USS ''Spruance'' (DD-963) was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of 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 ...

's of destroyers and was named after Admiral Raymond A. Spruance. ''Spruance'' was built by the

Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 employees, the second largest ...

Division of

Litton Industries Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States named after inventor Charles Litton Sr. During the 1960s, the company began acquiring many unrelated firms and became one of the largest conglomerates in the United States. A ...

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport– Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2 ...

, and launched by Mrs. Raymond A. Spruance. ''Spruance'' served in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, assigned to Destroyer Squadron 24 and operating out of Naval Station Mayport, Florida. ''Spruance'' was decommissioned on 23 March 2005 and then was sunk as a target on 8 December 2006.

History

1960s

Bath Iron Works Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics. It is the fifth-largest ...

, General Dynamics and

submitted proposals for production of DD-963 on 3 April 1969. Of the $30 million assigned, $28.5 million has been provided to three contractors. Eventually, Litton's bid won the competition.

1970s

''Spruance'' was the first of a highly-successful class of

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

and anti-ship destroyers, and was the first destroyer powered by

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

s in the U.S. Navy. At first she was armed with two 5-inch

naval gun Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firing weapons and excludes ...

s, an

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 ...

missile launcher, and an eight-cell NATO Sea Sparrow missile launcher. ''Spruance'' received one Mark 41

Vertical Launch System A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of ''cells'', which can hold one or mor ...

(VLS) during the late 1980s. This replaced the original Mark 16 ASROC launcher. Also added to ''Spruance'' after several years of service was an eight-cell launcher for

Harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, 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 target animal ...

antiship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good nu ...

s. ''Spruance''s first operational deployment was in October 1979 to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

, as a member of the Carrier Battle Group. The other

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...

s in this task force included , , , and . During this deployment, ''Spruance'' made a transit into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

to conduct surveillance on the new Soviet

helicopter carrier A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters, and has a large flight deck that occupies a substantial part of the deck, which can extend the full length of the ship like of the Royal Navy ...

, , as she steamed from her building shipyard to the Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet. ''Spruance'' suffered a malfunction in one of her

LM2500 The General Electric LM2500 is an industrial and marine gas turbine produced by GE Aviation. The LM2500 is a derivative of the General Electric CF6 aircraft engine. As of 2004, the U.S. Navy and at least 29 other navies had used a total of more ...

Gas Turbine Main Engines and had to replace the engine while deployed. This was done successfully in port. ''Spruance'', being the first gas-turbine powered ship in the U.S. fleet, had an underway replenishment breakaway flag (flown while pulling away from receiving supplies and fuel from a logistics ship at sea) that was a replication of the large yellow warning seen on the side of aircraft carriers, with red block letters saying "BEWARE JET BLAST" on a large yellow background. Upon "breaking" (unfurling) the flag on the halyards, they would play the theme song from the 1976 film ''Rocky'' as they increased speed and sailed ahead of the logistics vessel.

1980s

''Spruance'' entered her first major overhaul in 1980 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. During a brief shipyard period in 1983, she received the

Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS (often spoken as "sea-wiz") is a gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the Gen ...

and the TAS Mk 23 radar system. ''Spruance'' steamed to the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

in 1983 including a port visit to

Mombasa, Kenya Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

, in May 1983. She briefly took station off

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in June 1982 before being relieved. In 1982, she transited both the Suez Canal and the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

during the same summer. ''Spruance'' deployed for a six-month period in January 1983 to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

where she spent four and one-half months conducting observations in company with during the Iraq-Iran War. She also conducted operations with Teamwork '84 in the northern Atlantic and in the Arctic Ocean in 1984. She deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in November 1984 and conducted her second Black Sea Operations over Thanksgiving 1984. She returned from her deployment in May 1985 and shortly thereafter entered her second overhaul period during which she received VLS, Towed Array, and the SH 60. She deployed for a six-month period on 26 May 1993 to the Red Sea where she spent over three and a half months conducting visit and board and search operations in support of United Nations sanctions against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. While attached to the U.S. Sixth Fleet, ''Spruance'' conducted a brief stop for fuel in

Rota, Spain The town of Rota is a Spanish municipality located in the Province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Its surface area is 84 km2 and is bordered by the towns of Chipiona, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María. It is located near the city o ...

, followed by a liberty port visit in Palma, Spain. Additional stops in the Mediterranean consisted of a brief stop in Augusta Bay,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, then to Souda Bay,

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

, for a maintenance period (IMAV) with . ''Spruance'' passed through the Suez Canal on 29 June. Admirals

Vern Clark Vernon Eugene Clark (born September 7, 1944) is a retired admiral who served as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) of the United States Navy. He retired on July 22, 2005, making his tenure of five years the second-longest serving CNO behind Ar ...

and

Gary Roughead Gary Roughead ( "rough head"; born July 15, 1951) is a former United States Navy officer who served as the 29th Chief of Naval Operations from September 29, 2007 to September 22, 2011. He previously served as Commander, United States Fleet Forces ...

(who would later go on to become the 27th and 29th Chiefs of Naval Operations, respectively), were ''Spruance''s commanding officer and executive officer, respectively, from 1984 to 1985. On 26 January 1989, ''Spruance'' ran aground on a reef while traveling at near Andros Island in the Bahamas. The incident occurred during anti-submarine training exercises in the deep-water trench east of the island. Navy tugs and the USS ''Boone'' re-floated the ship, which suffered $1.8 million in damage to the hull, propellers, sonar dome, and forward mast. A Navy report faulted a junior officer who was in command at the time of the incident, Lt. W.T. Hicks, finding that he ignored the advice of the quartermaster who advised against a course change that would take them closer to the reef. Hicks was discharged from the Navy following the grounding. Neither the ship's skipper, Commander Travis W. Parker Jr., or the Executive Officer, Commander J.M. Braeckel, were on the bridge at the time of the maneuvers that led to the grounding.

1990s

Upon arrival in the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

, under command of CTG 152.1, Commander Maritime Interdiction Forces, ''Spruance'' assumed the duties of the flagship for the task force commander. While on station, ''Spruance'' was the flagship for three different task force commanders. While on station, ''Spruance'' conducted exercises with the Egyptian Navy and the

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

ian Navy. During ''Spruance''s tenure in the Red Sea, she conducted several port visits to

Hurghada, Egypt Hurghada (; ar, الغردقة ', ) is a city in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt. It is one of the country's main tourist centres located on the Red Sea coast. Overview Hurghada was founded in the early 20th century. For many decades it wa ...

, for crew rest and relaxation. Other official port visits were conducted in Safaga, Egypt, and

Aqaba, Jordan Aqaba (, also ; ar, العقبة, al-ʿAqaba, al-ʿAgaba, ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative centre of the Aqaba Govern ...

, where ''Spruance'' hosted receptions for top military and embassy officials. On 10 September 1993, ''Spruance'' intercepted the 18,000th ship since sanctions were put into place in August 1990, as part of the multinational maritime interception effort enforcing United Nations sanctions against Iraq. The ship's crew intercepted the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier "Early Star" in the North Red Sea during normal intercept operations. The merchant ship was sailing from

Massaua Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak ...

, Eritrea, to Aqaba. As the ship was empty, it was allowed to proceed toward its destination. ''Spruance'' was relieved as flagship by on 9 October after having completed more than 170 boardings, and then started her transit homeward through the Suez Canal on 11 October. Once back in the

, the ship made port calls in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

, France;

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

, Spain; and

. She returned home on 14 November. In July 1994, as part of Operation Restore Democracy, U.S. Navy ships were assigned to helping to enforce the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

embargo of Haiti. However, so many Haitians were picked up from the sea that

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

ships needed an assist from U.S. Navy ships in the region to handle the volume. Among these was ''Spruance'' which took onboard nine hundred Haitians for the transit to Guantanamo Naval Station. ''Spruance'' transferred to Portsmouth, Virginia and entered drydock after the deployment. In mid-1996, ''Spruance'' took part in the 24th annual U.S. invitational maritime exercise in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

, the BALTOPS 96 exercise. Made up of air, surface and subsurface operations, the exercise involved 47 ships and aircraft from 12 different squadrons sent by 13

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

-member and Partnership for Peace nations:

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, Denmark,

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, Russia, Sweden,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and United States. ''Spruance'' steamed in the Mediterranean from April through October 1997 with the

carrier battle group A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The ''CV'' in ''CVBG'' is the United States Navy hull classification code for an ai ...

supporting . Serving as the flagstaff of Destroyer Squadron 24, ''Spruance'' made significant contributions throughout the deployment including: visiting thirteen foreign ports; participating in five multinational naval exercises in the

and the Black Sea; serving as Presidential Support Ship in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, Netherlands; representing the U.S. Navy in Thoule Sur Mer,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, in commemorating the fifty-second anniversary of the Allied landings in southern France; and hosting

Ukrainian military , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...

and diplomatic distinguished visitors during the 1997

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Independence Day celebration. During that period, ''Spruance'' also took part in the Partnership For Peace Exercise "Sea Breeze 97" in the Black Sea. Sea Breeze 97 trained military forces on how to provide humanitarian relief for victims of a simulated earthquake in Southern Ukraine. In the fall of 1999, ''Spruance'' detached from the ''John F. Kennedy'' carrier group to relieve as the U.S. representative to the Standing Naval Forces Mediterranean (STANAVFORMED). After dealing with the effects of

Hurricane Floyd Hurricane Floyd was a very powerful Cape Verde hurricane which struck the Bahamas and the East Coast of the United States. It was the sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and third major hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Floyd tr ...

and

Hurricane Gert Hurricane Gert was a large tropical cyclone that caused extensive flooding and mudslides throughout Central America and Mexico in September 1993. The seventh named storm and third hurricane of the annual hurricane season, Gert originated as ...

off the east coast of Florida, ''Spruance'' crossed the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and entered the Mediterranean with other ships from the ''John F. Kennedy'' carrier group. STANAVFORMED is part of NATO's 'Reaction Force' and as such was ready to respond to any crisis in NATO's area of interest, although its primary area of operations is the Mediterranean. ''Spruance'' was expected to remain assigned to STANAVFORMED through March 2000.

2000s

On 1 June 2000, ''Spruance'' became the first U.S. Navy ship to use the

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, in over ten years. She left Naval Station Mayport, Florida, early on 1 June, traveled up the St. John's River to the drydock facility, and remained there until early August. During the drydock, the ship was raised out of the water, her hull was cleaned and inspected, and corrective and preventative maintenance was performed. On 24 September 2001, as part of the ''John F. Kennedy'' Carrier Battle Group, ''Spruance'' commenced use of the

Vieques Island Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Ric ...

inner range in conjunction with their Composite Unit Training Exercises (COMPTUEX). The exercise, which began the week prior, also utilized the northern and southern Puerto Rican operating areas, and involved complex battle group training events, naval surface fire-support training and air-to-ground bombing. COMPTUEX is an intermediate level battle group exercise designed to forge the battle group into a cohesive, fighting team, and is a critical step in the predeployment training cycle and prerequisite for the battle group's Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) scheduled for early the following year. Successful completion of the COMPTUEX also certifies the carrier and its embarked air wing as qualified for open ocean operations. ''Spruance'', along with the ''John F. Kennedy'' carrier group took part, from 19 January through 26 January 2002, in Phase I of Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) 02-1; and from 7 – 14 February in Phase II of Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) 02-1. The JTFEX is designed to meet the requirement for quality, realistic training to prepare U.S. forces for joint and combined operations and also provides the opportunity to certify the CVBG for deployment. That particular JTFEX was scheduled for two phases to accommodate recent repairs to the carrier, which required it to be pierside during Phase I. The exercise took place in the waters off the East Coast, as well as on training ranges in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

and Florida. Deploying with the ''John F. Kennedy'' carrier group in June 2004, ''Spruance'' returned to Mayport on 7 December 2004. She decommissioned 23 March 2005. She was sunk as a target for aircraft launched

missiles on 8 December 2006.

Gallery

File:USS Spruance (DD-963) running trials in the Gulf of Mexico, in February 1975 (USN 1161134).jpg, USS ''Spruance'' in February 1975 File:330-CFD-DN-SC-84-00619 (21904492910).jpg, USS ''Spruance'' on 1 February 1982 File:USS Spruance (DD-963) underway on 20 November 1986 (6416412).jpg, USS ''Spruance'' on 29 November 1986 File:USS Spruance (DD-963) underway after her Mark 41 VLS modernization, circa in June 1987 (NH 96851).jpg, USS ''Spruance'' in June 1987

Awards

Joint Meritorious Unit Award The Joint Meritorious Unit Award (JMUA) is a US military award that was established on June 4, 1981, by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and was implemented by Department of Defense Directive 1348.27 dated July 22, 1982. The Joint Meritor ...

– (Jun-Aug 1991, Feb-Mar 1992) * Navy Unit Commendation – (Jan-Feb 1991, Aug 1990-Nov 1991) * Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation – (Jan-Apr 1980, May-Jul 1996, Jan 1999-Sep 2001, Apr-Sep 2002) *

Navy E Ribbon The Navy "E" Ribbon or Battle Efficiency Ribbon (informally the Battle "E" ribbon) was authorized on March 31, 1976, by Secretary of the Navy J. William Middendorf as a unit award for battle efficiency competition. The service ribbon replaced t ...

– (1978, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998) * Southwest Asia Service Medal – (Feb-Mar 1991)

References

External links

*
navsource.org: USS ''Spruance''Navy Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spruance (Dd-963) Spruance-class destroyers Cold War destroyers of the United States 1973 ships Ships sunk as targets