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Belknap-class cruiser

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USS Sterett on 7 September 1990
Class overview
Name: Belknap class
Builders:
Operators:  United States Navy
Preceded by: Leahy class
Succeeded by: California class
Subclasses: Truxtun class
Built: 1962–1967
In commission: 1964–1995
Completed: 9
Active: 0
Retired: 9
General characteristics
Type: Guided missile cruiser
Displacement: 7,930 tons[1] (8,057 metric tons)
Length: 547 ft (167 m)[1]
Beam: 55 ft (17 m)[1]
Draft: 29 ft (8.8 m)[2]
Propulsion: four 1200 psi (8300 kPa) boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts. 85,000 shp (63,384 kW)[1]
Speed: 32 knots[1] (59 km/h)
Complement: 27 officers, 450 enlisted[1]
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:
  • (final configuration)
  • 1 × Mk 10 Mod 7 Guided Missile Launching System with 40 SM-2ER Standard missiles
  • 20 × RUR-5 ASROC Antisubmarine Missiles (Fired from the Mk 10 launcher)
  • 2 × 4 Harpoon missile launchers
  • 2 × 3 Mark 46 torpedo launchers
  • 1 × 5 Inch/54-caliber Mk. 42 gun
  • 2 × Phalanx CIWS[1][2]
    • Armor: none[2]
    Aircraft carried: (final configuration) 1 × SH-2H Seasprite[1]

    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).

    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 single 3"/50 caliber guns[8] 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[]

    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[]

    References[]

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Pike, John E. (5 February 2005). "CG 26 BELKNAP class". GlobalSecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/cg-26-specs.htm. 
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Toppan, Andrew (17 July 2000). "US Cruisers List: Guided Missile Cruisers". Haze Gray and Underway. http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/cruisers/guided.htm. 
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Blackman, Raymond V. B. Jane's Fighting Ships (1970/71) p.429
    4. ↑ Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Shipboard Radars" United States Naval Institute Proceedings December 1978 p.144
    5. ↑ Polmar, Norman "The U.S. Navy: Sonars, Part 1" United States Naval Institute Proceedings July 1981 p.119
    6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Doehring, Thoralf. "The TRUXTUN – class". Unofficial US Navy Site. http://navysite.de/cg/cgn35class.htm. 
    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. 
    8. ↑ https://www.navypedia.org/ships/usa/us_cr_belknap.htm [bare URL]

    Bibliography[]

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

    External links[]

    Belknap-class cruisers
  • Preceded by: USS Bainbridge
  • Followed by: USS Truxtun


    • Coordinates: 38°04′52″N 122°05′19″W / 38.0812°N 122.0885°W / 38.0812; -122.0885

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