Ship Shape Shoup

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The USS SHOUP (DDG 86) is the 36th ship in the Arleigh Burke class of Aegis guided missile destroyers, commissioned in Seattle, WA in June 2002, and supports the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).




The ship is named in honor of U.S. Marine Corps Gen. David M. Shoup (1904- 1983), a naval hero of World War II, a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions in the Pacific in 1943, who later became the 22nd commandant of the Marine Corps. (See his image on the poster.)

She measures 509.5 feet and displaces 9,200 tons.

The SHOUP was built to conduct simultaneous warfare operations in multi-threat environments to include air, surface, and subsurface targets and accommodates two SH-60 (LAMPS 3) helicopters.

She has a crew of 304-380 officers and enlisted, all of whom work and live together in very close quarters.

The ship's motto is
Victoria Per Perserverantiam Venit
"Through Perseverance Comes Victory"

The USS SHOUP has, to this date, never been deployed in active combat operations.

Since her commissioning her deployments have been manifold.

The SHOUP is authorized to conduct 'Visit, Board, Search and Seizure' (VBSS) with the mission "to board and search vessels suspected of transporting drugs and contraband, trafficking in persons, or harboring suspected terrorists." The largest cargo of narcotics was intercepted and confiscated on one of her VBSS deployments.

USS SHOUP is an active participant in Multi-National Search and Rescue operation exercises on simulated vessels in distress. These joint Search and Rescue exercises are one example of how the U.S. Navy continues its efforts to build cooperation and understanding with other navies worldwide using both surface and aviation assets.

As part of Operation Unified Assistance, the USS SHOUP immediately provided tsunami relief off the coast of Sumatra for the victims of the December 26, 2004, earthquake and tsunami that struck 12 nations across the Indian Ocean region.



Navy doctors and corpsmen normally assigned to support their respective squadrons volunteered to fly into remote locations within the Aceh province of Sumatra, Indonesia, and set-up triage sites. They helped the victims that were evacuated from the coastal villages recover from wounds, infections and disease such as pneumonia and malaria.

Often, medical personnel shared cargo space with humanitarian aid shipments aboard the helicopters launched from the deck of the SHOUP, as vital food, fresh water and medicine supplies were ferried to the survivors.

"The military role is to provide its unique capabilities and significant capacity to provide immediate relief and save lives."
- Ralph A. Cossa, President of the Pacific Forum CSIS

The SHOUP is regularly tasked with goodwill diplomatic port visits throughout the year. These port visits are part of a dynamic program that reaches out to the civilian population on a national and international level.



USS SHOUP conducts training exercises off the Pacific Northwest coastline that involve the use of their AN/SQS-53C bow-mounted active search and attack sonar.

The SHOUP's sonar 'pings' are extremely powerful, at least 233 dB re: 1µPa repeated every 24 seconds at frequencies of 2.6 and 3.3 kHz, and have been implicated in whale stranding and other damage to marine wildlife.



[See also Taking a Tour of the Ship]


[Read about the long-standing conflict between Marine Mammal Protection

and the role of The Navy]

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