The crew of USS Vicksburg executed months of training and rehearsal last week as an integral part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group sinking exercise of the ex-USS O'Bannon.
USS O'Bannon decommission from Naval Station Mayport in August 2005.
Formed in a column of considerable water-borne firepower, the USS Vicksburg, USS Stout, USS Bainbridge, and USS Halyburton threw much of their war-fighting might at the helpless hulk of what was once DD-987.
Vicksburg began the assault with the launch of a Harpoon missile, a spectacle of which the entire crew was invited onto the flight deck to watch. After sending the ordnance down-range, the embarked "Dark Knights" from HSL-46 Detachment Four took to the air for their own assault. Closing to firing range, Detachment Four and Halyburton's Detachment Two used their frame-mounted .50 caliber machine guns and door-mounted M240 machine guns to practice small arms strafing of a surface target. Once their allotted ammo cans were exhausted, the helicopters moved out to a safe distance to observe the warships close and engage the ex-USS O'Bannon in the majestic way that only a mighty surface combatant is able.
Each ship was given the chance to fire their Mk 45 5-inch deck guns, Vicksburg being privileged to shoot both her forward and aft batteries. Between rounds of shelling with the 5-inch, each ship made an approach to utilize their SCAT crew-served weapons. As Vicksburg came alongside the EX-O'Bannon, the destruction from the Harpoon missile and 5-inch rounds was evident in the large holes throughout the ship. Closing to within three-hundred yards, the SCAT teams honed their targeting by engaging pre-designated areas of the superstructure.
Leaving the EX-O'Bannon riddled with small-arms rounds and on fire, Vicksburg stood off to a safe distance while Bainbridge and Stout each fired an SM-2 missile. These last two engagements proved too great for the doomed ship, and the helicopter crews were able to report on the quick sinking as the EX-O'Bannon slid beneath the waves to its final resting place.
