Throughout her life, Sterett carried a wide variety of small arms and miscellaneous weapons. The small arms were the sidearms and rifles used by watchstanders and boarding parties. These started out as the 1911 Colt 45 pistol and the M1 Garand rifles as well as a variety of grenades. As the Navy's standard weapons changed, so did the contents of the small arms locker. A variety of rapid fire guns also were included, such as the Thompson 45 and the M-14 rifle.
There were also many different larger weapons used aboard Sterett over the years. These range from mortars and machine guns to larger 20mm and 25 mm guns. The BAR or Browning Automatic Rifle was one such prominent weapon as was the 50 caliber machine gun.
At one time in the early years of Sterett's Vietnam cruises, a mortar was mounted on her fantail. Jim Gantt sent in this photo showing the mortar mount with the 5" mount and a helo on deck in the background.
The most heavily armed time in Sterett's history is during the 1993 CENTAM (Central America) tour where Sterett was dispatched to the Caribbean for drug interdiction duty. The ship bristled with guns of every sort. The most prominent addition was the 25mm gin mount that was mounted near the quarterdeck areas on both sides of the ship.
Description: The MK-38 is a 25-mm (one inch diameter)
heavy machine gun, effective to 2,700 yards (2,457 meters).
Background: The MK 38 machine gun system (MGS) was employed aboard
various combatant and auxiliary ships in the Mid-East Force escort operations and during
Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The weapons are maintained in a rotatable pool,
available for temporary installation on various deploying ships and permanent installation
on certain amphibious and auxiliary ships, patrol craft and Coast Guard cutters.
Primary Function: Single barrel, air cooled, semi- and full-automatic,
manually trained and elevated machine gun system
Contractor: Designed and assembled by Crane Division, Naval Surface
Warfare Center; components procured from various contractors
Range: 2700 yards (2,457 meters)
Guidance System: Unstabilized, manually trained and elevated
Type of Fire: Single shot or 175 rounds per minute on automatic
Caliber: 25 mm (1 inch)
Date Deployed: 1986
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