Page 89: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1985)

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form," according to Surface War- fare (March/April 1984 issue), "is optimized for sea-keeping in heavy seas and is designed with better sur- vivability than her predecessors. It reduces vertical motion at sea and allows higher speeds in increased sea states." Other design features: all-steel construction (except for the aluminum funnels); steel-space- steel plating to protect vital spaces; use of over 100 tons of Kevlar to coat and super-harden vital spaces; installation of a "collective protec- tion system" which filters all incom- ing air and maintains internal air pressure at a higher level than ex- ternal air pressure, thus blocking the ingress of NBC (nuclear, biolog- ical, chemical) contamination; add- ed protection against EMP (electro- magnetic pulsing—the specific pro- tective measures planned and tech- nology used are classified); and a heavy emphasis on "passive protec- tion" through, among other things, a superstructure that slopes away from the hull (rather than forming right angles with it) and the location below the main deck of such vital spaces as the combat information center and communications room.

Armament: In addition to the

Harpoons and Tomahawks, the

Burke will carry ASROC (anti-sub- marine rocket) and SM-2 (Stan- your offshore painting pick the standards!

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Circle 270 on Reader Service Card dard) surface-to-air missiles and will be fitted with two deck- mounted Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes, two improved Phalanx 20mm close-in weapon systems, and one 5"/54 caliber gun. Although she does not have a helicopter hangar, she does have a landing pad aft and is equipped with all the communica- tions and other systems needed to handle the LAMPS (light airborne multi-purpose system) Mk III ASW helicopter. Perhaps her most impor- tant offense feature, though—-it cer- tainly is the most innovative—will be a vertical-launch system (VLS) for Tomahawks, SM-2s, and AS-

ROCs. The Mk 41 VLS, built for the

Navy by Martin Marietta, gives the

DDG-51 the ability to carry and fire more missiles, more rapidly and more effectively, and with less chance of malfunction. The Burkes will carry two VLS units—a 32-cell system forward, and a 64-cell sys- tem aft.

Propulsion: The power plant will be much the same as that in the

Ticonderogas: four General Electric

LM 2500 gas turbines, two shafts, two rudders, 100,000 shp. "Second flight" Burkes (DDG-58 and after) also are likely to be equipped with

Solar Turbines' so-called "Racer" (Ranking cycle Energy Recovery) system, which uses waste heat from the turbines to develop additional energy and make the overall power plant more efficient.

Electronics: Fitted with the SPY-

ID—an improved, lighter-weight version of the Ticonderoga's SPY- 1A—phased array radar (but with one transmitter, instead of two, and three rather than four illuminators), the Burke will be the most AAW- capable destroyer ever built. Other major electronics systems include: the SPS 67 (V) surface search radar (but no separate air search radar); the SQR 19 (TACTAS) towed-array sonar and a bow-mounted SQS-53C sonar: IFF, Tacan, and electronic countermeasures systems; and nu- merous computers, displays, and ra- dio and navigation systems.

A few final points about the

DDG-51 Arleigh Burke guided mis- sile destroyer program itself, and about its significance to the U.S. shipbuilding industry, the Navy, and the nation: • Possibly no other ship class in the post-WWII era has been better named. Former Chief of Naval Op- erations Admiral Arleigh A.

Burke, USN-Ret., first gained fame in World War II in the Pacific, where his dash and daring as com- mander of DesRon 23 (Destroyer

Squadron 23, better known as the "Little Beavers") won him the nick- name "31-Knot Burke." The only officer ever to serve three tours as chief of naval operations, he is also one of the only two USN officers—

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover,

USN-Ret., "the father of the nu- clear Navy," is the other—to have a ship (or, in Burke's case, a ship class) named after him during his own lifetime. • The currently planned 29-ship program might easily be expanded, as suggested earlier, to 49, or 63, or even a larger number of ships. The rationale for an increase was spelled out by Norman Friedman in the (continued on page 88)

June, 1985 87

Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.