Charles F. Adams class destroyer
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 USS Charles F. Adams (DDG-2) |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Charles F. Adams class destroyer |
| Operators: |  United States Navy Greece |
| Preceded by: | Farragut class destroyer |
| Succeeded by: | Spruance class destroyer |
| Completed: | 23 |
| Retired: | 23 |
| Preserved: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Missile Destroyer |
| Displacement: | 3,277 tons standard, 4,526 full load |
| Length: | 437 ft (133 m) |
| Beam: | 47 ft (14 m) |
| Draught: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × steam turbines providing 70,000 shp (52 MW); 2 shafts 4 x 1,275 psi (8,790 kPa) boilers |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 310-333 |
| Armament: | 1x launcher for Tartar SAM system 2x Mark 42 5in(127mm)/54 1x ASROC Launcher 6x 12.8in(324mm) ASW Torpedo Tubes (2xMark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes) |
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 Charles F. Adams-class destroyers were the last steam-powered destroyers built for the U.S. Navy. Beginning with the follow-on Spruance-class destroyers, all succeeding destroyer classes have been powered by gas turbines. The destroyers of this class served in the Cuban blockade of 1962 and the Vietnam War.
Although designed with cutting edge technology for the 1950’s, by the mid 1970’s it was clear to the Navy that the Charles F. Adams class was ill prepared to deal with modern air and missile threats. To reduce this vulnerability the Navy initiated the New Threat Upgrade (NTU) program, which consisted of a number of sensor, weapons and communications upgrades, intended to extend the service life of the ships. Under NTU the Adams class would receive improved electronic warfare capability through the installation of the AN/SLQ-32(V)2 EW Suite. The upgraded combat system would include the MK86 Gun Fire Control System with AN/SPQ-9 radar, Hughes AN/SPS-52C 3D radar, AN/SPG-51C (Digital) Fire Control Radars, and Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS). The ships would also have the ability to launch RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, to be housed in the MK-11 Tartar missile launcher.
During the 1980’s the Reagan Administration chose to accelerate production of the Ticonderoga class guided missile cruisers and build the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers as a replacement for the Adams Class. The result of this was that only three ships, USS Tattnall (DDG-19), USS Goldsborough (DDG-20), and USS Benjamin Stoddert (DDG-22) received the full upgrade. Other ships, of the class, such as Charles F. Adams, received only partial upgrades which included the AN/SLQ-32 and Harpoon Missile upgrades intended to extend their service lives until the Burke class could reach operational capability.
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. Mölders (D186) was made into a museum ship, but all of the other destroyers in the class have been sunk as targets, sunk for dive wrecks or sold for scrap.
Contents |
[edit] Members of the Charles F. Adams class:
| Ship Name | Hull No. | Commission– Decommission |
Fate | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles F. Adams | DDG-2 | 1960–1990 | Museum hold | [1] |
| John King | DDG-3 | 1961–1990 | Scrapped | [2] |
| Lawrence | DDG-4 | 1962–1990 | Scrapped | [3] |
| Claude V. Ricketts | DDG-5 | 1962–1989 | Scrapped | [4] |
| Barney | DDG-6 | 1962–1990 | Scrapped | [5] |
| Henry B. Wilson | DDG-7 | 1960–1989 | Sinkex | [6] |
| Lynde McCormick | DDG-8 | 1961–1991 | Sinkex | [7] |
| Towers | DDG-9 | 1961–1990 | Sinkex | [8] |
| Sampson | DDG-10 | 1961–1991 | Scrapped | [9] |
| Sellers | DDG-11 | 1961–1989 | Scrapped | [10] |
| Robison | DDG-12 | 1961–1991 | Scrapped | [11] |
| Hoel | DDG-13 | 1962–1990 | Converted to power barge, then scrapped | [12] |
| Buchanan | DDG-14 | 1962–1991 | Sinkex | [13] |
| Berkeley | DDG-15 | 1962–1992 | Sold to Greece as Themistocles (D-221), scrapped later | [14] |
| Joseph Strauss | DDG-16 | 1963–1990 | Sold to Greece as Formion (D-220), scrapped later | [15] |
| Conyngham | DDG-17 | 1963–1990 | Scrapped | [16] |
| Semmes | DDG-18 | 1962–1991 | Sold to Greece as Kimon (D-218), scrapped later | [17] |
| Tattnall | DDG-19 | 1963–1991 | Scrapped | [18] |
| Goldsborough | DDG-20 | 1963–1993 | Sold to Australia as a parts hulk, scrapped later | [19] |
| Cochrane | DDG-21 | 1964–1990 | Scrapped | [20] |
| Benjamin Stoddert | DDG-22 | 1964–1991 | Sank while under tow enroute for scrapping | [21] |
| Richard E. Byrd | DDG-23 | 1964–1990 | Sold to Greece for parts, sunk as target later | [22] |
| Waddell | DDG-24 | 1964–1992 | Sold to Greece as Nearchos (D-219), sunk as target later | [23] |
- HS Kimon (D-218) (formerly USS Semmes)
- HS Nearchos (D-219) (formerly USS Waddell)
- HS Formion (D-220) (formerly USS Joseph Strauss)
- HS 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 accommodation's, the location of the bow sonar, a second large aerial mast and different funnels.
[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 similar 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:
[edit] External links
- Charles F. Adams-class destroyers at Destroyer History Foundation
- MaritimeQuest Charles F. Adams Class Overview
- Charles F. Adams Class Videos On YouTube
- Adams Class Veterans Association
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