Spruance class destroyer

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General Characteristics
Image:USSSpruanceDD-963.jpg USS Spruance cruises in the Atlantic Ocean.
Displacement:	8,040 tons full load.
Length:	529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall.
Beam:	55 ft (16.8 m)
Draught:	29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion:	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines; 80,000 shp (60 MW); 2 x shafts.
Speed:	32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h); 3,300 nautical miles (6,000 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h).
Complement:	19 officers, 315 enlisted
Armament:	2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns; 2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns; 1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher; 1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher; 2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters; 2 x triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk46 torpedoes); 2 x quadruple ABL Mark 43 Tomahawk missile launchers (some ships of the class); 1 x 21 cell Rolling Airframe Missile launcher in some ships. A 61-cell Mark 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk/ASROC missiles was fitted to 24 ships in place of the 8-cell ASROC launcher.
Aircraft:	2 x SH-60B Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.
Radars:	AN/SPS 40B/C/D air search, AN/SPS 55 surface search, Mark 86 GFCS with AN/SPG-60 and AN/SPQ9A, SWG-2 Tomahawk weapon control system in ABL ships (SWG-3 in VLS ships), Mark 91 missile FCS, Mark 116 ASW FCS.
Sonars:	AN/SQS 53A bow-mounted sonar (AN/SQS 53B in DD-980), AN/SQR 19(V) TACTAS towed array in DD-980.
EW:	AN/SLQ 25 Nixie, AN/SLQ32V, AN/WLR 1 in DD-971 & DD-975.

The Spruance-class destroyer was developed to replace a large number of World War II-built Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class destroyers, and was the primary destroyer built for the U.S. Navy during the 1970s. The class was designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) with point defense AAW missiles; upgrades provided anti-ship and land attack capabilities. The ships were initially controversial, especially among members of Congress who believed that their unimposing looks, with only two guns and an ASROC or ABL missile launcher per ship implied that the vessels were weak. Nonetheless, they were very successful for their intended ASW roles.

The "Spru-cans" were the first large U.S. Navy ships to use gas turbine propulsion; they have four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines to generate about 80,000 horsepower (60 MW). This configuration was so successful that its hull and physical plant were used for the later Kidd-class destroyers, and a slightly lengthened version of the hull was used for the Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

The entire class of 30 ships was contracted on June 23, 1970 to the Litton-Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, under the Total Package Procurement concept forced on the Navy by the Whiz Kids of Robert McNamara's Pentagon. The idea was to reap the benefits of mass construction, but labor and technical problems caused cost overrruns and delayed construction. One additional ship, USS Hayler, was ordered on September 29, 1979. Four additional ships were built for the Iranian Navy with the Mark 26/Standard AAW missile system but were completed as Kidd-class destroyers for the U.S. Navy.

The Spruance design is modular in nature, allowing for easy installation of entire subsystems within the ship. Although initialled designed for anti-submarine warfare, 24 ships of this class were upgraded with the installation of a 61 cell Vertical Launch Missile System (VLS) capable of launching Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles, while the remaining 7 ships not upgraded were decomissioned early.

The last Spruance-class destroyer on active service, USS Cushing, was decommissioned on September 21, 2005.

Larry Blumberg was the first commanding officer of a Spruance-class destroyer.

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