Charles F. Adams-class destroyer

Charles F. Adams-class destroyer
USS Charles F. Adams
Class overview
Name: Charles F. Adams class
Builders:
Operators:
Preceded by: Farragut class
Succeeded by: Spruance class
Subclasses:
Completed: 23
Retired: 23
Preserved: 1
General characteristics
Type: Guided missile destroyer
Displacement:
  • 3,277 tons standard
  • 4,526 full load
Length: 437 ft (133 m)
Beam: 47 ft (14 m)
Draft: 15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × steam turbines providing 70,000 shp (52,000 kW); 2 shafts
  • 4 × 1,275 psi (8,790 kPa) boilers
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Range: 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement: 310-333
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • 1 AN/SPS-10 surface search RADAR[1]
  • 1 AN/SPS-37 air search RADAR[1]
  • 1 AN/SPS-39 3D air search RADAR[1]
  • 2 AN/SPG-51 Tartar fire control RADAR[1][2]
  • 1 AN/SPG-53 gun fire control RADAR[1][3]
  • AN/SQS-23 SONAR[1][4]
Armament:

The Charles F. Adams class is a ship class of 29 guided missile destroyers built between 1958 and 1967. Twenty three destroyers were built for the United States Navy, three for the Royal Australian Navy, and three for the West German Bundesmarine. The design of these ships was based on that of Forrest Sherman-class destroyers, but the Charles F. Adams class were the first class designed to serve as guided missile destroyers. 19 feet (5.8 m) of length was added to the center of the design of the Forrest Sherman class to carry the ASROC launcher. The Charles F. Adams-class destroyers were the last steam turbine-powered destroyers built for the U.S. Navy. Starting with the later Spruance-class destroyers, all U.S. Navy destroyers have been powered by gas turbines. Some of the destroyers of the Charles F. Adams class served during the blockade of Cuba in 1962 and during the War in Vietnam.

Although designed with cutting-edge technology for the 1950s, by the mid-1970s it was clear to the Navy that the Charles F. Adams-class destroyers were not prepared to deal with modern air attacks and guided missile. To reduce this vulnerability, the Navy began the New Threat Upgrade (NTU) program. This consisted of a number of sensor, weapons and communications upgrades that were intended to extend the service lives of the ships. Under the NTU, these destroyers received improved electronic warfare capability through the installation of the AN/SLQ-32(V)2 EW Suite.

The upgraded combat system would include the MK86 Gun Fire Control System with AN/SPQ-9 radar, the Hughes AN/SPS-52C 3D radar, the AN/SPG-51C (Digital) Fire Control Radars, and the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS). These ships were also planned to have the ability to launch several Harpoon antiship missiles, which were to be installed in their MK-11 Tartar missile launcher.

During the 1980s, the Reagan Administration chose to accelerate production of the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers and build the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers as replacements for these and other classes of destroyers, and of nuclear-powered cruisers. The result of this was that only three of these destroyers, Tattnall, Goldsborough, and Benjamin Stoddert received the full upgrade.

Other ships, of the class, such as Charles F. Adams, received only partial upgrades, which included the AN/SLQ-32 and Harpoon Missile upgrades, that were intended to extend their service lives until the Arleigh Burke class could reach operational capability.

The United States Navy decommissioned its last Charles F. Adams destroyer, Goldsborough, on 29 April 1993. The Australian and German navies decommissioned their last ships of this class by 2003. Four ships of this class were transferred to the Hellenic Navy in 1992, but those have also been decommissioned.

Charles F. Adams has been placed on inactive hold status and there are attempts by private groups to have it preserved as a museum ship. The German destroyer Mölders was made into a museum ship, but all of the other destroyers in the class have been sunk as targets, sunk for diving wrecks or sold for scrap.

Ships in class

Mölders, a Lütjens-class destroyer as museum ship of the German Navy
Ship Name Hull No. Commission–
Decommission		 Fate Notes
Charles F. AdamsDDG-21960–1990Museum hold [5]
John KingDDG-31961–1990Scrapped [6]
LawrenceDDG-41962–1990Scrapped [7]
Claude V. RickettsDDG-51962–1989Scrapped [8]
BarneyDDG-61962–1990Scrapped[9]
Henry B. WilsonDDG-71960–1989Sunk as target [10]
Lynde McCormickDDG-81961–1991Sunk as target
TowersDDG-91961–1990Sunk as target
SampsonDDG-101961–1991Scrapped
SellersDDG-111961–1989Scrapped
RobisonDDG-121961–1991Scrapped
HoelDDG-131962–1990Converted to power barge, then scrapped
BuchananDDG-141962–1991Sunk as target
BerkeleyDDG-151962–1992Sold to Greece as Themistocles (D221), scrapped later
Joseph StraussDDG-161963–1990Sold to Greece as Formion (D220), scrapped later
ConynghamDDG-171963–1990Scrapped
SemmesDDG-181962–1991Sold to Greece as Kimon (D218), scrapped later
TattnallDDG-191963–1991Scrapped
GoldsboroughDDG-201963–1993Sold to Australia as a parts hulk, scrapped later
CochraneDDG-211964–1990Scrapped
Benjamin StoddertDDG-221964–1991Sank while under tow en route for scrapping
Richard E. ByrdDDG-231964–1990Sold to Greece for parts, sunk as target later
WaddellDDG-241964–1992Sold to Greece as Nearchos (D219), sunk as target later

Hellenic Navy

Four destroyers were transferred to the Hellenic Navy;

Lütjens class

Lütjens rendering honours after the September 11 attacks

The Lütjens-class destroyer was a modification of the Charles F. Adams class for the Bundesmarine (the Navy of West Germany). It differed from the Charles F. Adams class in the layout of the crew accommodations, the location of the bow sonar, a second large aerial mast and different funnels.

Perth class

Main article: Perth-class destroyer

The Royal Australian Navy had three Charles F. Adams-class units constructed to their own specifications (these ships were designated the Perth class). Although broadly similar to the US Navy's vessels, the Australian ships were fitted with the Ikara system instead of the ASROC that was fitted to the American units. The three ships were:

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Blackman, Raymond V. B. Jane's Fighting Ships (1970/71) p.437
  2. ↑ Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Shipboard Radars" United States Naval Institute Proceedings December 1978 p.144
  3. ↑ Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Shipboard Radars" United States Naval Institute Proceedings December 1978 p.145
  4. ↑ Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Sonars, Part 1" United States Naval Institute Proceedings July 1981 p.119
  5. ↑ http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/DDG2.htm
  6. ↑ http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/DDG3.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/DDG4.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/DDG5.htm
  9. ↑ http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/DDG6.htm
  10. ↑ http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/DDG7.htm

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