Spruance class destroyer
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| Spruance class destroyer | |
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| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8,040 (long) tons full load. |
| Length: | 529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall. |
| Beam: | 55 ft (16.8 m) |
| Draught: | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines; 80,000 shp (60 MW); 2 x shafts. |
| Speed: | 32.5 knots (60 km/h) |
| Range: | 6,000 nautical miles (11 000 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h); 3,300 nautical miles (6000 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h). |
| Complement: | 19 officers, 315 enlisted |
| Armament: | 2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns; 2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns; 1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher; 1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher; 2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters; 2 x triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes); 2 x quadruple ABL Mark 43 Tomahawk missile launchers (some ships of the class); 1 x 21 cell Rolling Airframe Missile launcher in some ships. A 61-cell Mark 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk/ASROC missiles was fitted to 24 ships in place of the 8-cell ASROC launcher. |
| Aircraft: | 2 x SH-60B Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters. |
| Radars: | AN/SPS 40B/C/D air search, AN/SPS 55 surface search, Mark 86 GFCS with AN/SPG-60 and AN/SPQ9A, SWG-2 Tomahawk weapon control system in ABL ships (SWG-3 in VLS ships), Mark 91 missile FCS, Mark 116 ASW FCS. |
| Sonars: | AN/SQS 53A bow-mounted sonar (AN/SQS 53B in DD-980), AN/SQR 19(V) TACTAS towed array in DD-980. |
| EW: | AN/SLQ 25 Nixie, AN/SLQ32V, AN/WLR 1 in DD-971 & DD-975. |
The "Spru-cans" were the first large U.S. Navy ships to use gas turbine propulsion; they have four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines to generate about 80,000 horsepower (60 MW). This configuration was so successful that its hull and physical plant were used for the later Kidd-class destroyers, and a slightly lengthened version of the hull was used for the Ticonderoga-class cruisers.
The entire class of 30 ships was contracted on June 23, 1970 to the Litton-Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, under the Total Package Procurement concept forced on the Navy by the Whiz Kids of Robert McNamara's Pentagon. The idea was to reap the benefits of mass construction, but labor and technical problems caused cost overrruns and delayed construction. One additional ship, USS Hayler, was ordered on September 29, 1979. Four additional ships were built for the Iranian Navy with the Mark 26/Standard AAW missile system but were completed as Kidd-class destroyers for the U.S. Navy.
The Spruance design is modular in nature, allowing for easy installation of entire subsystems within the ship. Although initialled designed for anti-submarine warfare, 24 ships of this class were upgraded with the installation of a 61 cell Vertical Launch Missile System (VLS) capable of launching Tomahawk missiles, while the remaining 7 ships not upgraded were decommissioned early.
The last Spruance-class destroyer on active service, USS Cushing, was decommissioned on September 21, 2005. It was then offered to the Pakistan Navy under a "free deal (any 2nd hand military equipment to be given for free to Pakistan -- The deal was awarded along with Major non-NATO ally or MNNA Status)."
Larry Blumberg was the first commanding officer of a Spruance-class destroyer.
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