Charles F. Adams class destroyer

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Charles F. Adams class destroyer

General Characteristics
Displacement:	3277 tons standard, 4,526 full load.
Length:	437 ft (133.2 m)
Beam:	47 ft (14.3 m)
Draught:	15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion:	2 shaft; geared steam turbines; 4 boilers; 70,000shp
Speed:	33 knots
Range:	4,500 nautical miles at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement:	333
Armament:	1x Mk11 launcher for Tartar SAM system; 2x 5in(127mm); 1x ASROC Launcher; 6x 12.8in(324mm) ASW TT.

The Charles F. Adams class of guided missile destroyers was a group of twenty-nine built between 1958 and 1967. Twenty-three of these ships were built for the United States Navy, three for the Royal Australian Navy, and three for the West German Bundesmarine. The ships were based on the existing Forrest Sherman class, but were the first destroyers designed to serve as missile destroyers. They added 19ft of length to the center of the Forrest Sherman design to accommodate the ASROC launcher in the center of the ship and changed the boilers from 600 psi to 1275 psi. Both of these changes ultimately caused significant maintenance problems for all ships in the class. The destroyers of this class served in the Cuban blockade of 1962 and the Vietnam War.

The United States Navy decommissioned its last Charles F. Adams destroyer, the USS Goldsborough, on April 29, 1993. The Australian and German navies had also decommissioned their last ships of this class by 2003. Four ships of this class were transferred to the Hellenic Navy in 1992. All four have since been decommissioned.

The USS Charles F. Adams has been placed on inactive hold status and there are attempts by private groups to have it preserved as a museum ship. The USS Hoel has been sold to a private corporation which is attempting to use it as a power generating plant in Brazil. With the exception of these two ships and the Kimon, all of the ships in this class have been sunk as targets, sold for scrap, or are scheduled for one of the two fates.

[edit] Members of the Charles F. Adams class:

Hellenic Navy

Kimon (D-218) (formerly USS Semmes)
Nearchos (D-219) (formerly USS Waddell)
Formion (D-220) (formerly USS Joseph Strauss)
Themistocles (D-221) (formerly USS Berkeley)

[edit] Lütjens class

The Lütjens class destroyer was a modification of the Charles F. Adams class for the Bundesmarine (Navy of West Germany). It differed from the Adams class in the layout of the crew accomodiations, the location of the bow sonar, a second large arial mast and different funnels.

Main article: Lütjens class destroyer

[edit] Perth class

The Royal Australian Navy had three Charles F. Adams class units constructed to their own specifications (these ships were designated the Perth class). Although broadly similary to the US Navy's vessels, the Australian ships were fitted with the Ikara system instead of the ASROC that was fitted to the American units. The three ships were: