1973 USS SPRUANCE. Too big and poorly armed was the general view of the 31
ships that made up the Spruance class, but the addition of launchers for Tomahawk cruise missiles improved them.
TYPE SCN-275
On 23 June 1 970, giant US defence contractor Litton Industries received a contract to develop and produce a new, 30-strong class of destroyers. On 17 November 1971, the keel for what was to be USS Spruance, the prototype Type SCN-275 ship, was laid. She was launched on 10 November and was commissioned into the US Navy on 20 September 1975. On trials she made 32 knots (59.3km/h), two more than her design speed.
ROOM FOR ALL
The long-range anti-aircraft weapons suite for which the Spruances were designed was never fitted. They did have two 5in (127mm) Mk 1 6 rapid-fire guns, an eight-launcher Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile (SAM) battery, an eight-launcher ASROC battery and six 12.75in (324mm) tubes for lightweight torpedoes. By 1986, aIl had acquired Kevlar armour around their essential equipment, and that year saw the first of them fitted with Mk 41 vertical launchers, their 61 cells filled with 45 Tomahawk cruise missiles and a mixture of ASROC and Standard SM2 SAMs.
TECHNICAL DATA
Type: Guided-missile destroyer
Machinery: 2 shafts driven by 4 LM2BOO gas turbines, del. 80,000shp
Dimensions (overall): Length, 171.7m (563.3ft); beam 16.8m (55ft)
Draught: 6.3m standard
