 October 1977; and commissioned on 10 March 1979. John Hancock was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and homeported at Naval Station Mayport, Florida
Following commissioning, John Hancock proceeded to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a 'shakedown' cruise and began making routine deployments. In April 1988 John Hancock provided support in the Persian Gulf for Operation Earnest Will during a 6 month deployment and was near the point where the USS Stark was hit with two Exocet missiles launched by an Iraqi Air Force aircraft in 1987.
In 1991, John Hancock deployed with the USS America Carrier Battle Group to the North Atlantic for two months in support of Operation North Star '91.
In March 1994, while deployed in the Red Sea, John Hancock, rendered assistance to a wounded Filipino sailor on board a merchant vessel. Shortly thereafter, John Hancock reached a milestone, while conducting multi-national maritime interdiction operations (MIO) to enforce United Nations sanctions against Iraq. On 1 April 1994, a team of U.S. Navy ships -- John Hancock, Carr, Underwood and Taylor along with an embarked United States Coast Guard boarding team—intercepted the 20,000th ship since sanctions were put into place in August 1990.
As part of a reorganization announced in July 1995 of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet's surface combatant ships into six core battle groups, nine destroyer squadrons, and a new Western Hemisphere Group, John Hancock was reassigned to Destroyer Squadron 24 (DESRON 24). The re-organization was to be phased in over the summer and take effect 31 August 1995, with homeport shifts occurring through 1998.
As a precautionary measure against oncoming Hurricane Fran, John Hancock was one of 13 Navy ships sent to sea in September 1996. The hurricane was heading, at the time, for the southeast coast of Florida with winds gusting up to 120 mph.
In 1996, John Hancock, along with USS Wasp, USS Carl Vinson, USS Anchorage, and USS George Washington, were selected to serve as test platforms for the P2 afloat program, after studies at Navy installations indicated that a large quantity of a naval base's toxic material and hazardous waste originated from ships floating material they had accumulated and stored during deployment. The P2 Afloat Program aims to reduce hazardous material procurement costs for ships, improve safety and health aboard ship, improve quality of life, and reduce operation and support costs.
On 29 April 1997, John Hancock departed for a six-month overseas deployment as part of the USS John F. Kennedy carrier battle group (CVBG). Also departing was the USS Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG). The CVBG was to relieve the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVBG, which had been operating in the Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf since the previous November. The John F. Kennedy CVBG and Kearsarge ARG completed a Joint Task Force Exercise(JTFEX) the month prior, the culmination of about six months of pre-deployment training and work-ups. The joint service exercise included surveillance, rescue, humanitarian assistance, maritime interdiction, embassy support and non-combatant evacuation operations, all of which had been recently performed by Navy and United States Marine Corps units deployed overseas.
In August 1997, John Hancock deployed to the coast of Tunisia to participate in Exercise NADOR 97-3. John Hancock was also there in March for NADOR 97-2. For NADOR 97-3, the John Hancock crew operated with two Tunisian combatant patrol boats and increased the level of difficulty. They conducted air and high speed surface gunnery exercises, air tracking and engagement simulations, and free-play "encounter" exercises. John Hancock also performed a maritime interdiction demonstration on board the two patrol boats. Simulating merchant vessels, the patrol boats were queried using the bridge-to-bridge radio. After evaluating the suspect merchants' answers, John Hancock's boarding team was sent to each vessel using a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB). The boarding team inspected each merchant's manifest and cargo, and directed the suspect vessel to continue on its journey or divert to the nearest port for a full inspection of cargo.
With the John F. Kennedy CVBG, John Hancock in July participated in the U.S. 6th Fleet Exercise Invitex, involving 12 nations. During Invitex, allied forces, including 13,000 U.S. sailors and marines, were challenged to effectively manage the way they communicate and act upon operational information as it is processed and distributed to allied decision-makers. It also took part in NATO'S Exercise Dynamic Mix, from 23 September though 7 October which placed the John F. Kennedy Battle Group units on opposing sides. That exercise was designed to increase task force and unit readiness as forces implemented NATO strategy and doctrine.
John Hancock returned home on 28 October after six months of operating in the Mediterranean Sea and the Adriatic Sea in support of Operation Deliberate Guard and the Persian Gulf supporting Operation Southern Watch.
John Hancock took part in the sixth International Naval Review (INR) in New York City from 3 July to 9 July 2000.
Read more about this topic: USS John Hancock (DD-981)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“He wrote in prison, not a History of the World, like Raleigh, but an American book which I think will live longer than that. I do not know of such words, uttered under such circumstances, and so copiously withal, in Roman or English or any history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)