USS Benfold Receives First Install of Shipboard Protection System

Guided missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65) maneuvers as she prepares to moor pierside Naval Station Pearl Harbor. Benfold returned from a deployment as part of Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group, which is currently conducting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in support of 5th Fleet. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class James E. Foehl From USS Benfold Public Affairs SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- USS Benfold (DDG 65) emerged from its 2008 Chief of Naval Operations selected repair availability Jan. 30, equipped with the new Shipboard Protection System (SPS).

Benfold is the first ship to be outfitted with SPS Block 1 version, which uses integrated radar and twin cameras to identify and engage threats from high-speed seaborne craft. The system supplies the means to provide a blanket of protection from swifter and smaller scale attacks whether a ship is in port, at anchor or at sea.

Benfold is the Navy's 15th Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. The ship is named in honor of Hospitalman 3rd Class Edward Clyde Benfold, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor "for gallantry and intrepidity" while serving with the 1st Marine Division in Korea Sept. 5, 1952.