Belknap_class_cruiser

<i>Belknap</i>-class cruiser

Belknap-class cruiser

US guided missile cruiser class

The Belknap-class cruiser was a class of single-ended guided-missile cruisers (their missile armament was installed only forward, unlike "double-ended" missile cruisers with missile armament installed both forward and aft) built for the United States Navy during the 1960s. They were originally designated as DLG frigates (destroyer leaders; the USN use of the term frigate from 1950 to 1975 was intended to evoke the power of the sailing frigates of old),[citation needed] but in the 1975 fleet realignment, they were reclassified as guided missile cruisers (CG).

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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.[6] 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.[7] These were unofficially spoken of as Ter/AS (tear-ass) launchers.[citation needed] The class was also equipped with two twin 3"/50 caliber guns for defence against sub-sonic aircraft.[2] 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.[2]

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.[6]

Ships in class

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See also

References

  1. [1]
    Pike, John E. (5 February 2005). "CG 26 BELKNAP class". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
  2. [2]
    Toppan, Andrew (17 July 2000). "US Cruisers List: Guided Missile Cruisers". Haze Gray and Underway. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
  3. [3]
    Blackman, Raymond V. B. Jane's Fighting Ships (1970/71) p.429
  4. [4]
    Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Shipboard Radars" United States Naval Institute Proceedings December 1978 p.144
  5. [5]
    Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Sonars, Part 1" United States Naval Institute Proceedings July 1981 p.119
  6. [6]
    Doehring, Thoralf. "The TRUXTUN – class". Unofficial US Navy Site. Retrieved 13 January 2007.
  7. [7]
    Bauer, Karl Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 215. ISBN 0313262020.

Bibliography

  • Bellars, Robert A. (2007). "Question 41/88?: U.S. Naval Relics". Warship International. XLIV (2): 157–158. ISSN 0043-0374.
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