U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mustin has fired its recently installed Mark 38 Mod 4 30mm weapon during a live-fire exercise in the Indian Ocean, continuing operational use of the system after the ship became the first Arleigh Burke-class destroyer fitted with the new variant, the UK Defence Journal understands.
Images released by the U.S. Navy show the Mark 38 Mod 4 being fired from Mustin while the destroyer was underway in the Indian Ocean in August. The U.S. Navy identified the weapon as a 30mm machine gun and described the firing as part of a live-fire exercise.
Mustin, hull number DDG-89, is a Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer equipped with the Aegis combat system. The ship is currently forward-deployed and assigned to Destroyer Squadron 15, the principal surface force of the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet.
The Indian Ocean firing follows an earlier live-fire event involving the same weapon in the South China Sea on 17 April 2026. Mustin was the first destroyer of the Arleigh Burke class to receive the Mark 38 Mod 4, introducing the 30mm version of a weapon family already widely used aboard U.S. Navy surface ships.
The Mod 4 represents a change from earlier Mark 38 installations, which have generally been centred on a 25mm weapon. The newer configuration uses a 30mm gun, increasing the calibre available to ships for close-range engagements while retaining the remotely operated mounting concept used by the Mark 38 family.
Its installation aboard an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer gives the Navy another close-range gun option alongside the ship’s other defensive and offensive systems. The class typically carries the 5-inch Mk 45 naval gun, vertical launch cells for a range of missiles, Phalanx close-in weapon systems on relevant configurations, and smaller crew-served weapons.
Mustin was commissioned in July 2003 and was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The destroyer previously spent an extended period forward-deployed in Japan and has operated regularly across the Western Pacific, including through the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.
In May 2020, the ship conducted a freedom of navigation operation near the Paracel Islands, while in December of that year it transited the Taiwan Strait. The destroyer also attracted attention in 2021 while monitoring the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and its accompanying surface ships in the region.
Mustin later shifted its homeport from Yokosuka to San Diego in 2021. The destroyer has since returned to forward-deployed operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area, with the Navy identifying it in August as part of Destroyer Squadron 15.
Destroyer Squadron 15 is based in Japan and forms a major component of the U.S. Navy’s permanently forward-deployed surface force in the Indo-Pacific.
Perhaps they can use this to guard the Lake of America 🤦
Fucking clowns 😓
Time for the CANZUK and EU nations to go all in together and slap the US with massive tariffs for economic coercion against Canada.
Crator the US stock market just before the mid terms.
Sorry Jim, below post was supposed to be on your reply, cheers.
Not sure calling the people in uniform clowns Jim, you can direct that at the head sheds in Government, like we can in the UK as our leaders are also fucking clowns, in fact our Government is worse than any Billy Smart Circus.
To be fair I took it as referring to the leadership in the US, don’t think anyone believes the men in uniform short of the stooges Hegseth is putting in charge while sacking the competent top brass, are responsible for any of this. Indeed there is record discord in the lower and higher ranks, mental health issues and requests for early release. This is threatening to become Stalinist in nature. No wonder Putin is rattling his sabre. Thankfully the CIA chief is still one of the more sane voices at the top, let’s hope that doesn’t change.