Spruance class destroyer

USS Spruance (DD-963) shown with VLS
Class overview
Name:	Spruance class destroyer
Builders:	Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Charles F. Adams class destroyer
Succeeded by:	Arleigh Burke class destroyer
Subclasses:	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; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) 3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
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 array Passive 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 × 5-inch (127mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns • 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns • 1 × 8 cell ASROC launcher • 1 × 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher • 2× quadruple Harpoon missile canisters • 2 × Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes) • 2 × quadruple ABL Mark 43 Tomahawk missile launchers (some ships of the class) • 1 × 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.
Aviation facilities:	Flight deck and enclosed hangar for up to two medium-lift 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.

Serving for three decades, the Spruance class was designed to escort a carrier group with a primary ASW mission. First commissioned in 1975, the class was designed with gas-turbine propulsion, all-digital weapons systems, automated 5-inch guns and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Rather than extend the life of the class, the Navy opted to accelerate its retirement. The last ship of the class was decommissioned in 2005, with most examples broken up or destroyed as targets.

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 compared to Soviet or older US designs which had more visible guns or launchers for the Standard medium range missiles. Late updates would include launchers for the Tomahawk surface-to-surface missile. They were successful for their intended ASW roles, but lacked stealth and missile capabilities of later Aegis equipped destroyers.

Despite their "DD" designation indicating gun destroyers, their primary armament was the missiles they carried, and arguably they should 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.

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 (developed in the 1960s by the Royal Navy and known as COmbined Gas And Gas, or COGAG) very successful and used on all subsequent U.S. warships. A slightly lengthened version of the hull was also used for the Ticonderoga-class cruisers. As of 2010, all US Navy surface combatants (except LCS-1) use the LM2500 COGAG arrangement, usually with two such turbines per shaft.

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. 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 Kidds for the U.S. Navy. The Kidds were nearly identical to the Spruances but they were more advanced general-purpose ships. It was once planned to build all of the Spruance class up to this standard, but it was too expensive.

An air capable mini V/STOL aircraft carrier with fighters and ASW helicopters based on the Spruance hull was seriously considered but the Navy never took delivery.

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, including Cushing, O'Bannon, and Thorn, 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.

Fate

The US Navy planned to replace its current destroyers and cruisers with the new Zumwalt class destroyer (DDG-1000) ships. In order to save $28 million a year the Navy accelerated retirement of the ships, though they could have served to 2019 if they had been maintained and updated. The last Spruance-class destroyer on active service, USS Cushing, was decommissioned on September 21, 2005. It was then offered to the Pakistan Navy, but was sunk as a target 29 April 2009. Per the 2010 U.S. Defense budget, only three DDG-1000s are being built. The Arleigh Burke class is the Navy's only operational class of destroyers.

Some Spruance destroyers were broken up, but rather than being preserved in storage like some older classes, the majority of the class finished their lives as targets. Most were deliberately sunk in various fleet exercises. One notable exception was the four ships of the Kidd class that were transferred to the Republic of China Navy (Taiwan).

The USS Paul F. Foster replaced the USS Decatur in 2005 as the Self Defense Test Ship. It is a refurbished ship, operated by remote control which avoids the safety constraints and other problems associated with manned ships being targeted by or towing targets by live weapons. The prearranged attack is in practice aimed at a decoy barge pulled 150 feet behind the SDTS in case of damage.

The four Kidd-class destroyers are still active with the Taiwanese Navy.

Ships in class

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 as artificial reef	[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	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise	[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	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise	[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	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise	[24]
Harry W. Hill	DD-986	1979–1998	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise	[25]
O'Bannon	DD-987	1979–2005	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise	[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	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise	[31]
Hayler	DD-997	1983–2003	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise	[32]

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

• 

  Hayler, the last Spruance destroyer, is sunk

See also

• Ship decommissioning

External links

• Spruance-class destroyers at Destroyer History Foundation
• News story: "Last Spruance-Class Destroyer Decommissioned"