spruance class destroyer us navy 1970s

uss O'Brien DD-975

uss Briscoe DD977

uss Stump DD978

line drawing of spruance class destroyer

Soviet and U.S. naval ships are docked at the piers during a goodwill visit by the Soviet warships to San Diego navy base. The vessels include, from the foreground, the repair ship USS JASON (AR-8), the Soviet Sovremenny class destroyer BOYEVOY, spruance class destroyer USS MERRILL (DD-976), the Soviet Kaliningradneft class support tanker ARGUN and the Soviet Udaloy class destroyer ADMIRAL VINOGRADOV, the guided missile frigate USS MCCLUSKY (FFG-41) and the guided missile destroyer USS BERKELEY (DDG-15), background.

Arabian Gulf (Nov. 12, 2000) -- An aerial view of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Fletcher (DD 992) operating in the Arabian Gulf in support of Exercise Arabian Shark 2000. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class David J. Weideman

Eastern Pacific (Jun. 25, 2002) -- The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Fife (DD 991) is the U.S. Task Group flagship for the Pacific Phase of the annual UNITAS exercise conducted between June 27 and July 11, 2002, with naval forces from five nations off the coast of
Chile. The ships five-month deployment to the Eastern Pacific Ocean for Counter-Drug Operations and the UNITAS exercise is the final deployment for the Spruance-class destroyer, which is scheduled to be de-commissioned in February 2003
The U.S. Navy Spruance-class destroyer was the primary destroyer built during the 1970s,the first ship uss Spruance DD963 was Commissioned 1975
The Spru-cans was designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) with point defense anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) missiles; 24 ships of this class were upgraded with the installation of a 61 cell Vertical Launch Missile System (VLS) capable of launching Tomahawk missiles. upgrades provided anti-ship and land attack capabilities.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)
The Spruance-class were the first large U.S. Naval ships to use gas turbine propulsion; they have four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines.
specification
Displacement: 9100 long tons full load
dimensions
Length: 529 feet waterline; 563 feet overall
Beam: 55 feet
Draft: 29 feet
Propulsion: 4 LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 horsepower
maximum Speed: 32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range: 6,000 nautical miles at 20 knots
3,300 nautical miles (6000 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h)
Complement: 19 officers, 315 enlisted

weapons: 2 x 5inch 127mm naval guns
2 x Phalanx CIWS Mark15 20 mm guns
1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher (removed)
1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mk29 missile launcher
2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters
2 x Mark 32 triple 12.75 inch (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes)


1 x 61 cell Mk 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk missiles
1 x 21 cell RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher
Aircraft carried: 2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.