Belknap-class cruiser

The Belknap-class cruiser was a class of single-ended guided missile cruisers (their missile armament was installed only forward, unlike "double-ended" missile cruisers with missile armament installed both forward and aft) built for the United States Navy during the 1960s. They were originally designated as DLG frigates (destroyer leaders; the USN use of the term frigate from 1950 to 1975 was intended to evoke the power of the sailing frigates of old), but in the 1975 fleet realignment, they were reclassified as guided missile cruisers (CG).

USS Belknap, lead ship of her class
Class overview
Name: Belknap class
Builders: Several
Operators:  United States Navy
Preceded by: Leahy class
Succeeded by: California class
Subclasses: Truxtun class
Built: 1962-1967
In commission: 1964-1995
Completed: 9
Retired: 9
General characteristics
Type: Guided missile cruiser
Displacement: 7,930 tons [1] (8,057 metric tons)
Length: 547 ft (167 m) [1]
Beam: 55 ft (17 m) [1]
Draft: 29 ft (8.8 m) [2]
Propulsion: four 1200 psi (8300 kPa) boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts. 85,000 shp (63,384 kW)[1]
Speed: 32 knots [1] (59 km/h)
Complement: 27 officers, 450 enlisted [1]
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:
Armor: none [2]
Aircraft carried: (final configuration) 1 × SH-2H Seasprite [1]

Description

When commissioned, the main armament of the Belknap class was a 5-inch/54-caliber Mk. 42 gun on the quarterdeck and a twin-rail RIM-2 Terrier Mk 10 Missile Launcher on the foredeck.[6] The Mk 10 Mod 7 launchers in this class were also capable of launching RUR-5 ASROC to eliminate need for a separate Mk 112 ASROC launcher.[7] These were unofficially spoken of as Ter/AS (tear-ass) launchers. The class was also equipped with two twin 3"/50 caliber guns for defence against sub-sonic aircraft.[2] In the early 1980s, the Terrier missiles were replaced with RIM-67 Standard missiles; and during the NTU program in the late 1980s and early 1990s the class had its Standard SM-1 system upgraded to utilize SM-2ER Block II, the 3-inch guns were replaced with two 4 cell Harpoon Surface-to-surface missile launchers, and two Phalanx CIWS systems were installed.[2]

The derivative USS Truxtun shared the weapons systems outfit of the Belknap class, but was nuclear-powered, larger and substantially unrelated in design (for example, many weapons systems in different locations, such as the aft-facing GMLS). Most information related to nuclear cruisers is still classified, but Truxtun appears to be more a Belknap-like derivative of the nuclear cruiser Bainbridge than the other way around.[6]

Ships in class
Name Pennant Builder Laid Down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Fate
Belknap-class conventional cruiser
Belknap CG-26 Bath Iron Works, Bath 5 February 1962 20 July 1963 7 November 1964 15 February 1995 Sunk as target, 24 September 1998
Josephus Daniels CG-27 23 April 1962 2 December 1963 8 May 1965 21 January 1994 Broken up at Brownsville, 1999
Wainwright CG-28 2 July 1962 25 April 1965 8 January 1966 15 November 1993 Sunk as target, 12 June 2002
Jouett CG-29 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton 25 September 1962 30 June 1964 3 December 1966 28 January 1994 Sunk as target, 10 August 2007
Horne CG-30 San Francisco Naval Shipyard, San Francisco 12 December 1962 30 October 1964 15 April 1967 4 February 1994 Sunk as target, 29 June 2008
Sterett CG-31 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton 25 September 1962 30 June 1964 8 April 1967 24 March 1994 Broken up at Brownsville, 2005
William H. Standley CG-32 Bath Iron Works, Bath 29 July 1963 19 December 1964 9 July 1966 11 February 1994 Sunk as target, 25 June 2005
Fox CG-33 Todd Shipyard, San Pedro 15 January 1963 21 November 1964 8 May 1966 15 April 1994 Broken up at Brownsville, 2008
Biddle CG-34 Bath Iron Works, Bath 9 December 1963 2 July 1965 21 January 1967 30 November 1993 Broken up at Philadelphia, 2001
Truxtun-class nuclear-powered cruiser
Truxtun CGN-35 New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden 17 June 1963 19 December 1964 27 May 1967 11 September 1995 Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 1999
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See also

References
  1. Pike, John E. (5 February 2005). "CG 26 BELKNAP class". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
  2. Toppan, Andrew (17 July 2000). "US Cruisers List: Guided Missile Cruisers". Haze Gray and Underway. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
  3. Blackman, Raymond V. B. Jane's Fighting Ships (1970/71) p.429
  4. Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Shipboard Radars" United States Naval Institute Proceedings December 1978 p.144
  5. Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Sonars, Part 1" United States Naval Institute Proceedings July 1981 p.119
  6. Doehring, Thoralf. "The TRUXTUN - class". Unofficial US Navy Site. Retrieved 13 January 2007.
  7. Bauer, Karl Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 215. ISBN 0313262020.

Bibliography
  • Bellars, Robert A. (2007). "Question 41/88?: U.S. Naval Relics". Warship International. XLIV (2): 157–158. ISSN 0043-0374.

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