The ''Farragut''-class destroyer was a group of 10

guided-missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers who have a prim ...

s built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

(USN) during the 1950s. They were the second destroyer

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

to be named for Admiral

David Farragut David Glasgow Farragut (; also spelled Glascoe; July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. Fa ...

. The class is sometimes referred to as the ''Coontz'' class, since ''Coontz'' was first to be designed and built as a guided-missile ship (under project SCB 142), whereas the previous three ships were designed as all-gun units (under SCB 129) and converted later.Friedman, pp. 295-297DLG 6 / DDG-37 Farragut / DLG 9 Coontz
/ref> The class was originally envisioned as a

Destroyer Leader Destroyer leader (DL) was the United States Navy designation for large destroyers from 9 February 1951 through the early years of the Cold War. United States ships with hull classification symbol DL were officially frigates from 1 January 1955Blac ...

class (DL/DLG, verbally referred to as "Frigates"), but was reclassified as Guided-Missile Destroyers following the 1975 ship reclassification.

Design and description

The ''Farragut'' class was the first class of missile-armed

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escorts to be built as such for the USN. The ships had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads in ...

of , a

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of and a deep

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of . They displaced at full load. Their crew consisted of 23 officers and 337 enlisted men.Friedman, p. 423 The ships were equipped with two geared

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s, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

, using steam provided by 4

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s. The turbines were intended to produce to reach the designed speed of . The ''Farragut'' class had a range of at a speed of .Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 580 The ''Farragut''-class ships were armed with a

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forward. They were fitted with an eight-round

ASROC The RUR-5 ASROC (for "Anti-Submarine Rocket") is an all-weather, all sea-conditions anti-submarine missile system. Developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it was deployed in the 1960s, updated in the 1990s, and eventually installed ...

launcher between the 5-inch (127 mm) gun and the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

. The Farragut (DDG-37) was the only ship of her class that had an ASROC magazine mounted behind the launcher. The class was already top-heavy and the addition of the magazine reportedly made it worse, so the decision was made not to equip the other nine ships with magazines. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two triple Mk 32 torpedo tubes. The primary armament of the ''Farragut''s was the Terrier anti-aircraft missile designed to defend the

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. They were fired via the dual-arm Mark 10 launcher and the ships stowed a total of 40 missiles for the launcher.

Ships in class

Service

Originally commissioned as

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s (DLG), they were redesignated as

s (DDG) under the fleet realignment in 1975. They were also the only redesignated ships to be renumbered as well under the realignment, with the first unit changing from DLG-6 to DDG-37 and all subsequent vessels being renumbered upwards in order. During various refits all ships had their two 3" gun mounts removed and replaced by two quad

Harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, seal hunting, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the t ...

anti-ship missile launchers and their fire control and search radars upgraded to handle SM-2 ER missiles. All ships of the class were decommissioned between 1989 and 1994 and subsequently scrapped.

Notes

References

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External links