Spruance-class destroyer

USS Briscoe on 21 March 2003
Class overview
Name	Spruance class
Builders	Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Charles F. Adams class
Succeeded by	Kidd class Arleigh Burke class
Built	1972–1983
In commission	1975–2005
Completed	31
Active	1 (Paul F. Foster) as SDTS
Retired	30
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	8,040 (long) tons full load
Length	529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall
Beam	55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft	29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MW)
Speed	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) 3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement	19 officers, 315 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems	AN/SPS-40 air search radar AN/SPG-60 fire control radar AN/SPS-55 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar Mark 23 TAS automatic detection and tracking radar AN/SPS-65 Missile fire control radar AN/SQS-53 bow mounted Active sonar AN/SQR-19 TACTAS towed array Passive sonar Naval Tactical Data System
Electronic warfare & decoys	AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures Mark 36 SRBOC Decoy Launching System AN/SLQ-49 Inflatable Decoys AN/WLR 1 in DD-971 & DD-975.
Armament	As built 2 × 5-inch (127mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns 1 × 8-cell ASROC launcher 1 × 8-cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher 2 × Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes) (14 torpedoes) Later fitted 2 × Quadruple Harpoon missile canisters 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns 2 × Quadruple ABL Mark 143 Tomahawk missile launchers (7 ships) 1 × 61-cell Mark 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk/ASROC missiles in place of the 8-cell ASROC launcher (24 ships). 1 × 21-cell Rolling Airframe Missile launcher on some ships
Aircraft carried	2 × Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.
Aviation facilities	Flight deck and enclosed hangar for up to two medium-lift helicopters

The Spruance-class destroyer was developed by the United States to replace the many World War II–built Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class destroyers, and was the primary destroyer built for the United States Navy during the 1970s and 1980s. It was named in honor of U.S. Navy Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, who successfully led major naval battles in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II such as the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

Introduced in 1975, the class was designed with gas-turbine propulsion, a flight deck and hangar for up to two medium-lift helicopters, all-digital weapons, and automated 127 mm (5-inch) guns. The Spruance class was originally designed to escort a carrier group, primarily for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), with point-defense anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) missiles and limited anti-ship capabilities. Two dozen members of the class were upgraded with Tomahawk cruise missiles for land attack.^[1][2] The Navy retired the class somewhat earlier than planned, decommissioning the last ship in 2005. Most Spruances were broken up or destroyed as targets.^[3] Its hull form and propulsion plant were adopted as the foundation of the Ticonderoga-class cruisers constructed in the 1980s. The class was succeeded as the main U.S. destroyer by the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.