SEOUL — Just before sunrise early Monday morning, a bridge watch team on the USS John S. McCain spotted a ship burning on the horizon off the southern coast of the South Korean peninsula.

The Navy crew went into action.

It turned out a commercial South Korean fishing vessel, the Sebong II, was on fire, and its 11-man crew was floating nearby in a life raft.

The McCain — an Arleigh Burke-class guided- missile destroyer — immediately launched a rigid-hull inflatable boat and recovered the fishermen, according to an e-mail from Cmdr. Jensin W. Sommer, spokeswoman for Commander Task Force 70.

None of the fishermen was injured, and McCain sailors provided food and blankets. The fishermen were later transferred to a South Korean navy vessel.

Several South Korean vessels arrived on scene to extinguish the burning vessel, according to a Navy news release Monday afternoon.

Sommer said the rescue was “a great example” of how sailors, “especially those in the forward-deployed naval forces, are always ready and trained to respond on the high seas.”

The McCain, operating out of Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, and commanded by Cmdr. John Banigan, recently completed its work in the Foal Eagle exercise and is on its way to begin training other Destroyer Squadron 15 ships, according to Sommer.

A news release from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense reported that the Sebong II was about 28 miles south of Jeju Island when it caught fire.

All the fishermen, including the 51-year-old captain, Kim Su-chul, were reported in stable condition and were being brought to Mokpo, on the peninsula’s southwest coast, according to a South Korean Navy spokesman.

The spokesman didn’t know the cause of the fire.

Hwang Hae-rym contributed to this report.