Spruance class destroyer

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USS Spruance (DD-963)
USS Spruance (DD-963) shown with VLS
Class overview
Name: Spruance class destroyer
Builders: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Operators: Naval flag of United States United States Navy
Preceded by: Charles F. Adams class destroyer
Succeeded by: Kidd class destroyer
Built: 1972-1983
In commission: 1975-2005
Completed: 31
Active: 1 (Paul F. Foster) as SDTS
Retired: 30
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement: 8,040 (long) tons full load
Length: 529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall
Beam: 55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft: 29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion: 4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MW)
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
Sensors and
processing systems:		 AN/SPS-40 air search radar
AN/SPG-60 fire control radar
AN/SPS-55 surface search radar
AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar
Mk 23 TAS automatic detection and tracking radar
AN/SPS-65 Missile fire control radar
AN/SQS-53 bow mounted Active sonar
AN/SQR-19 TACTAS towed arrayPassive sonar
Electronic warfare
and decoys:		 • AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System
• AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
• Mark 36 SRBOC Decoy Launching System
• AN/SLQ-49 Inflatable Decoys
AN/WLR 1 in DD-971 & DD-975.
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 Mark 32 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 carried: 2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

The Spruance-class destroyer was developed by the United States to replace a large number of World War II-built Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class destroyers, and was the primary destroyer built for the U.S. Navy during the 1970s.

Contents

[edit] Class

The class was designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) with point defense anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) missiles; upgrades provided anti-ship and land attack capabilities. The ships were initially controversial, especially among members of the United States Congress who believed that their unimposing looks, with only two guns and an ASROC or Armored Box Launcher (ABL) missile launcher per ship implied that the vessels were weak. Nonetheless, they were very successful for their intended ASW roles. Despite their "DD" designation indicating gun destroyers, their primary armament was the missiles they carried, and they should properly have been designated DDG (or perhaps CG, given that they were comparable in size to cruisers) under the US Navy's hull classification symbol system. Ironically enough, the DDG-1000 Zumwalt class destroyers are to be built around the 6.1" advanced gun system and thus properly deserving of the unmodified DD hull classification symbol.

Six Spruance class destroyers fitting out, circa May 1975.
Six Spruance class destroyers fitting out, circa May 1975.

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 originated 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 overruns and delayed construction.[citation needed] One additional ship, USS Hayler, was ordered on September 29, 1979. USS HAYLER was originally planned as a "DDH" (Destroyer, Helicopter) design, which would carry more Anti-Submarine helicopters than the standard design of the SPRUANCE class. Eventually this plan to build a DDH was scrapped and a slightly modified DD-963 class hull was put in commission. 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.

[edit] Upgrades

The Spruance design is modular in nature, allowing for easy installation of entire subsystems within the ship. Although originally 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. The remaining seven ships not upgraded were decommissioned early. At least ten VLS ships, ie. Cushing and O'Bannon, had a 21 cell RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher mounted on the starboard fantail.

  • David R. Ray tested the RAM system in the 1980s, but had the system removed after the tests.
  • Oldendorf was the test platform for the AN/SPQ-9B Anti-ship Missile Defense (ASMD) Firecontrol Radar to be outfitted on the San Antonio class amphibious transport dock. The AN/SPQ-9B is used to detect all known and projected sea skimming missiles.
  • Arthur W. Radford tested the Advanced Enclosed Mast/Sensor system which helped in the mast design of San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ships.
  • Merrill served as the Navy's test platform for the Tomahawk Cruise Missile Program receiving armored box launchers and test launching a Tomahawk March 19, 1980. Merrill carried two ABLs and an ASROC launcher into the 1990s until the ASROC launcher was removed.

Spruance class destroyers fired 112 land attack Tomahawks during Operation Desert Storm.[1]

[edit] Fate

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)."

The majority of the class finished their lives as targets, being deliberately sunk in various fleet exercises.

Larry Blumberg was the first commanding officer of a Spruance-class destroyer.[citation needed]

[edit] Units

Ship Name Hull No. Commission–
Decommission		 Disposition Link
Spruance DD-963 1975-2005 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [1]
Paul F. Foster DD-964 1976-2003 Active, in service as EDD-964 [2] [3]
Kinkaid DD-965 1976-2003 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [4]
Hewitt DD-966 1976-2001 Disposed of by scrapping, dismantling [5]
Elliot DD-967 1977-2003 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [6]
Arthur W. Radford DD-968 1977-2003 Stricken, to be disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [7]
Peterson DD-969 1977-2002 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [8]
Caron DD-970 1977-2001 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [9]
David R. Ray DD-971 1977-2002 Stricken, to be disposed of [10]
Oldendorf DD-972 1978-2003 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [11]
John Young DD-973 1978-2002 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [12]
Comte de Grasse DD-974 1978-1998 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [13]
O'Brien DD-975 1977-2004 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [14]
Merrill DD-976 1978-1998 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [15]
Briscoe DD-977 1978-2003 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [16]
Stump DD-978 1978-2004 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [17]
Conolly DD-979 1978-1998 Stricken, available for donation as a museum and memorial [18]
Moosbrugger DD-980 1978-2000 Disposed of by scrapping, dismantling [19]
John Hancock DD-981 1978-2000 Disposed of by scrapping, dismantling [20]
Nicholson DD-982 1979-2002 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [21]
John Rodgers DD-983 1979-1998 Disposed of by scrapping, dismantling [22]
Leftwich DD-984 1979-1998 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [23]
Cushing DD-985 1979-2005 Stricken, to be disposed of by Foreign Military Sale [24]
Harry W. Hill DD-986 1979-1998 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [25]
O'Bannon DD-987 1979-2005 Stricken, to be disposed of by Foreign Military Sale [26]
Thorn DD-988 1980-2004 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [27]
Deyo DD-989 1980-2003 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [28]
Ingersoll DD-990 1980-1998 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [29]
Fife DD-991 1980-2003 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [30]
Fletcher DD-992 1980-2004 Stricken, to be disposed of by Foreign Military Sale [31]
Hayler DD-997 1983-2003 Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise [32]

[edit] Gallery

starboard quarter view of Fife

Ingersoll with only ASROC launcher forward, as all destroyers were initially built. Image also shows an example of black masts and no Phalanx CIWS

Deyo with ASROC and ABL's forward.

starboard bow view of Deyo, VLS equipped

Kidd class compared to Spruance class

Ticonderoga class cruiser compared to the Spruance class

Arthur W. Radford with experimental mast

Cushing with VLS forward and RAM launcher on fantail

Haylor, the last Spruance destroyer, is sunk

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] References

  1. ^ DD-963 SPRUANCE-class - Navy Ships

[edit] External links

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Spruance-class destroyer
List of destroyers of the United States Navy | List of destroyer classes of the United States Navy