Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyer

The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers (DDGs) is the United States Navy's first class of destroyer built around the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D multi-function phased array radar. The class is named for Admiral Arleigh Burke, the most famous American destroyer officer of World War II, and later Chief of Naval Operations. The class leader, USS Arleigh Burke, was commissioned during Admiral Burke's lifetime.

They were designed as multi-role destroyers to fit the AAW (Anti-Aircraft Warfare) with their powerful Aegis radar and anti-aircraft missiles, ASW (Anti-submarine warfare), with their towed sonar array, anti-submarine rockets, and ASW helicopter, ASUW (Anti-surface warfare) with their Harpoon missile launcher, and strategic land strike using their Tomahawk missiles. Some versions of the class no longer have the towed sonar, or Harpoon missile launcher. Their hull and superstructure were designed to have a reduced radar cross section The first ship of the class was commissioned on 4 July 1991. With the decommissioning of the last Spruance-class destroyer, Cushing, on 21 September 2005, the Arleigh Burke-class ships became the U.S. Navy's only active destroyers; the class has the longest production run for any postwar U.S. Navy surface combatant. The Arleigh Burke class is planned to be the third most numerous class of destroyer to serve in the U.S. Navy, after the Fletcher and Gearing classes; besides the 62 vessels of this class (comprising 21 of Flight I, 7 of Flight II and 34 of Flight IIA) in service by 2013, up to a further 42 (of Flight III) have been envisaged.

With an overall length of 505 feet (154 m) to 509 feet (155 m), displacement ranging from 8,315 to 9,200 tons, and weaponry including over 90 missiles, the Arleigh Burke-class ships are larger and more heavily armed than most previous ships classified as guided missile cruisers.

Name: Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
Operators:  United States Navy
Preceded by: Kidd-class guided missile destroyer
Succeeded by: Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer
Cost: US$1,843M (DDG 114–116, FY2011/12)
Planned: 75
Completed: 62
Active: 62
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement:

Fully loaded:

  • Flight I: 8,315 t (8,184 long tons; 9,166 short tons)
  • Flight II: 8,400 t (8,300 long tons; 9,300 short tons)
  • Flight IIA: 9,200 t (9,100 long tons; 10,100 short tons)
  • Flight III: 9,800 t (9,600 long tons; 10,800 short tons)
Length: 505 ft (154 m) (Flights I and II)
509 ft (155 m) (Flight IIA)
Beam: 66 ft (20 m)
Draft: 30.5 ft (9.3 m)
Installed power: 3x Allison AG9140 Generators (2500kW each, 440V)
Propulsion: 4 General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines each generating 27,000 shp(20,000 kW);
coupled to two shafts, each driving a five-bladed reversible controllable pitch propeller;
Total output: 108,000 shp (81,000 kW)
Speed: In excess of 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 4,400 nmi (8,100 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 2 Rigid hull inflatable boats
Complement:
  • Flight I: 303 total
  • Flight IIA: 23 officers, 300 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • AN/SPY-1D 3D Radar
  • AN/SPS-67(V)2 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-73(V)12 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SQS-53C Sonar Array
  • AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array Sonar
  • AN/SQQ-28 LAMPS III Shipboard System
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • AN/SLQ-32(V)2 Electronic Warfare System
  • AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
  • MK 36 MOD 12 Decoy Launching System
  • AN/SLQ-39 CHAFF Buoys
Armament:

 

  • Missiles:
    • Flight I: 90 cell Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS)
      Flights II and IIA: 96 cell Mk 41 VLS
      • BGM-109 Tomahawk
      • RIM-66M Standard medium range SAM (has an ASuW mode)
      • RIM-161 Standard Ballistic missile defense missile for Aegis BMD (15 ships as of March 2009)
      • RIM-162 ESSM SAM (DDG-79 onward)
      • RUM-139 Vertical Launch ASROC
      • RIM-174A Standard ERAM to be added in 2011
    • RGM-84 Harpoon SSM (not in Flight IIA units)
  • Guns:
    • 1 × 5-inch (127-mm)/62 Mk-45 Mod 1/2 (lightweight gun) (DDG-51 through −80); or
      1 × 5-inch (127-mm)/62 Mk-45 mod 4 (lightweight gun) (DDG-81 onwards)
    • 2 × (DDG-51 through −84); or
      1 × (DDG-85 onwards) 20 mm Phalanx CIWS
    • 2 × 25 mm M242 Bushmastercannons
  • Torpedoes:
    • 2 × Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes(six Mk-46 or Mk-50 torpedoes,Mk-54 in the near future)
Aircraft carried:
  • Flights I and II: None
  • Flight IIA onwards: up to two MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters
Aviation facilities:
  • Flights I and II: Flight deck only, but LAMPS III electronics installed on landing deck for coordinated DDG-51/helo ASW operations
  • Flight IIA onwards: Flight deck and enclosed hangars for two MH-60R LAMPS III helicopters

The Arleigh Burke class is among the largest destroyers built in the United States. Only the Spruance and Kidd classes were longer (563 ft). The Burke class are multi-mission ships with a "combination of... an advanced anti-submarine warfare system, land attack cruise missiles, ship-to-ship missiles, and advanced anti-aircraft missiles," The larger Ticonderoga-class ships were constructed on Spruance-class hullforms, but are designated as cruisers due to their radically different mission and weapons systems. The Burke class on the other hand were designed with a new, large, water-plane area-hull form characterized by a wide flaring which significantly improves sea-keeping ability. The hull form is designed to permit high speed in high sea states.

The Arleigh Burke's designers incorporated lessons learned from the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers; with the Arleigh Burke class, the U.S. Navy also returned to all-steel construction. An earlier generation had combined a steel hull with an innovative superstructure made of lighter aluminum to reduce topweight, but the lighter metal proved vulnerable to cracking. Aluminum is also less fire-resistant than steel. A 1975 fire aboard USS Belknap gutted her aluminum superstructure. Battle damage to Royal Navy ships exacerbated by their aluminum superstructures during the 1982 Falklands War supported the decision to use steel. Another lesson from the Falklands War led the navy to protect the ship's vital spaces with double-spaced steel armor (creating a buffer for modern rockets), and kevlar spall liners.

The Ticonderoga-class cruisers were deemed too expensive to continue building and too difficult to further upgrade. The angled rather than traditional vertical surfaces and the tripod mainmast of the Arleigh Burke design are stealth techniques, which make the ship more difficult to detect, in particular by anti-ship missiles.

Ships in class

 Name   Number   Builder   Launched   Commissioned   Home port   Status 
Flight I
Arleigh Burke DDG-51 Bath Iron Works 16 September 1989 4 July 1991 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Barry DDG-52 Ingalls Shipbuilding 8 June 1991 12 December 1992 Norfolk, Virginia Active
John Paul Jones DDG-53 Bath Iron Works 26 October 1991 18 December 1993 San Diego, California Active
Curtis Wilbur DDG-54 Bath Iron Works 16 May 1992 19 March 1994 Yokosuka, Japan Active
Stout DDG-55 Ingalls Shipbuilding 16 October 1992 13 August 1994 Norfolk, Virginia Active
John S. McCain DDG-56 Bath Iron Works 26 September 1992 2 July 1994 Yokosuka, Japan Active
Mitscher DDG-57 Ingalls Shipbuilding 7 May 1993 10 December 1994 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Laboon DDG-58 Bath Iron Works 20 February 1993 18 March 1995 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Russell DDG-59 Ingalls Shipbuilding 20 October 1993 20 May 1995 San Diego, California Active
Paul Hamilton DDG-60 Bath Iron Works 24 July 1993 27 May 1995 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Active
Ramage DDG-61 Ingalls Shipbuilding 11 February 1994 22 July 1995 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Fitzgerald DDG-62 Bath Iron Works 29 January 1994 14 October 1995 Yokosuka, Japan Active
Stethem DDG-63 Ingalls Shipbuilding 17 July 1994 21 October 1995 Yokosuka, Japan Active
Carney DDG-64 Bath Iron Works 23 July 1994 13 April 1996 Mayport, Florida Active
Benfold DDG-65 Ingalls Shipbuilding 9 November 1994 30 March 1996 San Diego, California Active
Gonzalez DDG-66 Bath Iron Works 18 February 1995 12 October 1996 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Cole DDG-67 Ingalls Shipbuilding 10 February 1995 8 June 1996 Norfolk, Virginia Active
The Sullivans DDG-68 Bath Iron Works 12 August 1995 19 April 1997 Mayport, Florida Active
Milius DDG-69 Ingalls Shipbuilding 1 August 1995 23 November 1996 San Diego, California Active
Hopper DDG-70 Bath Iron Works 6 January 1996 6 September 1997 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Active
Ross DDG-71 Ingalls Shipbuilding 22 March 1996 28 June 1997 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Flight II
Mahan DDG-72 Bath Iron Works 29 June 1996 2 February 1998 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Decatur DDG-73 Bath Iron Works 10 November 1996 29 August 1998 San Diego, California Active
McFaul DDG-74 Ingalls Shipbuilding 18 January 1997 25 April 1998 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Donald Cook DDG-75 Bath Iron Works 3 May 1997 4 December 1998 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Higgins DDG-76 Bath Iron Works 4 October 1997 24 April 1999 San Diego, California Active
O'Kane DDG-77 Bath Iron Works 28 March 1998 23 October 1999 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Active
Porter DDG-78 Ingalls Shipbuilding 12 November 1997 20 March 1999 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Flight IIA: 5"/54 variant
Oscar Austin DDG-79 Bath Iron Works 7 November 1998 19 August 2000 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Roosevelt DDG-80 Ingalls Shipbuilding 10 January 1999 14 October 2000 Mayport, Florida Active
Flight IIA: 5"/62 variant
Winston S. Churchill DDG-81 Bath Iron Works 17 April 1999 10 March 2001 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Lassen DDG-82 Ingalls Shipbuilding 16 October 1999 21 April 2001 Yokosuka, Japan Active
Howard DDG-83 Bath Iron Works 20 November 1999 20 October 2001 San Diego, California Active
Bulkeley DDG-84 Ingalls Shipbuilding 21 June 2000 8 December 2001 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Flight IIA: 5"/62, one 20mm CIWS variant
McCampbell DDG-85 Bath Iron Works 2 July 2000 17 August 2002 Yokosuka, Japan Active
Shoup DDG-86 Ingalls Shipbuilding 22 November 2000 22 June 2002 Everett, Washington Active
Mason DDG-87 Bath Iron Works 23 June 2001 12 April 2003 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Preble DDG-88 Ingalls Shipbuilding 1 June 2001 9 November 2002 San Diego, California Active
Mustin DDG-89 Ingalls Shipbuilding 12 December 2001 26 July 2003 Yokosuka, Japan Active
Chafee DDG-90 Bath Iron Works 2 November 2002 18 October 2003 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Active
Pinckney DDG-91 Ingalls Shipbuilding 26 June 2002 29 May 2004 San Diego, California Active
Momsen DDG-92 Bath Iron Works 19 July 2003 28 August 2004 Everett, Washington Active
Chung-Hoon DDG-93 Ingalls Shipbuilding 15 December 2002 18 September 2004 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Active
Nitze DDG-94 Bath Iron Works 3 April 2004 5 March 2005 Norfolk, Virginia Active
James E. Williams DDG-95 Ingalls Shipbuilding 25 June 2003 11 December 2004 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Bainbridge DDG-96 Bath Iron Works 13 November 2004 12 November 2005 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Halsey DDG-97 Ingalls Shipbuilding 9 January 2004 30 July 2005 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Active
Forrest Sherman DDG-98 Ingalls Shipbuilding 2 October 2004 28 January 2006 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Farragut DDG-99 Bath Iron Works 23 July 2005 10 June 2006 Mayport, Florida Active
Kidd DDG-100 Ingalls Shipbuilding 22 January 2005 9 June 2007 San Diego, California Active
Gridley DDG-101 Bath Iron Works 28 December 2005 10 February 2007 San Diego, California Active
Sampson DDG-102 Bath Iron Works 16 September 2006 3 November 2007 San Diego, California Active
Truxtun DDG-103 Ingalls Shipbuilding 2 June 2007 25 April 2009 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Sterett DDG-104 Bath Iron Works 19 May 2007 9 August 2008 San Diego, California Active
Dewey DDG-105 Ingalls Shipbuilding 26 January 2008 6 March 2010 San Diego, California Active
Stockdale DDG-106 Bath Iron Works 10 May 2008 18 April 2009 San Diego, California Active
Gravely DDG-107 Ingalls Shipbuilding 30 March 2009 20 November 2010 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Wayne E. Meyer DDG-108 Bath Iron Works 18 October 2008 10 October 2009 San Diego, California Active
Jason Dunham DDG-109 Bath Iron Works 1 August 2009 13 November 2010 Norfolk, Virginia Active
William P. Lawrence DDG-110 Ingalls Shipbuilding 15 December 2009 4 June 2011 San Diego, California Active
Spruance DDG-111 Bath Iron Works 6 June 2010 1 October 2011 San Diego, California Active
Michael Murphy DDG-112 Bath Iron Works 7 May 2011 6 October 2012 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Active
Flight IIA: Restart
John Finn DDG-113 Ingalls Shipbuilding Construction on contract
Ralph Johnson DDG-114 Ingalls Shipbuilding Construction on contract
Rafael Peralta DDG-115 Bath Iron Works Construction on contract
Flight IIA: Technology Insertion
Thomas Hudner DDG-116 Bath Iron Works Construction on contract
Paul Ignatius DDG-117 Ingalls Shipbuilding Contract awarded
Daniel Inouye DDG-118 Bath Iron Works Contract awarded
DDG-119 Ingalls Shipbuilding Hull contract awarded
DDG-120 Hull contract awarded
DDG-121 Hull contract awarded
DDG-122 Hull contract awarded
Flight III
DDG-123 Hull contract awarded
  DDG-124 Hull contract awarded
  DDG-125 Hull contract awarded

 

USS Michael Murphy was originally intended to be the last of the Arleigh Burke class. However with reduction of the Zumwalt-class production, the Navy requested new DDG-51-class ships. Long-lead materials contracts were awarded to Northrop Grumman in December 2009 for DDG-113 and in April 2010 for DDG-114. General Dynamics received a long-lead materials contract for DDG-115 in February 2010. It is anticipated that in FY2012 or FY2013, the Navy will commence detailed work for a Flight III design and request 24 ships to be built from 2016 to 2031. In May 2013, a total of 77 Burke-class ships was planned. The Flight III variant is in the design phase as of 2013. In June 2013, the US Navy awarded $6.2 billion in destroyer contracts. Up to 42 Flight III ships are expected to be procured by the Navy with the first ship entering service in 2023.