Kidd class

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The Kidd in 1984 off Hampton Roads
The Kidd in 1984 off Hampton Roads
Overview
units 4 built, 4 sold
Namesake Admiral Isaac C. Kidd
period of service

1981 to 1999 (US Navy)

Technical specifications
displacement

9700 tn.l.

length

172 meters

width

16.80 meters

Draft

8.8 meters

crew

34 officers, 299 sailors

drive

2 propellers, driven by 4 gas turbines; 80,000  wave horsepower

speed

32.5 knots

Range

6,000  nautical miles (11,000 km) at 20 knots

Armament

2 double arm launchers for rockets, 2 triple torpedo launchers, 2 guns 127 mm. Later an additional 8 anti-ship missiles

The Kidd class is a class of guided missile destroyers . They were built for the Iranian Navy in the late 1970s , but ultimately entered service with the United States Navy and sold to Taiwan in 2005/2006. The class is based on the American Spruance class , but was planned with stronger anti-aircraft capacity.

history

Building history

Outwardly hardly distinguishable: on the left the Kidd , on the right the Peterson ( Spruance class )

The ships of the Kidd class were ordered on March 23, 1978 by the then Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from the friendly United States. The contract partner for Iran was the US Navy, which had the ships built as a modification of their Spruance-class destroyers. The keel laying of the four units took place in 1978 and 1979 at Ingalls Shipbuilding . After the overthrow of the Shah, the revolution in Iran and the accompanying deteriorating relationship between the USA and Iran, the ships were not delivered, but instead put into service with the US Navy in 1981/82. The cost per unit was $ 350 million.

Because the ships were originally intended for Iran, the American crews quickly gave them the nickname “Ayatollah class”. Another nickname was "Dead Admiral Class", as all ships were named after admirals who died in World War II .

In the 1980s, the ships were overhauled by the US Navy, with anti- ship missiles also being installed on board.

Sale of the ships

The four ships of the Kidd class were decommissioned in 1998/99, like their sister ships in the Spruance class well before the end of their service life. Unlike the Spruances , which were abandoned or sunk, however, the Kidds were assigned to the reserve fleet with the aim of selling the ships.

At the end of 1998 Greece wanted to acquire the four units including ammunition. The cost for this should be around $ 742 million for the entire package. The Greek Navy wanted to replace its four Charles F. Adams class destroyers . In 1999, however, she decided to purchase four Dutch Kortenaer-class frigates , six of which were already in service in Greece.

In 2001 the Republic of China (Taiwan) expressed an interest in buying the four ships for defense against possible air strikes by the People's Republic. Taiwan originally wanted to purchase four Arleigh Burke class destroyers from the USA, but they did not want to give the modern Aegis combat system to Taiwan. Taiwan were then offered the four kidds , which the island republic then acquired. The first two ships reached the Republic of China in late 2005, and the second pair was handed over in late 2006. The cost of the package, again including weapons, was $ 800 million.

technology

hull

Chandler from above

The hull of the Kidd class is exactly the same as that of the Spruance class . It is 172 meters long, 16.8 meters wide and has a draft of 8.8 meters. The hull displaces with approx.9,700 tn.l. a little more than the Spruance class . The tall, large superstructures make the kidds susceptible to wind, especially at low speeds (mooring, supply on the high seas). The large vertical surfaces of these superstructures reflect incident radar radiation very strongly, making ships of this class easy to locate. This lack of stealth is often cited as one of the reasons the US Navy separated from these ships relatively early on.

In the forward deckhouse are the bridge and, directly below, the CIC ( Command Information Center ), the command center, in which the commander monitors the tactical situation. The captain's chamber is located aft, further behind are the reconnaissance and radio rooms. There is a hangar for two helicopters in the aft deckhouse. Below deck, exactly amidships, are the engine rooms, in front of and behind the quarters for the crews. The trade fairs are located above the aft engine room, below the helicopter landing pad . The magazines for the weapon systems are also located below deck.

Since the ships from Iran would have been used in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden , i.e. in hot regions, particularly powerful air conditioning systems were installed on the ships. In addition, strong filter systems were installed to prevent sand penetration and for NBC protection .

drive

The drive of the units of the Kidd-class consists of four gas turbines of the type General Electric LM2500 , which drive two propellers. These propellers, 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter, rotate at 30 knots at 168 revolutions per minute. The advantages of gas turbines are that they accelerate your ship faster, require fewer personnel and are quieter than the steam turbines used previously. With just one running turbine, the ships can already reach 19 knots, with two up to 27 knots. All four systems are only needed for top speed.

Three smaller gas turbines together generate six megawatts for the electrical systems on board.

Armament

Armament on the aft deck of the Chandler

The main armament of the Kidd class consists of one Mk-26-Mod-1 double-arm starter at the bow and one at the stern. The front starter is equipped for the RIM-66 Standard Missile 1 anti- aircraft missile for medium ranges. In addition to the RIM-66 , the aft Mk 26 can also fire the RUR-5 ASROC missile torpedo against submarines. The magazines hold a total of 88 missiles, 20 of which are ASROC . For submarine hunts, there are also three torpedo tubes on both sides amidships, which can fire the Mark 46 lightweight torpedo, twelve of which are on board. At short range, the two Mark 45 lightweight guns with a caliber of 127 millimeters, which can fire around 16 rounds per minute, can also be used against air, ground and sea targets . The ammunition on board is around 500 projectiles per gun.

In the 1980s were on the four units as close-Weapon-system- two Phalanx CIWS- - Gatling installed. These can fight approaching missiles with 3000 rounds per minute. For use against ships, two quad-launchers for the anti-ship missile AGM-84 Harpoon were set up between the deckhouses. All weapon systems are still on board after they have been sold to Taiwan.

electronics

On the right the surface antenna SPS-48 , on the left the SPS-53

The aerial target radar on board the Kidd-class ships is the SPS-48 from ITT-Gilfillan , which is installed on the rear mast and has a range of around 230 nautical miles. The SPS-55 , which is used as a sea target radar, is located on the front mast . The SPQ-9A radar from Norden Systems , the antenna of which is located in a spherical radome, is used together with the SPG-60 for the fire control of the weapons.

The sonar system on board is the SQS-53 , which can be used both actively and passively and is located directly in the bow. In addition, a torpedo decoy type AN / SLQ-25 Nixie can be towed, which imitates the sounds of the ship and is thus supposed to direct torpedoes at itself.

The systems for electronic warfare consist of the AN / SLQ-32 . The antennas can be used for telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance and as jammers . The SLQ-32 package also includes the Mark 36 SRBOC , which shoots chaffs and flares into the air that are intended to deflect approaching missiles away from the ship with both radar and infrared seekers.

Aircraft

Two helicopters can be carried on board. These take off and land on the deck behind the superstructure, which has space for two helicopters. At the beginning there were two Kaman SH-2 Seasprites , from 1979 onwards experiments began with the more versatile Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk , which was used exclusively from the mid-1980s. The Navy of the Republic of China uses the Sikorsky S-70C , a slightly modified version of the Seahawk .

Mission profile

Scott 1992 with Spanish units

In the US Navy, the primary task of the four Kidds was air defense within carrier combat groups . In addition, they could be used for submarine hunting. Due to the air conditioning and filter systems, the ships were mainly used in hot, sandstorm-prone regions. Class missions include voyages as part of Operation Earnest Will , where the ships provided airstrike protection for supertankers during the Iran-Iraq war , as well as transit of ships through the Straits of Kidd-class destroyers during Operation Desert Storm Hormuz secured.

In the Taiwan's fleet , the main job of the kidds is to defend the coastal waters. They were also intended for this role in Iran and Greece. With the four kidds, Taiwan is able to repel invasion attempts by the People's Republic much better. According to reports, two kidds in simulations stopped 40% of a Chinese invasion fleet before reaching the island of Taiwan.

units

Web links

Commons : Kidd class  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ from: Terzibaschitsch: Seemacht USA, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn, ISBN 3860475762 , page 392
  2. ^ Defense-Aerospace: Initial 2 Kidd-class Destroyers Take Their Places in ROC Fleet (December 19, 2005)
  3. ↑ Modern Naval Combat ISBN 0517613506
  4. ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/systems/mk26-gmls.pdf
  5. ↑ http://www.tpub.com/gunners/177.htm
  6. ↑ Taipei Times: Kidd-class destroyers do well in war games: MND (April 27, 2005)
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on June 10, 2006 .