The Kilo class, Soviet designation Project 877 Paltus (Russian: Па́лтус, meaning "halibut"), NATO reporting name Kilo, is a class of diesel-electric attack submarines designed and built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. The class was built until the mid-1990s, when production was switched to the more advanced Project 636 Varshavyanka variant, also known as Improved Kilo-class in the West.
Role
These attack submarines are mainly intended for anti-shipping and anti-submarine operations in relatively shallow waters. Original Project 877 boats are equipped with Rubikon MGK-400 sonar system (with NATO reporting name Shark Gill), which includes a mine detection and avoidance sonar MG-519 Arfa (with NATO reporting name Mouse Roar).
Newer Project 636 boats are equipped with improved MGK-400EM, with MG-519 Arfa also upgraded to MG-519EM. MGK 400E can detect submarines with 0.05 Pa/Hz noisiness in 16 km and surface vessels with 10 Pa/Hz noisiness in 100 km. The improved sonar systems have reduced the number of operators needed by sharing the same console via automation.
Anechoic tiles are fitted on casings and fins to absorb the sound waves of active sonar, which results in a reduction and distortion of the return signal. These tiles also help attenuate sounds that are emitted from the submarine, thus reducing the range at which the submarine may be detected by passive sonar.
Future
The Kilo class was to have been succeeded by the Lada class. However, by November 2011 it was apparent that the Lada-class would be delayed because Sankt Peterburg (B-585), the lead boat of the class, had shown major deficiencies. On 27 July 2012, the Russian Navy commander-in-chief announced that construction of the Lada-class submarines would resume, having undergone design changes. Series production was reported to be underway in the latter 2010s.
Nevertheless, the Russian Navy has also moved forward with the construction of Project 636.3, an improved version of the Kilo-class. Six units have been built for the Black Sea Fleet and further boats are being built for the Pacific and Baltic Fleets.
Variants
One Kilo-class submarine, B-871, was equipped with pump-jet propulsion.
The version Kilo 636MV (exported to Vietnam) contains a GE2-01 radar and an improved MGK 400E sonar. In this version, the submarine is also able to operate in more weather conditions than the original Kilo-class submarines.
Operators
The first submarine entered service in the Soviet Navy in 1980, and the class remains in use with the Russian Navy today. As of September 2011, 17 vessels were believed to still be in active service with the Russian Navy, while seven vessels were thought to be in reserve. 40 vessels have been exported to several countries:
Algeria: 2 Original Kilo (Project 877), 4 Improved Kilo (Project 636).
People's Republic of China: 2 Original Kilo (Project 877), 10 Improved Kilo (Project 636).
India: 10 Original Kilo (Project 877), 1 sustained major casualty; – Designated as the Sindhughosh class
Myanmar: one boat transferred from Indian Navy by March 2020.
Poland: 1 Original Kilo (Project 877) – ORP Orzeł.
Iran: 3 Original Kilo (Project 877).
Romania: 1 Original Kilo (Project 877) – Romanian submarine Delfinul.
Russia: 22 Original Kilo (Project 877),[27] 6 Improved Kilo (Project 636.3) and additional 6 Improved Kilo on order (636.3) for Pacific Fleet to be delivered 2019–2021. One more submarine was ordered in August 2020, during the International Military-Technical Forum "ARMY-2020".
Vietnam: 6 Improved Kilo (Project 636). Includes Vietnamese submarine Hồ Chí Minh City, Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng, Khánh Hoà, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu.
Specifications:
Displacement:
2,300–2,350 tons surfaced
3,000–4,000 tons submerged
Dimensions:
Length: 70–74 meters
Beam: 9.9 meters
Draft: 6.2–6.5 meters
Maximum speed
10–12 knots surfaced (18–22 km/h)
17–25 knots submerged (31–46 km/h)
Propulsion: Diesel-electric 5,900 shp (4,400 kW)
Maximum depth: 300 meters (240–250 meters operational)
Endurance
400 nautical miles (700 km) at 3 knots (6 km/h) submerged
6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 7 knots (13 km/h) snorkeling (7,500 miles for the Improved Kilo class)
45 days sea endurance
Armament
Air defence: 8 Strela-3 or 8 Igla-1, but after sea trial it has been rejected by the navy.
Six 533 mm torpedo tubes with 18 53-65 ASuW or TEST 71/76 ASW torpedoes or VA-111 Shkval supercavitating torpedoes, or 24 DM-1 mines,
Kalibr-PL (export name Club-S) system comprising four launchers for individual anti-ship, anti-submarine and land attack cruise missiles[citation needed]
Crew: 52
Price per unit is US$200–250 million (China paid approx. US$1.5-2 billion for 8 Project 636 Kilo-class submarines)
The People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force (PLANSF) is the submarine service of the People's Liberation Army Navy. It consists of all types of submarines in operational service organized into three fleets: the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet, and the South Sea Fleet. Submarines have long been one of the three focuses of the People's Liberation Army Navy (the other two are aircraft and major surface combatants), and when the decision was made in late 2006 to concentrate on building other principal surface combatants to strengthen the air defense and to further delay the construction of aircraft carriers due to insufficient air cover, submarines will continue to play the lead dominant role in the assault force for the PLAN. Currently, PLANSF operates a fleet of 66 submarines which include nuclear as well as conventional submarines.
Its surface branch counterpart is the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force.
Dingyuan (simplified Chinese: 定远; traditional Chinese: 定遠; pinyin: Dìngyǔan; Wade–Giles: Ting Yuen or Ting Yuan, English: Everlasting Peace[1]) was an ironclad battleship and the flagship of the Chinese Beiyang Fleet. She was the lead ship of the Dingyuan class, which included one other vessel, Zhenyuan, both of which were built in Germany in the early 1880s. Delivery of the two ironclads was delayed by the Sino-French War of 1884–1885. The ships were armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns in a pair of gun turrets, making them the most powerful warships in East Asian waters at the time.
Dingyuan served as the flagship of Admiral Ding Ruchang during her active career. In the 1880s and early 1890s, the Beiyang Fleet conducted a routine of training exercises and cruises abroad, with emphasis placed on visits to Japan to intimidate the country. The latter resulted in the Nagasaki Incident in 1886 and contributed to a rise in hostility between the two countries that culminated in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. She led the Chinese fleet during the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September, where the Japanese Combined Fleet sank much of the Beiyang Fleet, though both Dingyuan and Zhenyuan survived despite numerous hits, thanks to their heavy armor. The survivors then retreated to Port Arthur for repairs, but after that city was threatened by the Japanese Army, fled to Weihaiwei.
As the Japanese continued to advance, they laid siege to Weihaiwei in late January 1895. On 5 February, a Japanese torpedo boat slipped into the port and hit Dingyuan with a torpedo, inflicting serious damage. The Chinese crew were forced to beach the vessel to avoid sinking, and for the next week, Dingyuan was used as a stationary artillery battery. Japanese ground forces seized the city's coastal fortifications on 9 February, allowing their artillery to shell the ships in the harbor, which prompted Ding to surrender. Dingyuan was scuttled in the harbor on 10 February. A full-scale replica of the ship was built in Weihai in 2003 as a museum ship and in 2019, the Chinese government announced that an underwater survey had located the original vessel's wreck.
Following the direct intervention of the imperialist European powers in the mid-19th century, including the First and Second Opium Wars, where their superior steam-powered fleets overwhelmed the small Imperial Chinese Navy that still relied on traditional junks, the Chinese began a naval construction program in the 1880s to meet these threats more effectively. They enlisted British and German assistance, and two Dingyuan-class ironclads were ordered from Germany.
Dingyuan was 308 ft (94 m) long overall, with a beam of 59 ft (18 m) and a draft of 20 ft (6.1 m). She displaced 7,220 long tons (7,340 t) normally and up to 7,670 long tons (7,790 t) at full load. She was powered by a pair of compound steam engines that each drove a screw propeller. Steam was provided by eight coal-burning fire-tube boilers that were ducted into a pair of funnels amidships. She was capable of a top speed of 15.7 knots (29.1 km/h; 18.1 mph) from 7,500 indicated horsepower (5,600 kW). Her crew consisted of 350 officers and enlisted men.
The ship carried a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) 20-caliber breech-loading guns in two twin-gun turrets that were placed en echelon forward. These were supported by a secondary battery of two 5.9 in (150 mm) guns in a pair of single turrets, one at the bow and the other at the stern. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried a pair of 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon and eight 37 mm (1.5 in) Maxim-Nordenfelt quick-firing guns in casemates. Dingyuan was also equipped with three 14 in (356 mm) or 15 in (381 mm) torpedo tubes.
She was protected by compound armor that was 14 in for the armor belt, which covered the central part of the ship were the ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces were located. An armor deck that was 3 in (76 mm) thick provided horizontal protection. Her conning tower was covered with 8 in (203 mm) of armor plate on the sides. The barbettes for the gun turrets were 12–14 in thick. A strake of armor that was 8 in thick protected the casemate guns.
Dingyuan was ordered in 1880 and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, Germany in March 1881; her name means "eternal peace" in Chinese. Work proceeded quickly and she was launched on 28 December 1881 to clear the slipway so work could begin on her sister ship Zhenyuan. Fitting-out work continued into May 1883, when the vessel was completed, but delivery was to be delayed until Zhenyuan was finished in April 1884. The start of the outbreak of the Sino-French War in August prevented both Dingyuan-class ships from being delivered until 1885, since Germany would not transfer the vessels to a country at war.
Both vessels were manned by German crews, sailing on 3 July 1885 under the German flag in company with the also German-built protected cruiser Jiyuan. The three ships arrived in Tianjin in November, where they were transferred to Chinese control. Li Hongzhang, the Viceroy of Zhili and director of China's naval construction program, inspected the vessels following their arrival. The two ironclads were then commissioned into the Beiyang Fleet, which was based in Port Arthur. The ships steamed south to Shanghai for the winter of 1885–1886.
In the 1880s, the Beiyang Fleet was occupied with an annual routine of winter training cruises to the South China Sea, often in company with the Nanyang Fleet. This cruise typically involved visits to Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces, and sometimes went as far south as stops in Southeast Asia. The rest of the year was spent in northern waters off Zhili, Shandong, and Fengtian provinces, conducting training exercises. Training cruises to foreign ports were conducted in the mid-1880s and early 1890s, both to train navigational skills on voyages far from shore and to show the flag. Discipline aboard the ships of the Beiyang Fleet was poor, which contributed to a low state of readiness of the ships. During this period, the fleet was commanded by Admiral Ding Ruchang, who employed Dingyuan as his flagship. At the time, China lacked dry docks large enough to handle Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, forcing the navy to rely on shipyards in Japan or in British Hong Kong for periodic maintenance.
The two Dingyuan-class ships began their training routine in April 1886 in joint maneuvers with the units of the Nanyang Fleet, which culminated in a naval review in Port Arthur. They received the British vessels of the China Station from 19 to 20 May. Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, and four cruisers made the first of their overseas cruises in August 1886, which included stops in British Hong Kong, Busan and Wonsan in Korea, Vladivostok, Russia, and Nagasaki, Japan. While at the latter port in August, Chinese crewmen became involved in an altercation with Japanese locals that resulted in the deaths of eight Chinese sailors and two Japanese police, with forty-two Chinese and twenty-nine Japanese injured. The so-called Nagasaki Incident was characterized by the Japanese press as an attempt by China to intimidate Japan, leading to calls for naval expansion to counter the Beiyang Fleet. The Japanese government ordered three Matsushima-class protected cruisers in response. The Japanese also refused to allow the Chinese ironclads to return for repairs in their shipyards, hampering the ability of the Beiyang Fleet to keep the vessels operational.
The year 1887 passed less eventfully, with the ships spending the bulk of the year in the Bohai Sea. Late in the year, another group of four European-built cruisers arrived, further strengthening the fleet and necessitating extensive maneuvers in 1888 to familiarize the crews with the rest of the fleet. The Beiyang Fleet adopted the same black, white, and buff paint scheme used by the Royal Navy at the time, repainting their vessels at some point in 1888. In 1889, the fleet was divided into two divisions; Dingyuan and several cruisers were sent on a tour of Korean ports while Zhenyuan and the rest of the fleet remained in the Bohai Sea for exercises. The two divisions rendezvoused in Shanghai in December, thereafter proceeding to Hong Kong for Zhenyuan and Dingyuan to be drydocked. They then cruised off Korea.
Another visit to Japan came in June and July 1891; the fleet stopped in Kobe on 30 June and Yokohama on 14 July. At the latter port, a large Japanese delegation of senior military commanders and members of the imperial family received the ships. Another voyage to Japan took place the following year. Coupled with the Nagasaki Incident, these voyages contributed to the growing tensions between China and Japan, since Hongzhang intended them to make clear Chinese naval strength at a time the Japanese fleet was small and poorly developed. At the core of the dispute was control over Korea, which since the Convention of Tientsin of 1884, was treated as a co-protectorate of China and Japan.
n early 1894, the Donghak Peasant Revolution broke out in Korea, prompting China to send an expedition of 28,000 to suppress the rebels. Japan viewed this as a violation of the Tientsin Convention and deployed 8,000 troops in response, leading to the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War on 1 August. The Chinese fleet was no match for the new Combined Fleet of Japan, as years of insufficient naval budgets had not allowed Hongzhang to update the vessels—funds he had planned to use to add new quick-firing guns to Zhenyuan and Dingyuan were instead appropriated for the 60th birthday of the Dowager Empress Cixi—and the Chinese lacked effective commanders and sufficiently trained crews. And to add to China's disadvantages during the war, the Japanese had broken the Chinese diplomatic codes in 1888, giving them access to China's internal communications.
As the Chinese made preparations in August for action, they removed the gun shields from the main battery turrets. Experience at the Battle of Pungdo had revealed the thin shields created numerous splinters when struck by enemy fire, and these fragments had inflicted numerous casualties to the gun crews of the cruiser Jiyuan at Pungdo. The crews also placed bags of coal around the gun batteries as a form of improvised armor. The ships were repainted light gray to make them more difficult to observe at sea. The ships of the Beiyang Fleet then steamed to Taku to take on supplies, thereafter doing little for the next month.
Ding took the fleet on a sweep into the Korea Bay on 12 September to clear the way for a convoy of troopships scheduled to deliver reinforcements to Korea. While on the way to the bay, he received faulty reports indicating the presence of Japanese warships off the Shandong Peninsula, prompting him to change course to search for them. Finding no enemy vessels, he took the fleet to Weihaiwei (now Weihai), and on 15 September, the fleet rendezvoused with the convoy to cover its approach to the mouth of the Yalu River, where the transports deposited the men and supplies on 16 September. During the unloading process, Dingyuan and the bulk of the fleet remained underway to provide distant support and avoid presenting themselves as stationary targets to Japanese torpedo boats known to be in the area. While the Chinese were on the way back to Port Arthur, the Combined Fleet under Vice Admiral Itō Sukeyuki intercepted them on 17 September, leading to the Battle of the Yalu River. The poorly-trained Beiyang Fleet sailed in a disorganized line abreast formation, while the Japanese approached them from the south in line ahead; the Chinese ships steamed at around 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) and the Japanese at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
Itō turned his ships to pass in front of the oncoming Beiyang Fleet. Dingyuan opened fire first, at about 12:20, at the extreme range of 5,300 yd (4,800 m), far in excess of what fire-control equipment was capable of accurately directing at the time. The blast effect from Dingyuan's initial salvo destroyed her own bridge, collapsing it and trapping Ding and his staff for the duration of the action, depriving the Beiyang Fleet of central control. The rest of the Chinese fleet quickly followed Dingyuan, but failed to score any hits as their opponents passed in front. The Japanese ships returned fire at 12:25, having divided into two squadrons and turned back to starboard to encircle the Chinese. Concentrating their fire on the cruisers on the Chinese right flank, they quickly destroyed the Chinese cruisers Yangwei and Chaoyong. The battle quickly devolved into a melee at close range, and the Chinese cruisers Zhiyuan and Jingyuan were sunk. In return, the Chinese warships inflicted serious damage on the old ironclad Hiei, which had been unable to keep pace with the rest of Itō's fleet, and was eventually forced to disengage and flee. Zhenyuan and Dingyuan hit the auxiliary cruiser Saikyō Maru with four 12-inch shells and inflicted significant damage.
The Japanese ships then concentrated their fire on Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. The ships' heavy citadel armor proved to be impervious to the Japanese shellfire directed against it, though the large-caliber Canet guns mounted on the Matsushima-class cruisers proved to be nearly useless and the other Japanese cruisers were engaged with their Chinese counterparts. Both ships were hit numerous times and several fires broke out, but both crews adeptly suppressed them despite being under heavy fire. By around 17:00, both sides were low on ammunition and the Chinese began to reform their surviving vessels into line-ahead formation. The Japanese eventually broke off at around 17:30 and withdrew. The battered Beiyang Fleet, by then reduced to the two Dingyuan-class ships and four smaller vessels, limped back to Port Arthur, arriving there the next day.
Repairs to the damaged ships began immediately, and fresh supplies and ammunition were sent to ready the vessels for action. By October, the Japanese Army had begun to approach Port Arthur, forcing the Chinese to withdraw the Beiyang Fleet to Weihaiwei. Ding sortied on 20 October and crossed the Bohai Strait to Weihaiwei without encountering Japanese forces. In early November, Ding sortied to cover the transfer of Zhenyuan, which had remained in Port Arthur as long as possible to complete repairs. The Japanese Army had advanced to Weihaiwei by the end of January 1895, launching a major attack on the port on the 30th to begin the Battle of Weihaiwei. They quickly captured the fortifications on the eastern side of the city despite heavy fire from Dingyuan and other vessels of the fleet. The capture of the fortresses forced the Chinese ships to withdraw to the western portion of the harbor, where they would be out of range for the guns there. Dingyuan disabled one of the 9.4 in (240 mm) disappearing guns in the fortress at Luchiehtsui, but several guns remained on operation, and Japanese gunners quickly set to work to bring them to bear on the trapped fleet. The Chinese ships bombarded Japanese forces as they advanced on the city's defenses.
A group of ten Japanese torpedo boats broke into the harbor on the night of 4/5 February and hit Dingyuan with a torpedo on the port side toward the stern. The attack inflicted serious damage and the crew's damage control efforts failed to contain the flooding, hampered by leaking watertight doors. They got steam up in the boilers and began to get underway, but with the uncontrolled flooding threatening to sink the ship, the crew was forced to ground her to prevent her from sinking. The ship was thereafter employed as a stationary artillery battery and Ding shifted his flag to Zhenyuan. Two of the attacking torpedo boats were discovered having been disabled in the previous night's action at dawn. The next night, the torpedo boats made another assault on the Chinese fleet, sinking a cruiser, a training ship, and an auxiliary vessel.
By 9 February, the Japanese had seized the fortifications that overlooked the rest of the harbor. They used the position to bombard the crippled Dingyuan with field artillery, further damaging the vessel. With their position in the harbor no longer tenable and most of the vessels damaged—Zhenyuan had also been badly damaged and was no longer seaworthy—Ding decided to scuttle Dingyuan the next day and then surrender. The decision provoked many of the senior officers of the Beiyang Fleet to commit suicide, including the ship's commander, Captain Liu Buchan. The exact nature of the crew's efforts to disable the vessel are unclear. Some reports indicate that a mine detonated amidships, and observers aboard the British protected cruiser HMS Edgar noted seeing a large explosion aboard Dingyuen. Photographic evidence, which shows the vessel aground in shallow water and with a gaping hole amidships, supports these reports, as does the observations of the British Vice Admiral Edmund Fremantle, who inspected the fleet shortly after the battle.
The Chinese government constructed a replica of Dingyuan at Weihai to commemorate both the original vessel and the Beiyang Fleet during the war; the vessel, built on a 1:1 scale, is open as a museum ship. Work on the vessel began in 2003.
On 2 September 2019 it was announced that the remains of Dingyuan had been located and over 150 artifacts recovered.
Knyaz Suvorov (Russian: Князь Суворов) was one of five Borodino-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed after the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, she became the flagship of Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, commander of the Second Pacific Squadron. The squadron was sent to the Far East a few months after her completion to break the Japanese blockade of Port Arthur. The Japanese captured the port while the squadron was in transit and their destination was changed to Vladivostok. During the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, the ship fell out of the battle line after a shell hit her bridge, killing her helmsman and wounding her captain and Rozhestvensky. Knyaz Suvorov was eventually torpedoed and sunk by Japanese torpedo boats; other than 20 wounded officers evacuated by a destroyer, there were no survivors.
The Borodino-class ships were based on the design of the French-built Tsesarevich, modified to suit Russian equipment and building practices. They were built under the 1898 program "for the needs of the Far East" to concentrate ten battleships in the Pacific. Knyaz Suvorov was 389 feet 5 inches (118.69 m) long at the waterline and 397 feet 3 inches (121.1 m) long overall, with a beam of 76 feet 1 inch (23.2 m) and a draft of 29 feet 2 inches (8.9 m), 38 inches (965 mm) more than designed. Her normal displacement was 14,415 long tons (14,646 t), almost 900 long tons (914 t) more than her designed displacement of 13,516 long tons (13,733 t). Her intended crew consisted of 28 officers and 754 enlisted men, although she carried 928 crewmen during the Battle of Tsushima.
The ships were powered by a pair of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam generated by 20 Belleville boilers. The engines were rated at 15,800 indicated horsepower (11,800 kW) and designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Knyaz Suvorov, however, only reached a speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) from 15,575 ihp (11,614 kW) during her builder's machinery trials on 9 August 1904. The ships could carry enough coal to give them a range of 2,590 nautical miles (4,800 km; 2,980 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
The main battery of the Borodinos consisted of four 12-inch (305 mm) Pattern 1895 guns which were mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) Pattern 1892 guns were mounted in six twin-gun turrets carried on the upper deck, three turrets on each broadside. Defense against torpedo boats was provided by a suite of smaller guns. The twenty 75-millimeter (3 in) Pattern 1892 guns carried were mounted in casemates in the sides of the hull. The ships also mounted twenty 47-millimeter (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns in the superstructure. The ships were fitted with four 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes, one each above water in the bow and in the stern, and a submerged tube on each broadside.
The waterline armor belt of the Borodino class consisted of Krupp armor 5.7–7.64 inches (145–194 mm) thick. The armor of their gun turrets had a maximum thickness of 10 inches (254 mm) and their decks ranged from 1 to 2 inches (25 to 51 mm) in thickness. The 1.5-inch (38 mm) armored lower deck sloped downwards to connect to the anti-torpedo bulkhead of the same thickness.
Construction began on Knyaz Suvorov, named after Prince Alexander Suvorov, on 10 August 1901 at the Baltic Works in Saint Petersburg. The ship was laid down on 8 September, when the ceremonial laying of one of the plates was performed by Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, General-Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was launched on 25 September 1902, in the presence of Tsar Nicholai II, Grand Duke Konstantin and King George I of Greece. She was completed in September 1904, after the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, at the cost of 13,841,000 rubles.
On 15 October 1904, Knyaz Suvorov, Rozhestvensky's flagship as commander of the Second Pacific Squadron, set sail for Port Arthur from Libau along with the other vessels of the squadron with the mission of reinforcing the First Pacific Squadron at Port Arthur and breaking the Japanese blockade. Rozhestvensky had received numerous reports of Japanese agents and torpedo boats disguised as fishing vessels before sailing and he ordered maximum alertness after coaling at Skagen, Denmark, on 7 October. Early on the evening of the following day, when the squadron was near the Dogger Bank, the auxiliary repair ship Kamchatka reported that she was under attack by torpedo boats in the rain. About four hours later, the squadron encountered British fishing trawlers working the Dogger Bank in the fog and opened fire on them at very short range. One trawler was sunk and at least three others were damaged; several fishermen were killed and others wounded. The battleships also fired upon and damaged the Russian cruisers Aurora and Dmitrii Donskoi. The incident enraged the British population and caused a diplomatic incident with the British that nearly led to war until Russia apologized and agreed to pay reparations on 29 October.
Rozhestvensky led his ships down the Atlantic coast of Africa, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and reached the island of Nosy Be off the northwest coast of French Madagascar on 9 January 1905 where they remained for two months while Rozhestvensky finalized his coaling arrangements. During this time, he learned of the capture of Port Arthur and changed his destination to Vladivostok, the only other port controlled by the Russians in the Far East. The squadron sailed for Camranh Bay, French Indochina, on 16 March and reached it almost a month later to await the obsolete ships of the Third Pacific Squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov. The latter ships reached Camranh Bay on 9 May and the combined force sailed for Vladivostok on 14 May. En route, Rozhestvensky reorganized his ships into three tactical divisions for the forthcoming battle; the leading division consisted of the four new Borodino-class battleships with Knyaz Suvorov in the lead, followed by the Second Division that consisted of three older battleships and an armored cruiser and Nebogatov retained his ships as the Third Division. While exact figures are not available for Knyaz Suvorov, it is probable that the ship was approximately 1,700 long tons (1,700 t) overweight as she and her sisters were overloaded with coal and other supplies; all of which was stored high in the ships and reduced their stability. The extra weight also submerged the waterline armor belt and left only about 4 feet 6 inches (1.4 m) of the upper armor belt above the waterline.
Rozhestvensky decided to take the most direct route to Vladivostok using the Tsushima Strait and was intercepted by the Japanese battlefleet under the command of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō on 27 May 1905. As the Russians entered the strait, they were arrayed in separate columns with the Second Division on the left and the Third trailing. Around noon, well after they had been spotted by the Japanese, Rozhestvensky ordered the Second Division, lead by the battleship Oslyabya, to form line ahead behind the First Division, but poorly trained signalmen caused confusion throughout the fleet and the Third Division fell in behind the Second Division, leaving the First Division on the main column's right, although it was still in the lead. When the main Japanese fleet was spotted by the Russians at 13:19, Rozhestvensky was still trying to get his ships properly formed.
The location sent to Tōgō had been inaccurate and his ships were out of position when they spotted the Russians; unwilling to engage the First Division, Tōgō maneuvered his ships across the front of the Russian forces and then reversed course to position his battleships on the left flank of the leading Russian ships. During this maneuver, Knyaz Suvorov opened fire at the Japanese battleship Mikasa, flagship of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō at 14:05 at a range of 6,300 yards (5,800 m). Mikasa began to return fire after the Japanese ships had finished their maneuver and was joined by the battleship Asahi and the armored cruiser Azuma as the Japanese battleships split their fire between Knyaz Suvorov and Oslyabya. The battleship Fuji joined the others firing at Knyaz Suvorov around 14:20, which had been set on fire by hits from the other ships. At 14:35, splinters entered the conning tower killing her helmsman and wounding Rozhestvensky and the ship's captain; splinters from another shell again wounded Rozhestvensky so he drifted in and out of consciousness.[Note 2] Shortly afterwards, flames made the conning tower untenable so that the ship had to be steered from her auxiliary-control position. Around 14:52, another hit jammed the steering gear after a four point turn to starboard had been ordered and caused the ship to make nearly a full circle before she could be steered by her engines. Splinters from numerous shell hits shredded water hoses and made it much more difficult to put the numerous fires out. By this time Knyaz Suvorov's aft 12-inch gun turret had been destroyed by an explosion that blew its roof off onto the quarterdeck, her forward funnel had fallen down and her mainmast had been shot away.
Knyaz Suvorov never regained her position in the battle line and was engaged at short range by Mikasa and the battleship Shikishima as well as five cruisers of Vice Admiral Kamimura Hikonojō's 2nd Division between 15:20 and 15:35. Mikasa and two of the cruisers fired one torpedo each at her during this time, but none of them hit the ship. At 15:39, the cruiser Chihaya fired a pair of torpedoes and claimed one hit although no change was visible in Knyaz Suvorov's condition. Chihaya was hit by one shell just above the waterline during her attack that forced her to make emergency repairs. Around 15:40 the British observer aboard Azuma reported that Knyaz Suvorov was down by the bow with a heavy list to port and was covered by thick gray smoke from the forecastle to the mainmast. By this time, the ship's forward 12-inch gun turret had been knocked out, but some smaller guns were still in action. The Japanese 5th Destroyer Division attacked five minutes later with torpedoes at ranges under 900 yards (820 m), but failed to score any hits with their five torpedoes. The flotilla leader was hit in the boiler room by a three-inch shell that may have been fired by Knyaz Suvorov.
The ship found herself between the two fleets at 16:08 and was fired at by most of the Japanese ships at short range. Observers aboard those ships noted that she resembled "an island volcano in eruption". Mikasa fired two torpedoes and Shikishima fired one torpedo at Knyaz Suvorov during this time without effect. Captain William C. Pakenham, the Royal Navy's official military observer aboard Asahi under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, noted that Knyaz Suvorov was hit by a 12-inch shell near the rear 6-inch turret around 16:30 that caused an explosion and caused flames to spout 50 feet (15 m) in the air. At 17:05 the 4th Destroyer Division attacked with three destroyers; only one of the six torpedoes hit Knyaz Suvorov. The ship immediately took on a 10° list, but showed no signs of sinking. One shell from Knyaz Suvorov struck the destroyer Asagiri, but did not inflict much damage.
Around 17:30, the Russian destroyer Buinyi came and took off the wounded officers from Knyaz Suvorov, including Rozhestvensky, leaving an unwounded midshipman in command. The ship continued southwards at about 4–5 knots (7.4–9.3 km/h; 4.6–5.8 mph) and was engaged by many of the Japanese cruisers from about 18:30 until four torpedo boats of the 11th Torpedo Division attacked at 19:20. They fired seven torpedoes of which two or three hit the ship. One was thought to have caused a magazine to explode as a cloud of yellow and black smoke poured out and Knyaz Suvorov listed further to port before capsizing at about 19:30.[3] Other than the 20 officers taken off by Buinyi, there were no survivors of the 928 crew aboard. Naval historian Sir Julian Corbett commented: "While she had a gun above water she fired, and not a man survived her of all that crew, to whose stubborn gallantry no words can do justice. If there is immortality in naval memory it is hers and theirs.
History
Russian Empire
Name:Knyaz Suvorov (Князь Суворов)
Namesake:Prince Alexander Suvorov
Builder:Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg
Cost:13,841,000 rubles
Laid down:8 September 1901[Note 1]
Launched:25 September 1902
In service:September 1904
Fate:Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 27 May 1905
General characteristics
Class and type:Borodino-class pre-dreadnought battleship
USS Oldendorf (DD-972), named for Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf USN, was a Spruance-class destroyer built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Oldendorf was the tenth Spruance- class destroyer and the first ship in the Navy named after Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf, one of the most distinguished surface warfare flag officers to serve during World War II. She was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi beginning 27 December 1974. Was Launched on 21 October 1975 and was commissioned on 4 March 1978.
Oldendorf was originally stationed in San Diego, California, although the ship's first year was marked by shipyard work in Long Beach, California and another visit to Litton Shipbuilders in Pascagoula, Mississippi. This schedule meant three Panama Canal transits for most of the ship's pre-commissioning crew within the a ship's first 12 months of service.
During her first Westpac deployment which took place between May to November 1980 Oldendorf took part in a joint Australian-American-New Zealand anti-submarine exercise off the Western Australian coast during August 1980, which saw the destroyer conduct visits to the Western Australian town of Bunbury and the city of Perth.
Oldendorf conducted her second Westpac deployment, this time with the aircraft carrier USS Constellation and her Carrier Battle Group in October 1981 to the Persian Gulf, during which Oldendorf returned to visit the Western Australian city of Perth. She returned home in May 1982 before undergoing an overhaul from September 1982 to July 1983, then conducted work ups for the ship's third Westpac deployment which took place from January to May 1984.
Oldendorf was re-based to Yokosuka, Japan as part of the United States Seventh Fleet in August 1984. She was a member of the USS Midway battle group until being transferred to San Diego in 1991. During her time in the 7th Fleet she was involved with numerous events including regular exercises with all major navies in the area. In November 1986, along with USS Reeves and USS Rentz, she visited the port of Qingdao, China, the first group of US warships to visit mainland China since 1949. In 1988 Oldendorf deployed as part of the Seoul Olympics security force with the Nimitz battle group for which she received the Meritorious Unit Citation. During two separate deployments Oldendorf was responsible for rescuing Vietnamese refugees fleeing governmental oppression and during mid-1989 Oldendorf was the first warship to be granted access to the small Australian village of Gove since 1975, when a seafaring naval tug was last to visit. Oldendorf had received approval from the Aboriginal tribe leaders to make a port of call there as a sign of good will to the US Navy. She received numerous awards for achievement and excellence.[citation needed] The commanding officer during her deployment to the Gulf War was Commander Cyrus H Butt IV. Oldendorf was part of the first United States response to the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. She served with distinction throughout the war earning the Combat Action Ribbon escorting the various major warships and supporting the naval blockade of Iraq. She returned to Japan in mid-1991. The summer of 1991 the ship changed its homeport to Long Beach, California for a year and a half long overhaul in the Long Beach Naval Shipyards. In late 1992 the command was shifted to her final homeport of San Diego. In early 1993 she participated in Joint Interdiction LEO operations with the USCG off the South American coast returning in March 1993.
Oldendorf took part in the surface exercise Eager Sentry, as part of the larger Exercise Native Fury '94. Involving Kuwaiti and British military members, it was the largest naval exercise ever conducted in Kuwait. It was conducted from 4 April through 25 April, to demonstrates U.S. resolve to support the peace in the Persian Gulf region after ousting Iraq from Kuwait three years prior. Native Fury comprised several exercises under one umbrella. In the namesake exercises, two Maritime Prepositioning Ships sailed from their homeport of Diego Garcia and discharged more than 1,000 tanks, artillery pieces and vehicles at the port of Shuaibah, starting 5 April. Approximately 2,000 marines and sailors from I Marine Expeditionary Force, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Force Service Support Group and Naval Beach Group One arrived by air, off-loaded and convoyed the equipment to a training range north of Kuwait City. There, they trained with the Kuwaiti Army and British Royal Marines, perfecting tactics which would delay, and perhaps turn back, any repeat of the invasion of Kuwait. Other elements of Native Fury involved the surface exercise Eager Sentry; Eager Archer, an aerial exercise; and Eager Express with explosive ordnance disposal units training on the southern Kuwaiti beaches.
As part of a reorganization by the Pacific Fleet's surface ships into six core battle groups and eight destroyer squadrons, with the reorganization scheduled to be completed by 1 October 1995, and homeport changes to be completed within the following, year, Oldendorf was reassigned to Destroyer Squadron 23.
Oldendorf departed on 1 December 1995, as part of the USS Nimitz Battle Group, for a regularly scheduled Western Pacific deployment.
In March 1996, and in response to the announcement of missile tests and military live-fire exercises to be conducted by the Chinese in the waters surrounding the island of Taiwan, the United States dispatched forward deployed naval assets, including a carrier and other combatants to the area to monitor the situation. USS Independence and other units in its battle group, operating in international waters, were on the scene from the beginning of the exercises. However, to augment the monitoring efforts, and further demonstrate U.S. commitment to peace and stability in the region, Nimitz and elements of its battle group, including Oldendorf, were ordered to sail from the Persian Gulf to the Western Pacific earlier than planned, after two months in the Persian Gulf for Operation Southern Watch.
Oldendorf took part, from 13 April through 24 April in Pacific Joint Task Force Exercise 98-1 (PAC JTFEX 98-1) off the Southern California coast. The aim of the exercise was to prepare naval forces to participate in joint operations with other U.S. forces. Naval operations included Maritime Interception Operations (MIO), Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO), various air strike and support missions, operational testing of various weapons systems, Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD), logistics support, search and rescue, and command and control. An amphibious landing at Camp Pendleton, California, on 21 April, involved Navy surface and helicopter assault forces, U.S. Air Force aircraft, as well as units from Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Oldendorf deployed on 9 November 1998, for a six-month overseas assignment, as part of the USS Carl Vinson battle group. Joining Carl Vinson was the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group (ARG). The Carl Vinson battle group and the Boxer ARG were to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln battle group and the USS Essex ARG, which had been forward deployed for the previous five months to the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.
Oldendorf arrived on station in the Persian Gulf with the Carl Vinson battle group and took part in Operation Desert Fox in December 1998. The operation was designed to degrade Saddam Hussein's ability to deliver chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and wage war against his neighbors. It also took part in Operation Southern Watch. The Carl Vinson battle group, led by Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) Eleven departed the Persian Gulf on 18 March 1999, after spending three intense months supporting Operations Southern Watch and Desert Fox in Southern Iraq. The ships returned home in May.
As of early 2000, developmental tests were in progress on Oldendorf as part of the SPQ-9B Radar Improvement Program. The program aimed at using COTS systems and NDI to improve the performance of the AN/SPQ-9 Radar in the Mk 86 Gun Fire Control System (GFCS), which would be integrated into the Mk 1 Ship Self-Defense System.
In August 2000, Oldendorf was directed to the scene of a crash into the Persian Gulf, on 23 August, by a commercial passenger jet, in order to assist in the recovery of the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. The jet, a twin-engine Airbus A320 operated by Gulf Air which originated in Cairo, plunged into shallow water about 3 to 4 miles north of Bahrain International Airport while making its approach. Oldendorf was relieved of this duty by USS George Washington, which was much closer to the proximity of the site of the crash. The bodies of all 143 people aboard the aircraft were recovered.
Oldendorf took part in the first Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) of 2001 during the month of February. Together with the Special Operations Capable certification (SOCCERT), the JTFEX aimed at providing progressive and realistic pre-deployment training for a carrier battle group, an amphibious ready group, a Marine Expeditionary Unit and other deployers. The name Joint Task Force Exercise reflects the focus on preparing naval forces to participate fully in joint operations with other U.S. forces and the armed forces of allied countries. Naval operations included Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO), Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO), various air strike and support missions, operational testing of various weapons systems, Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD), logistics support, search and rescue and command and control. U.S. Navy and Marine Corps forces were joined in the exercise by U.S. Air Force aircraft as well as units from Canada.
The U.S. Navy Surface Force was scheduled to begin, in the summer of 2002, an initiative to test the effectiveness of deploying a single ship for 18 months while swapping out crews at six-month intervals. Called Sea Swap, this initial two-phased initiative would involve three Spruance-class destroyers (DDs) – USS Fletcher, Kinkaid and Oldendorf, and three Arleigh Burke-destroyers (DDGs) – Higgins, John Paul Jones and Benfold. For the DD phase, Fletcher and her crew would deploy with their battle group this summer, but after six months, only the crew would return. The ship would remain deployed and be manned by the crew from Kinkaid. After completing their training cycle and decommissioning Kinkaid, these sailors would fly to a port in either Australia or Singapore to assume ownership of Fletcher and steam her back on-station. After six months, they would be replaced by the crew from Oldendorf who would have completed the same training and decommissioning schedule with their ship before flying out to relieve the Kinkaid crew. After four more months on station, the Oldendorf crew would then bring Fletcher back to the United States where it too would be decommissioned. Additionally, by executing this plan, the Navy would be able to eliminate the deployment of USS Paul F. Foster because the additional on-station time generated by swapping out the crews meant a ship would already be in theater meeting that requirement.
Fate
Oldendorf was decommissioned 20 June 2003 and berthed at Bremerton, Washington NISMF. She was stricken 6 April 2004. The ship was sunk as a target during a live-fire exercise off the coast of Washington by the USS Russell on 22 August 2005.
General characteristics
Class and type:Spruance-class destroyer
Displacement:8,040 (long) tons full load
Length:529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall
Beam:55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft:29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion:4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MW)
Speed:32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range:
6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement:19 officers, 315 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
AN/SPS-40 air search radar
AN/SPG-60 fire control radar
AN/SPS-55 surface search radar
AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar
Mk 23 TAS automatic detection and tracking radar
AN/SPS-65 Missile fire control radar
AN/SQS-53 bow mounted Active sonar
AN/SQR-19 TACTAS towed array Passive sonar
Naval Tactical Data System
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System
AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
Mark 36 SRBOC Decoy Launching System
AN/SLQ-49 Inflatable Decoys
Armament:
2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns
2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns
1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher (removed)
1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher
2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters
2 x Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes)
1 x 61 cell Mk 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk missiles
1 × 21 round RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
Aircraft carried:2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.
USS David R. Ray (DD-971), was a Spruance-class destroyer named for United States Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class David Robert Ray who was killed in action in 1969 while assigned to a Marine Corps artillery unit during the Vietnam War and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
The David R. Ray was built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries at Pascagoula, Mississippi, and commissioned on November 19, 1977, in Pascagoula. The principal speaker at the event was James R. Sasser, U.S. Senator from Tennessee and the ships sponsor was Mrs. Donnie M. Ray, HM2 Ray's mother. The David R. Ray was decommissioned in 2002 and sunk as a target in 2008.
On the voyage from Pascagoula to her new homeport of San Diego, the David R. Ray passed through the Panama Canal. David R. Ray, nicknamed "Sting Ray", crossed the equator for the first time on 16 May 1978. On 19 February 1979, she became the first ship to intercept a supersonic drone with the NATO RIM-7 Seasparrow Missile System. The ship first deployed on 8 September 1979 and made port calls in Pearl Harbor, Guam, Yokosuka, Inchon, Subic Bay, and Hong Kong. In 1982, David R. Ray went through her first major overhaul in Seattle, Washington. On 18 October 1983, David R. Ray began another "WESTPAC" to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. After port visits to Pearl Harbor, Subic Bay, Pusan, Chinhae, Hong Kong and Pattaya, the ship participated in a joint Thailand-U.S. naval exercise. Later, the Ray spent 54 continuous days underway, spanning from the northwest Indian Ocean to northernmost Sea of Japan following and performing surveillance operations (SURVOPS) on the newest Soviet carrier, "Novorossiysk".
Late in 1984, David R. Ray became the Navy's primary test platform for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) System. On 15 January 1986, David R. Ray deployed with Battle Group Foxtrot. During this deployment, the ship made worldwide news when it prevented the boarding of the U.S. Vessel President McKinley by an Iranian Saam class frigate on 12 May 1986.
David R. Ray's second major overhaul began in June 1988, which coincided with the ship's shift of homeport from San Diego to Long Beach, California. During this overhaul, the ship received a Vertical Launch System. After the overhaul, the ship completed four CNO projects, including RAM, NATO Seasparrow RIM-7P, BGM-109 Tomahawk Block 2 and ASROC. David R. Ray deployed on 27 April 1990 and was in the Persian Gulf at the onset of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The ship played a critical role in the early stages of Operation Desert Shield before returning to the United States. Deploying again to the Middle East Force on 22 April 1992, the ship served as flagship during Maritime Interception Force Operations before returning to Long Beach, California, on 22 October 1992.
David R. Ray deployed to the Persian Gulf in October 1994 and served as flagship to Commander, Destroyer Squadron Fifty conducting Maritime Interception Operations in boarding numerous suspect vessels resulting in the diversion and detention of three vessels. Upon return from deployment in April 1995, the ship continued a very fast operational tempo, including trips to Catalina Island, Seattle Sea Fair, and San Francisco Fleet Week.
David R. Ray completed a nine-month regular overhaul at Long Beach Naval Shipyard in June 1996 and then a homeport change to Everett, Washington, in July 1996. The ship completed a full workup cycle before deploying on 20 May 1997 to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf as senior ship of a Middle East Force / Surface Action Group. During this deployment, the ship conducted 49 boardings and over 700 flight hours in support of Maritime Interception Operations. Upon return in November 1997, the ship went into holiday stand down and commenced a nine-week maintenance availability on 11 February 1998 which ended 15 April 1998. David R. Ray spent the remainder of 1998 preparing for its next deployment. On 9 March 1999, David R. Ray received no notice tasking to act as the Surface Action Group Commander for the sinking of the M/V New Carissa off the coast of Oregon. The ship's quick response and control of the elements of the Surface Action Group averted a potentially disastrous oil spill. The ship and her crew earned the Coast Guard Unit Commendation with Operational Device for its participation in this effort.
On 16 April 1999 the David R. Ray deployed to the Persian Gulf on PACMEF 99-2 as the Surface Action Group Commander. The ship and crew conducted 55 boardings and over 850 hours of flight operations. David R. Ray was again in the news when her crew helped to delivery a healthy baby girl on aboard an Iraqi ferry. The ship returned to its homeport on 4 October 1999. Since returning from deployment, David R. Ray participated in various training opportunities, including Anti-Air Warfare and Naval Surface Fire Support exercises. Prior to the ship's change of command on 29 April 2000, David R. Ray visited Puerto Vallarta and escorted the ex-USS South Carolina (CGN-37) as she was towed to Bremerton, Washington, for deactivation and nuclear-powered vessel recycling.
In May 2001 the "David R. Ray" deployed on her final assignment to the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific on a Counter Narcotic Deployment, returning to its home port in October 2001.
Awards
Navy Unit Commendation - (Oct 1997-Apr 1998)
Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - (Nov 1979-Feb 1980, Jan-Aug 1986, May-Sep 1992)
Battle "E" - (1981)
Navy Expeditionary Medal - (Nov 1979-Feb 1980, May-Sep 1981, Oct 1981)
Southwest Asia Service Medal - (Au-Sep 1990)
Humanitarian Service Medal - (9 Oct 1980)
Fate
On 28 February 2002, USS David R. Ray was decommissioned and spent its remaining years anchored in Sinclair Inlet off Highway 303 in Bremerton, Washington. On 17 June 2008, the ex-USS David R. Ray was towed by fleet tug to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where she was to be sunk as a target as part of the annual RIMPAC exercises. ex-David R. Ray was sunk during RIMPAC 2008 on 11 July 2008 by fire from eight U.S. and Japanese ships along with three aircraft using naval artillery and Harpoon missiles. ex-David R. Ray sank after sunset that night.
The destroyer is a secondary setting for the 45th installment of the Bande dessinée series Buck Danny, Les secrets de la Mer Noire, set during the early 1990s, where the hero's sidekicks Jerry Tumbler and Sonny Tuckson are on board on a mission of distant support for Buck Danny, himself on a PR mission on the soviet carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.
General characteristics
Class and type:Spruance class destroyer
Displacement:8,040 (long) tons full load
Length:529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall
Beam:55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft:29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion:4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MW)
Speed:32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range:
6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement:19 officers, 315 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
AN/SPS-40 air search radar
AN/SPG-60 fire control radar
AN/SPS-55 surface search radar
AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar
Mk 23 TAS automatic detection and tracking radar
AN/SPS-65 Missile fire control radar
AN/SQS-53 bow mounted Active sonar
AN/SQR-19 TACTAS towed array Passive sonar
Naval Tactical Data System
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System
AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
Mark 36 SRBOC Decoy Launching System
AN/SLQ-49 Inflatable Decoys
Armament:
2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns
2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns
1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher (removed)
1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher
2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters
2 x Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes)
1 x 61 cell Mk 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk missiles
1 × 21 round RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (removed 1980s)
