Representative examples of early destroyer operations conducted during the subsequent conflict ranged from Operation Market Time, beginning March 11, 1965, when destroyers USS Black (DD 666) and USS Higbee (DD 806) were ordered to inspect native junk traffic, thus preventing supplies and North Vietnamese troops from going into South Vietnam, to combat operations on Nov. 18, 1966, when USS John R. Craig (DD 885) and USS Hamner (DD 718) returned fire after being shelled by enemy shore batteries.
USS Fife (DD 991) underway in the Pacific Ocean in 2002, after her update with the 61-cell Mk. 41 vertical launch system. DOD photo
In parallel with these combat operations, the Navy’s destroyers were experiencing an era of technological transformation. Many war-built ships, such as the Sumner/Gearing class destroyers, underwent various modifications to test weapon systems and extend their viable service life in the atomic era, and new classes of destroyers were also being built. The USS Decatur (DD 936) provides an iconic example of these activities.
Built at Quincy, Massachusetts, and commissioned in December 1956, USS Decatur was a 2,780-ton Forrest Sherman-class destroyer. The Forrest Shermans embodied some of the lessons of World War II and the Korean War, such as more emphasis on anti-air warfare. After a 1957 shakedown cruise through the Caribbean and other special trials, USS Decatur made several crossings of the Atlantic and deployment tours in the Mediterranean Sea. She also served as a spacecraft recovery ship – another new destroyer role – in September 1961 and took part in Cuban Quarantine operations in late 1962.
The Kidd-class USS Callaghan (DDG 994) underway, displaying her chief difference from the Spruance class, the two Mk. 26 twin-arm Standard Missile launchers forward and aft. Often called the “Ayatollah class” because they were originally ordered by the Shah of Iran before he was deposed, they were subsequently named for U.S. Navy admirals killed in action, which earned them the sobriquet “Dead Admiral-class.” More multimission destroyers than the Spruances, the class of four were later sold to Taiwan. DOD photo
However, following a May 1964 collision with the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain (CVS 39), the unrepaired Decatur was placed “in commission, in reserve” to await modernization. Following that subsequent modernization at the Boston Naval Shipyard, USS Decatur was refitted as a guided-missile destroyer in September 1966, her No. 2 and No. 3 5-inch guns replaced with a Tartar missile launcher, along with other modifications, and receiving the new hull number DDG 31.
Another key milestone in the technological evolution of destroyers occurred on Sept. 20, 1975, when USS Spruance (DD 963) was commissioned at Pascagoula, Mississippi. In addition to serving as the first gas turbine-powered U.S. destroyer, USS Spruance represented the first of a highly successful class of anti-submarine warfare destroyers to be armed and later upgraded with new generations of weapon systems.
Sailors assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) commemorate the 12th anniversary of the ship’s commissioning. The Flight IIA Burkes added six feet in length to the hull over that of the Flight I and Flight II ships, for 509 feet overall, and raised full-load displacement to more than 10,000 tons in order to accommodate two helicopter hangars and other updates. Heavily armed and armored, the Burkes are multipurpose destroyers and the core of the fleet. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class David Flewellyn
USS Kidd (DDG 993), commissioned July 27, 1981, was the first of another new class of guided missile destroyer. Similar to the Spruance-class DDGs, but with added armament of two Mk. 26 missile launchers and a combat system similar to Virginia-class cruisers, Kidd-class ships were acquired by the U.S. after originally being built for Iran. For this reason, they were sometimes referred to as the “Ayatollah class.”
In terms of U.S. destroyer technological milestones, however, few can match the July 4, 1991 commissioning of the USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51). Named for the Navy’s most famous destroyer squadron combat commander and three-time Chief of Naval Operations, Arleigh Burke represented the first of the most powerful and survivable class of destroyers ever put to sea.
Left to right, the guided missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69), and the guided missile destroyers USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), USS Carney (DDG 64) and USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) launch a coordinated volley of missiles during a Vandal Exercise (VANDALEX). While the exercise depicted is against anti-ship missile surrogartes, the Aegis system’s BMD capabilities have meant that DDGs are increasingly called upon to provide sea-based missile defense. U.S. Navy photo
Technological subsystems of the “Flight I” Burkes included the Aegis weapons system with the AN/SPY 1-D multi-function radar, capable of detecting and tracking more than one hundred targets simultaneously while conducting multiple engagements; the Vertical Launch System, capable of storing and rapidly firing 90 missiles; the SQQ-89 Antisubmarine Warfare System, with its SQR-19 towed array sonar and the new SQS-53C digital hull-mounted sonar; the Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile system; and the Tomahawk land attack cruise missile system capable of hitting targets hundreds of miles away. In addition, the ship also carries improved versions of the 5-inch gun and the Phalanx close-in weapons system.
Survivability design features were also evident in a return to all steel construction, electromagnetic pulse hardening, enhanced fire fighting features, a collective protection system to provide protection against nuclear, chemical or biological contamination, and improved blast and fragmentation protection. Improvements to the basic design came in the Flight II and Flight IIA ships, with the Flight IIAs adding a helicopter hangar able to serve two helicopters, as well as added vertical launch tubes and improved combat systems. The lack of a helicopter hangar had been one of the few weaknesses identified in the early Burke class. Additional improved Flight IIAs, beginning with DDG 113, are planned for the fleet.
The Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer DDG 1000 is floated out of dry dock at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard. The ship, the first of three Zumwalt-class destroyers, will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces and operate as part of joint and combined expeditionary forces. The radical tumblehome hull and stealthy deckhouse are obvious in this photo, as well as the 155 mm gun of the Advanced Gun System pointing skyward from the stealthy forward turret. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of General Dynamics
While these design enhancements have enabled the new class to fight, to survive a hit, and to continue the fight, they also facilitate the multi-mission capabilities and versatility that have made destroyers the workhorses of the U.S. Navy. The upcoming Flight III Arleigh Burkes will look similar to their sisters, but have many improved radars and combat systems, and be capable of dealing with a wider range of threats. The newer Zumwalt-class destroyers are even larger than the Burkes, with tumblehome hulls and composite deckhouses built for stealth, a new radar and vertical launch system, and a new naval gun. As “electric ships,” the Zumwalts, intended to be limited to a class of three, are also likely to usher in the age of lasers and railguns as surface ship weapons.
For more than a century, U.S. destroyers have expanded and evolved their roles and missions in military operations around the globe. And that evolution continues into the 21st century.