One of the finest ships I served on. The Ticonderoga-class cruisers, which the new ships are also set to replace, use a hullform based on the now-retired Spruance-class destroyer design. But my heart is always and will be a tin can like dd971I served on the DD-990 and am a plankowner. Weather the decision makers meant that or not – It did affect the Navy force composition.
She was my last ship in a 20 year Naval career.
I was on her when we went to Pascagoula for the retrofit from ASROC to VLS. However, I recognized that necessity.
We slept in the COs cabin, and i had sailors giving me the nonstop tour.
Our first ship, and boy was she a GREAT ONE…I served aboard the Deyo from 84 until 88 and count those years as some of the best of my life.
We’re in dire need of an administration, Congress, and Military Leadership that willing to make the right arguments to them both for WHY we need their unequivocal SUPPORT !I was on-board USS Elliot(DD 967) AS A CTM1 From 1990 until 1993 always a tin-can sailor SPRU-CAN all the way got rid of them way too soon.
Personally I think to many people are in a hurry to use these fine ladies for target practice.Precom and of course plank owner on the USS Hewitt, DD-966.
Would love to hear about a reunionPlankowner on DD997 USS Hayler. The career politicians let us down again, surprise surprise.I too precommed and was a plank owner of DD-990 USS Ingersoll.
What a great tour of duty.
I too have many fond memories of Pascagoula, Miss.
Funny thing we’re all correct, and all saddened at the premature end of every damn one of them,regardless of the reason for it. Isn’t it odd,(or not), that each of us was on the best “Spru can”.
Weapons systems limited, did they have NTDS, how about Engineers, were their power plants like?
The original contract was for 26 ships and to deplete the Navy of those ships – as quick as they did was a move to deplete the Navy. Back in the early 1970s, the US Navy needed a replacement for the old FRAM’d WWII era As a kid, I used to sit at the old Point on Beach Boulevard and watch these sleek 563-foot long greyhounds birthed for Poseidon’s fox hunts.They were called the “Love Boats” back then since they were the size of WWII light cruisers (8000-tons), yet only carried a pair of 5-inch guns (Mk45 rapid-fire jobs that provided more firepower than twice as many of the old Still, they made good backdrop for 1984 recruiting commercials– set in British controlled Hong Kong!In their defense, most were funded by the bankrupt Carter military and their armament suite was superior to the destroyers they were supposed to replace. aft fire room brovo 3The big secret to this whole thing is that it was cheaper to up grade then build a new ship. Nice article on the ships, they were built for speed. It is sad that these fine ships were scrapped or sunk with just 20 or so years of service.I also served on the Uss Harry W Hill from sept 1 85 to april 9 88. !My brother Roy and I were one of 2 sets of brothers that were plankowners on the David R. Ray. Other than those small errors, I found the article to be very noteworthy and interesting.Yet another Conolly DD 979 plankowner here. As the Aegis combat system and the additional cruiser roles added substantial weight to the Because of these retirements, the U.S. Navy was expected to fall short of its requirement for 94 missile defense By October 2012, the U.S. Navy had decided not to retire four of the cruisers early in order to maintain the size of the fleet. I think, for the most bang for the buck, they were GREAT…and specialized sub hunters like you mentioned. I met the ship of the coast of Beirut In Sept 83 where she was the first ship with the new 5″54 gun system to draw blood. She was a fine ship and it broke my heart to hear that she was used as target practice and sunk. Mike Sullivan. They were a fast, maneuverable ship. Even the Sink-ex ships took a pounding before going down.I served on USS Oldendorf DD 972.
The Ticos and the Burkes have steel superstructures.I served onboard the US John Young DD973 from 92-96. (Glennon DD-840 and Belleau Wood LHA-3)Sir, while I respect your overall conclusion that Spru-cans combat systems were their downfall, I disagree that they should have been scrapped at that point. The Ticonderoga / Spruance class detail set was designed to fit all 1/700 scale models of the class(s). They drove the ship hard a lot, tore the fantail hand rail and trash chute several times. Remember the Pascagoula shipyard and all the pre-commissioning work we did. I am so disheartened and can only shake my head. But later on the railings (or whatever the term is) are gray like the rest of the ship?I don’t know if this went through the first time, but if it did I apologize…Not entirely sure on the railings issue. Video of Stump SINKEX literally brought me to tears…Yorktown is decommissioned, but still afloat up in the northeast pending some kind of decision on disposition. We also had a major gunfire casualty due to a coke can being disposed inside of our fire control computer. Moreover, the class had an enormous RF reflectivity, making them huge targets. That was do able and would have made sense.A bit of a story first, Capt., then a thought about what you wrote. There are designs out that show the sprucans with an aegis up- grade.