Warships and Auxiliaries: Spruance Class Destroyers

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 antisubmarine warfare 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.

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) was so successful that its hull and physical plant were used for the later Kidd-class destroyers. 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. 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.

An air capable mini STOVL 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 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, three DDG-1000s are being built, and the stealth-designed and standard missile equipped Arleigh Burke class is the Navy's only operational class of destroyers. (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.

Some 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.

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.

Ships of the class

Ship Name	Hull No	Service

Spruance	DD-963	1975-2005
Paul F. Foster	DD-964	1976-2003
Kinkaid	DD-965	1976-2003
Hewitt	DD-966	1976-2001
Elliot	DD-967	1977-2003
Arthur W. Radford	DD-968	1977-2003
Peterson	DD-969	1977-2002
Caron	DD-970	1977-2001
David R. Ray	DD-971	1977-2002
Oldendorf	DD-972	1978-2003
John Young	DD-973	1978-2002
Comte de Grasse	DD-974	1978-1998
O'Brien	DD-975	1977-2004
Merrill	DD-976	1978-1998
Briscoe	DD-977	1978-2003
Stump	DD-978	1978-2004
Conolly	DD-979	1978-1998
Moosbrugger	DD-980	1978-2000
John Hancock	DD-981	1978-2000
Nicholson	DD-982	1979-2002
John Rodgers	DD-983	1979-1998
Leftwich	DD-984	1979-1998
Cushing	DD-985	1979-2005
Harry W. Hill	DD-986	1979-1998
O'Bannon	DD-987	1979-2005
Thorn	DD-988	1980-2004
Deyo	DD-989	1980-2003
Ingersoll	DD-990	1980-1998
Fife	DD-991	1980-2003
Fletcher	DD-992	1980-2004
Hayler	DD-997	1983-2003