Talk:Spruance class destroyer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ships, a project to improve all Ship-related articles. If you would like to help improve this and other Ship-related articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome.
Start	rated as start-Class on the assessment scale
High	rated as high-importance on the assessment scale

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.

Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.

Additional information and associated task forces:

	This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked To fill out this checklist, please add the following to the template call: `<!-- B-Class-1. It is suitably referenced, and all major points have appropriate inline citations. -->` `\|B-Class-1=yes/no` `<!-- B-Class-2. It reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain obvious omissions or inaccuracies. -->` `\|B-Class-2=yes/no` `<!-- B-Class-3. It has a defined structure, including a lead section and one or more sections of content. -->` `\|B-Class-3=yes/no` `<!-- B-Class-4. It is free from major grammatical errors. -->` `\|B-Class-4=yes/no` `<!-- B-Class-5. It contains appropriate supporting materials, such as an infobox, images, or diagrams. -->` `\|B-Class-5=yes/no`
Associated task forces (general topics):
	Maritime warfare task force
Associated task forces (nations and regions):
	United States military history task force

[edit] Armament

All ships of this class are equipped with 2 x triple 12.75 inch torpedo tubes (Mk46 torpedoes). Some ships are equipped with 21 cell RAM launchers. I scanned a number of the ships in the class, and almost all are missing these details. --Durin 21:59, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I've updated Spruance to have a better format for armament, and added the Mk41 and 12.75in torp tubes to her weapons. Unless others disagree, I think this format is far easier to understand than current format for armament used throughout the rest of the class. I'll begin changing them over soon. --Durin 04:28, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The bulleted list takes up a lot of the horizontal space. How about either [3] or [4] below:

Thanks for creating the different versions! Great way of focusing debate.

The bulleted list does not take up any more horizontal space than [3] or [4]. It does take up a bit more vertical space than [3], but it is more readable than [3]. I think we can agree that [1] is bad. [4] is really little different than [2]. If I only had [2] and [4] to choose from, I'd choose [2] in a hearbeat. [2] vs. [3] is a bit more difficult of a call, but I'd still take [2] for readability.

In reviewing other ships (OHPs, DDG51s, etc.) there are similar problems scattered about. Whatever we decide here, we should propagate at least through the USN vessels. Bleah. Big retrofit. Time to RCOH our USN Wikipedia articles? ha! :)

It'd be nice if others beside us were chiming in on this debate. I know there are others working/watching USN articles, but it seems of late you and I are the most active.

I've begun modifying the ships in the class per design [2] below, and adding in your Radar/Sonar/EQ equipment (with modifications as appropriate per ship). --Durin 03:50, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

General Characteristics
USS Spruance cruises in the Atlantic Ocean.
Displacement:	8,040 tons full load.
Length:	529 feet (161 m) waterline; 563 feet (172 m) overall.
Beam:	55 feet (16.8 m)
Draft:	29 feet (8.8 m)
Propulsion:	4 × GE LM2500 gas turbines; 80,000 shp (60 MW); 2 controllable pitch propellers.
Speed:	32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	6,000 nm (11,000 km) @ 20 kt 3,300 nm (6,000 km) @ 30 kt
Complement:	19 officers, 315 enlisted
Armament: [1]	2 x 5 inch (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 triple 12.75 inch torpedo tubes (Mk46 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.
Armament: [2]	1 x 61 cell MK41 Vertical Launching System 2 x 5 inch (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns 2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns 1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher 2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters 2 x triple 12.75 inch torpedo tubes (Mark 46 torpedoes)
Armament: [3]	1 × 61 cell Mk41 VLS; 2 × 5 in/54 calibre (127 mm) Mark 45 dual purpose guns; 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS; 1 × 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher; 2 × 4 Harpoon missile canisters; 2 × 3 12.75 inch torpedo tubes (Mark 46 torpedoes)
Armament: [4]	1 × 61 cell Mk41 VLS; 2 × 5 in/54 calibre (127 mm) Mark 45 dual purpose guns; 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS; 1 × 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher; 2 × 4 Harpoon missile canisters; 2 × 3 12.75 inch torpedo tubes (Mark 46 torpedoes)
Aircraft:	2 × SH-60B Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.
Radars:	AN/SPS 40B/C/D air search, AN/SPS 55 surface search, Mark 86 GFCS with AN/SPG-60 and AN/SPQ9A, SWG-2 Tomahawk weapon control system in ABL ships (SWG-3 in VLS ships), Mark 91 missile FCS, Mark 116 ASW FCS.
Sonars:	AN/SQS 53A bow mounted sonar (AN/SQS 53B in DD-980), AN/SQR TACTAS towed array in DD-980.
EW:	AN/SLQ 25 Nixie, AN/SLQ32V, AN/WLR 1 in DD-971 & DD-975.

I also massaged the other characteristics. And this link block is useful; change "963" to the ship's number.

Nice to see the radar/sonar/EW outfits. I'd like to see it added, but we need to be careful; there are some differences across ships in the class. For example, ELINT systems and V2/V3 SLQ-32. I don't think there's any differentiation in radars, but I seem to recall some (all?) of these ships being fitted for towed array only to have it removed and put in storage (which of course made sense given the state of the CCCP navy after the end of the Cold War). If we can get some agreement on format, we can push forward on this class and retrofit our decisions here onto other major classes. If you're willing to do so, I'm willing to help. --Durin 04:26, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Combat History

Wasn't the ship hit by an Iraqi exocet (erroneously) in the mid-1980s a Spruance class? If so, there should be a note of this in the article. It showed that the US navy had not paid sufficient attention to the lessons learnt by the Royal Navy in the Falklands War, despite the apparent superiority of the Spruance class to the Royal Navy type 42. Hence again during Gulf War I it was the British ship HMS Gloucester which saved the giant USS Missouri from a hit by an Iraqi silkworm missile. JRJW April '06

You're thinking of the USS Stark (FFG-31) which was hit by two Exocet missiles, and not only survived but made it to Bahrain under her own power. I'd be careful about making apples and oranges comparisons to HMS Sheffield (D80) which was hit by one Exocet. The situations were considerably different, and the ships were considerably different (even if near in size). Note that a Spruance class destroyer is approximately twice the size of a Type 42 and none were ever hit by an Exocet. --Durin 21:26, 30 October 2006 (UTC)