Guided-Missile Destroyer Fires 5-Inch Gun During Baltic Sea Exercise

The USS Jason Dunham, on an exercise in the Baltic Sea, is shown in this video firing its forward 5-inch gun, used for defense against other ships and aircraft. The annual BALTOPS exercise, in the Navy’s words, is designed to “demonstrate resolve of Allied and partner forces to defend the Baltic region.” The Russian Navy has been conducting exercises in the Baltic nonstop since the spring, The New York Times reported.

The US Navy also sent a larger contingent of ships to the Baltic exercise this year, along with ships from Sweden, which is not a member of NATO, and from Lithuania, formerly a Soviet state and home to the key port of Klaipeda. Russian vessels shadowed American ships as they left port in Poland for the exercise, the Times reported. The Jason Dunham is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, according to the Navy. Credit: YouTube/U.S. Navy