Belknap-class cruiser
![]() USS Sterett on 7 September 1990
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Class overview | |
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Name | Belknap class |
Builders | Several |
Operators | ![]() |
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 |
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Armor | none[2] |
Aircraft carried | (final configuration) 1 × SH-2H Seasprite[1] |
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),[citation needed] but in the 1975 fleet realignment, they were reclassified as guided missile cruisers (CG).
Description
[edit]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.[citation needed] 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
[edit]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 |
See also
[edit]- List of cruisers of the United States Navy
- List of United States Navy destroyer leaders
- Nuclear powered cruisers of the United States Navy
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h Pike, John E. (5 February 2005). "CG 26 BELKNAP class". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
- ^ a b c d e 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.
- ^ a b c d Blackman, Raymond V. B. Jane's Fighting Ships (1970/71) p.429
- ^ Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Shipboard Radars" United States Naval Institute Proceedings December 1978 p.144
- ^ Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Sonars, Part 1" United States Naval Institute Proceedings July 1981 p.119
- ^ 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
[edit]- Bellars, Robert A. (2007). "Question 41/88?: U.S. Naval Relics". Warship International. XLIV (2): 157–158. ISSN 0043-0374.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Belknap-class frigates at Destroyer History Foundation
- FAS write-up