Sister of 'hero-ship' in 'Battleship' now in PHL for 5-day visit

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 8): Sister of 'hero-ship' in 'Battleship' now in PHL for 5-day visit

Not many people are aware of it but the USS Pinckney (DDG-91), which is on a five-day port visit in the Philippines, is the sister of the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53), which played a major role in defeating invading aliens in the 2012 movie "Battleship".

The USS Pinckney arrived Friday afternoon and is expected to leave by Tuesday.

The USS John Paul Jones is the third ship of the "Arleigh Burke" class destroyers consisting of its Flight I series.

While the USS Pinckney belongs to the Flight II series and it is the 41st ship of the class.

All, in all, the Arleigh Burke class consist of 62 ships.

Flight I ships are equipped with a 90 tube VLS (vertical launch system) while Flight II vessels are armed with 96 tube VLS.

Besides this, Flight II ships are equipped with more advanced radar, sensor systems and generally bigger flight decks that their predecessors.

The Arleigh Burke class is among the largest destroyers built in the United States measuring 505 feet.

Only the Spruance and Kidd classes were longer at 563 feet.

The Arleigh Burke class are multi-mission ships with a "combination of... an advanced anti-submarine warfare system, land attack cruise missiles, ship-to-ship missiles, and advanced anti-aircraft missiles."

The USS John Paul Jones was featured prominently in the 2012 film "Battleship" where it was shown to destroy three alien craft before being sunk herself .

The ship is mentioned in the last mission of the video game Homefront as she escapes a naval blockade of San Diego to provide support to the player in the climatic final battle on the Golden Gate Bridge along with sister ship USS Milius (DDG-69).

The destroyer is named for American Revolutionary War Naval Capt. John Paul Jones and is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the US Navy".

The USS Pinckney was named after USN cook William Pinckney, who was awarded the Navy Cross for rescuing a fellow crew member during the Battle of Santa Cruz in Solomon Islands in 1942.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=10&sid=&nid=10&rid=614071