USS Mason (DDG-87)

USS Mason (DDG-87) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy.

Homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, USS Mason is the 37th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and the ninth of the Flight IIA variant. She was commissioned in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in April 2003. Her first captain was Commander David Gale.

This is the third ship with the name USS Mason. The first Mason (DD-191), in service from 1920 to 1941, was named for John Young Mason, well known for his service as the Secretary of the Navy for two American Presidents. The second Mason (DE-529) was named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason, a Naval Aviator who was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. This ship is named for the crew of the second Mason (DE-529) as this was the first ship in the US Navy with this distinction of a predominantly black crew.

Ship history

USS Mason conducted her maiden deployment with the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in late 2004. Mason returned home after six months on 18 April 2005.

USS Mason

USS Mason has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to:

USS Mason (DD-191)

USS Mason (DD-191) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Broadwater (H81).

As USS Mason

The first Navy ship named for Secretary of the Navy John Y. Mason (1799–1859), Mason was laid down by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, 10 July 1918; launched 8 March 1919; sponsored by Miss Mary Mason Williams, great-granddaughter of Secretary Mason and commissioned at Norfolk Navy Yard 28 February 1920, Lieutenant Carl F. Holden temporarily in command until Lieutenant Commander Hartwell C. Davis took command 8 March.

On 17 July Mason was designated DD-191. After shakedown off Norfolk, Virginia, she operated along the east coast for the next 2 years until she sailed for Philadelphia. As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty of 6 February 1922 limiting naval armament, the destroyer was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard 3 July 1922.

As HMS Broadwater

After World War II broke out in Europe, Mason recommissioned 4 December 1939. Under terms of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement of 2 September 1940, she became one of 50 overage ships of this class turned over to United Kingdom in exchange for 99-year leases on strategic bases in the Western Hemisphere. Mason arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2 October; decommissioned 8 October 1940; and was transferred to the British Royal Navy as HMS Broadwater with the pennant number H81 the next day.

USS Mason (DE-529)

USS Mason (DE-529), an Evarts-class destroyer escort, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named Mason, though DE-529 was the only one specifically named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason. The USS Mason was one of two US Navy ships with largely African-American crews in World War II. The other was the USS PC-1264, a submarine chaser. These two ships were manned with African Americans as the result of a letter sent to President Roosevelt by the NAACP in mid-December 1941.

Her keel was laid down in the Boston Navy Yard, on 14 October 1943. She was launched on 17 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. David Mason, the mother of Ensign Mason, and commissioned on 20 March 1944, with Lt. Commander William M. Blackford, USNR, in command.

Following a shakedown cruise off Bermuda, the Mason departed from Charleston, South Carolina, on 14 June, escorting a convoy bound for Europe, arriving at Horta Harbor, Azores, on 6 July. She got underway from Belfast, Northern Ireland, headed for the East Coast on 26 July, arriving at Boston Harbor on 2 August for convoy duty off the harbor through August.