Есмінець USS John Young (DD-973)

USS John Young (DD-973), honoring Captain John Young, USN, represented a Spruance-class destroyer within the United States Navy, crafted by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

In 1987, John Young ventured off the Iranian coast to support Operation Earnest Will and was part of Operation Nimble Archer. Sailing alongside Battle Group Echo, which encompassed the aircraft carrier Ranger, battleship Missouri, cruisers Long Beach, Bunker Hill, destroyers Leftwich and Hoel, frigates Curts, Harold E. Holt, Robert E. Peary, Schofield, and auxiliaries Shasta, Wichita, Kansas City, and Hassayampa.

After Congressional approval, John Young became one of eight combat ships to integrate female crewmembers starting in 1994.

As part of the Pacific Fleet's restructuring into six core battle groups and eight destroyer squadrons by October 1995, John Young joined Destroyer Squadron 23. In 1996, during a Persian Gulf deployment, the ship faced a critical situation when a massive fuel oil leak resulted in extensive engineering space refits. Pre-deployment repairs were ongoing, disabling firefighting systems and temporarily removing fire-proof escape doors, posing potential catastrophic risks.

In April 1998, John Young's Navy and Coast Guard inspectors boarded a merchant ship, marking the 10,000th such boarding in support of UN sanctions against Iraq in the Persian Gulf. The vessel they inspected, an Indian-flagged dhow, was empty and allowed to proceed.

Further deployments and collaborations followed, including teaming up with a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment for a significant sea-based drug bust in March 2001. Ultimately decommissioned in September 2002 and later sunk during RIMPAC 04 in April 2004 by a Mark 48 torpedo launched by the submarine Pasadena, resulting in the destroyer splitting in half, the John Young concluded its active service.