U.S destroyer puts into Palma

THE USS Mason (DDG-87) Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer sailed into Palma yesterday.
The USS Mason was only commissioned on April, 12 2003 and she conducted her maiden deployment with the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) Carrier Strike Group in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in late 2004.

Mason returned home after six months on 18 April 2005. On 3 October 2006, the Mason departed Naval Station Norfolk for a seven month deployment to the Persian Gulf in support of the Global War on Terrorism. She participated in Exercise Neon Falcon.

The Mason returned home in May 2007 and then deployed with the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on 12 September 2008 for a scheduled deployment.
The Mason is now on deployment with The USS Enterprise Strike Group.
The USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier and its strike group deployed on January 13.
Accompanying the carrier and Mason on the cruise to the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean are Carrier Air Wing One, Destroyer Squadron 2, guided missile cruiser Leyte Gulf, and two other guided missile destroyers Barry, and Bulkeley.

The Arleigh Burke class are among the most powerful destroyers ever built in the United States.
Only the Spruance class destroyers were larger (563 feet).
The Burke class destroyers are more heavily armed than previous guided-missile destroyers.
Visually, the angled rather than traditional vertical surfaces and the tripod mainmast of the Arleigh Burke design are part of “stealth” technologies, which improve the ship's ability to evade and/or destroy anti-ship cruise missiles. A Collective Protection System also makes the Arleigh Burke class the first U.S. warships designed with an air-filtration system against nuclear, biological and chemical warfare.