Belknap-class Cruiser
Description
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. 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. These were unofficially spoken of as Ter/AS (tear-ass) launchers. The class was also equipped with two twin 3"/50 caliber guns for defence against sub-sonic aircraft. 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.
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.
Ships in class
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
- List of cruisers of the United States Navy
- List of United States Navy destroyer leaders
- Nuclear powered cruisers of the United States Navy