USS Truxtun (CGN-35)
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| period of service |
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|---|---|
| Ordered: | June 23, 1962 |
| Keel laying: | 17th June 1963 |
| Launch: | December 19, 1964 |
| Commissioning: | May 27, 1967 |
| Decommissioning: | September 11, 1995 |
| Whereabouts: | Disassembled |
| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement: | 9,200 ts |
| Length: | 172 meters |
| Width: | 17.7 meters |
| Draft: | 9.4 meters |
| Drive: | two pressurized water reactors, two shafts |
| Speed: | 30+ knots (56+ km / h) |
| Crew: | 53 officers, 543 men |
| Armament: | Guns: 1 × 5 "(12.7 cm) Air defense: Terrier, later CIWS U-Defense: ASROC, torpedo tubes retrofitted: Harpoon |
| Aircraft: | Hangar for a helicopter |
| Building-costs: | 138.7 million US dollars ( FY 1962) |
| Motto: | Ars navigandi - Fidelitas - Imperium |
The USS Truxtun (DLGN-35 / CGN-35) was a United States Navy warship and the only Truxtun-class unit . The ship was the Navy's third nuclear cruiser . The Truxtun , still classified as a destroyer , entered service in 1967 and served in the Vietnam War and the Second Gulf War . The ship was mainly used as a radar outpost for aircraft carriers.
history
Building history
The Truxtun was approved by the US Congress in 1962, actually as the seventh unit of the conventionally powered Belknap class . Instead, however, the design was changed so that a nuclear power drive was installed. After the two previous nuclear cruisers USS Long Beach (CGN-9) and USS Bainbridge (CGN-25) , the Truxtun was the third such ship in the US Navy.
The keel was laid in June 1963 at New York Shipbuilding in Camden , New Jersey . The ship was launched after 18 months of construction, and the ship was christened after Thomas Truxtun , the commander of the USS Constellation during the quasi-war between the United States and France. The Truxtun was commissioned in 1967. At that time the ship was classified as a destroyer leader with guided missiles, nuclear propelled ( DLGN ). Alternatively, were DL s as Large Frigates (dt .: Large frigates called).
The ship left Camden on June 3, 1967 and ran after several port visits in South American cities on July 10 around Cape Horn and thus in the Pacific. On July 29, the ship reached its home port in Long Beach , California . By the end of 1967, the Truxtun carried out several functional tests that were positive.
Vietnam War
The first operation with the 7th Fleet began for the Truxtun on January 2nd, 1968. After a brief stop in Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , the Truxtun reached the port of Sasebo , Japan on July 19th . Five days later, a combat group surrounding the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) left Japan for the waters of the Sea of Japan , where North Korea had just arrested the spy ship USS Pueblo (AGER-2) . The Truxtun operated there until February 16. She then moved to the United States Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines off the coast of Vietnam, where she served on Yankee Station . The Truxtun was a radar outpost for the carriers Enterprise , USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) and USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) . The Truxtun left its station on July 6th and reached its home port in Long Beach on the 19th.
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Until November 1968, the Truxtun conducted operations in domestic waters: while the aircraft carriers USS Ranger (CVA-61) , USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) , Enterprise and USS Yorktown (CV-10) had their pilots attain carrier qualification, the served Truxtun as a radar outpost. From mid-November a few weeks followed as a training ship for the submarine hunt until early December the first preparations for an overhaul began. This docking time began in January 1969 in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton , Washington and lasted until April. The Truxtun then sailed off the US west coast until September.
Again with a stopover in Pearl Harbor, the Truxtun moved to Subic Bay. On this second mission, the ship served off Vietnam and, in addition to radar monitoring, also carried out combat search and rescue missions. Later in this mission, the Truxtun sailed the Sea of Japan and the Formosa Strait and carried out exercises in the waters off Okinawa . On March 23, 1970 she reached her home port. The ship spent the summer of the year on practice trips and as a training ship between the US west coast and Hawaii until it docked in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for three months on November 2 . After minor overhauls, the Truxtun left the shipyard in mid-January 1971 and returned to the port of Long Beach.
On February 9, 1971, the Truxtun began its third mission , which took it via Hawaii to Subic Bay. Nothing changed in the basic routine: trips off the coast of Vietnam were also planned in 1971, as well as a patrol in Formosa Street. On July 10, the Truxtun left the South China Sea behind and sailed to Fremantle in Australia, where she was in port for a week. Thereafter, the Truxtun steamed through the South Seas, with berth in Pago Pago , American Samoa , back to the US west coast, where she arrived on August 17th. After a few months of exercises, the hangar was expanded for the Light Airborne Multi-purpose System helicopter generation , and tests of the new installations followed in mid-November. Further maneuvers took place in local waters until mid-1972.
On July 13, the Truxtun left Long Beach and sailed via Pearl Harbor to Subic Bay. While serving as a radar outpost, the ship weathered three typhoons . During this mission, the radar men instructed fighter planes on Vietnamese fighter planes and were involved in eleven kills. This mission ended on February 12, 1973. The Truxtun once again spent the spring and summer of the year with exercises and as a platform for training drives.
The fifth mission of the Truxtun began on August 17th. Again CSAR and radar outpost services were available, the trip ended at Christmas of the year. From January 1974 began the first major overhaul of the ship, which was to take 18 months and took place in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Among other things, the reactors were filled with new nuclear fuel. This lay time lasted until July 31, 1975. During the overhaul, the DL classification was also dissolved in the entire US Navy and the Truxtun reclassified as a CGN , so from this point on it was a guided missile cruiser . After undocking, the Truxtun changed her home port and was from then on in Naval Station San Diego in San Diego , California. The cruiser spent the following year doing routine operations off California.
Operations in the Pacific and Indian Oceans in peacetime
On July 30, 1976, the Truxtun left its base in San Diego. After two weeks of training cruises in the waters around the Hawaiian Islands, the ship set course westward, lay berths in Wellington , New Zealand and Melbourne , and then went to Subic Bay, where she arrived on September 25. After a month of maneuvers in the regions around Subic Bay, the Truxtun sailed further west into the Indian Ocean on October 28th. There she took part in Operation Midlink 76 , a multinational maneuver in Pakistani waters. After the maneuver and a visit to the city of Karachi , the cruiser returned to Subic Bay on November 24th. In addition to other local operations, the Truxtun visited Hong Kong in January 1977 and then drove back to the Indian Ocean with Enterprise and Long Beach , where exercises with the Singapore Navy were carried out. "Operation Houdini" was also carried out. The three nuclear-powered ships drove at high speed for a long time to run away from a Soviet Kynda-class cruiser that was supposed to shadow the group. After this was successful, the Truxtun visited Port Victoria in the Seychelles, among others, and returned to Subic Bay on March 13th, four days later the three ships began their journey home to the US west coast, which they sailed at an average speed of 24 knots carried out eleven days.
The deployment was again followed by a phase of exercises, including gun exercises and anti-submarine exercises. Small repairs were carried out in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard from November, and local operations from San Diego follow from December to April 1978. The seventh mission took place from April 4th. With the 7th Fleet, again as a combat group with Enterprise and Long Beach , several exercises were carried out with countries bordering the Indian Ocean. Among other things, the Truxtun docked in Colombo , Sri Lanka and Perth in Australia. The cruiser returned to San Diego on October 27th and spent the remainder of 1978 doing minor overhauls and local operations.
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The Truxtun began its next mission at the beginning of 1980, as the nuclear carrier Enterprise had been in dry dock since 1979 with the conventionally powered USS Constellation (CV-64) . As part of the hostage-taking in Tehran , the group relieved the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) in the Arabian Sea . In three months there, the Truxtun only anchored briefly in the port of Diego Garcia . Only on the way back were friendship visits to foreign ports, including Sattahip in Thailand , made. From New Zealand, the group made their way back through Ironbottom Sound to the USA, where they arrived in October.
The ninth mission, from October 1981 to April 1982, took the Truxtun again with the Constellation , into the Indian Ocean. Among other things, the cruiser made visits to Australia and Mombasa , Kenya . Following this voyage, from October 1982 onwards, the Truxtun underwent a thorough overhaul, refueling and updating of her armament. This lay time in the Puget Sound Navy Shipyard lasted until July 1984. After a few test drives in 1985, the next relocation followed in early 1986.
On January 15, 1986, the cruiser with Enterprise and USS Arkansas (CGN-41) left San Diego. In April the battle group entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal , where it was deployed in the Great Syrte off the coast of Libya . After two months there, the group drove through the Strait of Gibraltar to the Cape of Good Hope and to Australia, from there via Subic Bay and Hawaii to San Diego, where they arrived on August 13th. The group covered over 65,000 miles.
Operations in the Persian Gulf
The eleventh mission, from October 1987, the Truxtun , again with Enterprise and Arkansas , took the group to the Persian Gulf, where they were involved in guarding Kuwaiti supertankers as part of Operation Earnest Will . After the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) ran into an Iranian sea mine, the US Navy launched a counterattack called Operation Praying Mantis , during which Truxtun provided air defense for the Enterprise . The group returned to San Diego in June 1988, followed by a nine-month layover in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. After a few test drives, the Truxtun was relocated to Bremerton on October 1, 1989.
The first voyage from this port took place in February 1990 with USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) . The destination was the Indian Ocean, and the trip ended largely uneventfully in July of that year. This was followed by local operations for over 12 months.
From August 13, the Truxtun drove again to the Persian Gulf, where she served as a command ship for air defense during Operation Desert Storm and also acted as the flagship of a group of minesweepers that searched for sea mines in Kuwaiti waters. A two-month operation to combat drug smuggling in Central America followed in April 1992.
Her last mission from February 12, 1993 led the cruiser again into the Gulf, where she performed maneuvers with the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) . On April 22, the Truxtun was withdrawn from the group and sent to the Red Sea, where she carried out searches of ships in accordance with the weapons sanctions against Iraq. In total, boarding teams from the Truxtun boarded 73 freighters, 53 more were visually checked or telephoned. All ships were on their way to Aqaba in Jordan . On August 1, 1993, the journey ended in Bremerton.
From August 18, 1994, the Truxtun was to monitor the towing process of two nuclear cruisers to Bremerton, where they were to be dismantled. Instead, it crossed the Panama Canal and carried out other operations against smugglers in the Caribbean. In 1994 the ship returned to its home port, where it was decommissioned on September 11, 1995. The ship was dismantled as part of the Ship-Submarine Recycling Program between 1997 and 1999.
technology
hull
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The hull of the Truxtun was based on that of the conventionally powered Belknap class . To accommodate the propulsion systems, however, the fuselage was stretched about six meters and spread by one meter. As a result, and due to the higher weight of the reactors and shielding, the ship displaced around 1,000 tons more water than the ships of the Belknap class , namely well over 9,000 tons. The draft was around 9.4 meters. The layout of the deckhouses was largely retained compared to the Belknaps , but those of the Truxtun were a little smaller and less high. For this reason, the radar systems were installed on relatively high lattice masts, which made the ship appear rather inelegant.
In addition to the command bridge, the front deckhouse also housed the remaining rooms relevant for combat management, including radar and sonar control rooms and radio rooms. The aft deckhouse housed the hangar. In addition to the reactor and engine rooms, there were also accommodations for the crew and their dining and lounge areas below deck.
drive
The drive of the Truxtun consisted of two pressurized water reactors of the type D2G . The D stands for the type of ship ( Destroyer ), the 2 denotes the second generation of nuclear reactors of the D series, the G indicates the manufacturer of this reactor, in the case of the Truxtun this is General Electric . The steam from the reactor was fed to two geared turbines , each of which powered one of the ship's two shafts. The power was 60,000 PS, the Truxtun was able to reach speeds of over 30 knots and hold them for a long time.
Armament
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At the beginning of her service life, the Truxtun was primarily equipped to combat air targets and submarines. For this purpose, the ship had a double-arm starter Mk. 10 Mod 7 at the stern . This could fire anti-aircraft missiles of the type RIM-2 Terrier as well as missile torpedoes ASROC . In three horizontally stored drum magazines, which were located under the landing deck, 20 weapons each could be stowed, the usual mix was 20 ASROC and 40 Terriers . After the Terriers were taken out of service , the Truxtun RIM-66 Standard Missile ER (for extended range , long range ) carried along. Amidships, there were two torpedo tubes on each side, rigidly built into the superstructure , which could fire the Mark 46 for use against submarines. At the bow was a gun of type Mk. 42 . This 54- caliber 5-inch / 127-mm gun could be used at short range against surface, air and sea targets.
In 1980, two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns, 50 caliber guns, placed between the deckhouses were removed. At the stern there were two more, smaller torpedo tubes, but they were deactivated and welded when the ship was in dock from 1973–1975. A clearly recognizable depression remained.
In the early 1980s, several weapon systems were retrofitted on board the Truxtun . On the one hand, there were two Starter Mk. 141 for four anti-ship missiles AGM-84 Harpoon , which were set up between the deckhouses in place of the anti-aircraft guns. Two close-in-weapon systems of the Mk. 15 Phalanx type were installed for close-range defense . These two Gatling cannons , which were positioned in front of the superstructure, can fire at approaching anti-ship missiles with 3000 rounds per minute and thus destroy them.
electronics
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The electronics on board were retained during the entire period of service, only the equipment for electronic warfare was upgraded.
As navigation and surface search radar that was on the front mast PLC 10 of Raytheon installed. The Lockheed SPS-40 with a range of up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) was chosen as the aerial search radar mounted on the aft mast . For this 2D radar , the conspicuous planar antenna of the SPS-48 from ITT-Gilfillan was installed on the front mast , which acted as a height finder .
Two SPG-55 target lights , manufactured by Sperry & RCA , were installed in the hangar for the fire control of the anti-aircraft missiles . This means that only two missiles could be directed at the same time. The gun's fire control was ensured by a Western Electric SPG-53 radar installed above the bridge.
The sonar system of Truxtun consisted of SQS-26 system. This sonar, which was installed in the bow of the cruiser, could locate targets both actively and passively, as well as directly or across a convergence zone . To confuse torpedoes fired on the Truxtun , the ship was able to tow a nixie. This decoys ("bait") imitated the ship's noise, which was supposed to distract torpedoes with acoustic target search from the actual ship.
The systems for electronic warfare consisted of the WLR-6 when commissioned. These were replaced by SLQ-32 during the renovation in the early 1980s . The antennas of this system could be used for telecommunication and electronic reconnaissance as well as jamming . The SLQ-32 package on board the Truxtun also included the Mark 36 SRBOC , which shoots chaffs and flares into the air to deflect approaching missiles from the ship with both radar and infrared seekers.
Aircraft
The Truxtun was the first nuclear cruiser to be equipped with a hangar as well as a landing pad for helicopters, which allowed a helicopter to be permanently stationed on the cruiser, especially for submarine hunting. This hangar was 12.3 × 5.1 meters in size and could accommodate a helicopter. At the beginning this was a helicopter of the QH-50-DASH system . This acronym stands for Drone Antisubmarine Helicopter and was an unmanned anti-submarine helicopter.
In 1971, however, the ship was equipped for take-offs and landings by manned helicopters according to the LAMPS-I standard ( Light Airborne Multi-purpose System , German: Light airborne multi-purpose system ). This meant that a Kaman SH-2 Seasprite had been on board since the fourth mission . Originally another upgrade was planned to accommodate the Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk ( LAMPS III ), but these plans were abandoned around 1980. TACAN URN-20 was initially used as a radio beacon, then URN-25 from 1984 .
Mission profile
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It was clear that the Truxtun's original armament was not designed as a cruiser. Due to its long-range anti-aircraft missiles, the ship had certain offensive capabilities against air targets, but classic cruiser operations away from a fleet, such as monitoring and keeping sea routes clear , would not have been easily possible due to the lack of capacities against sea targets. This only changed with the installation of the anti-ship missiles, which only came on board years after the reclassification.
This assessment is also supported by the fact that the Truxtun was used as an air defense for the aircraft carriers during the Vietnam War. The fact that the Truxtun was later used as an escort as a full-fledged cruiser with Harpoon missile armament rather shows that the formal classification is of secondary importance today. The special feature, the nuclear drive, was also reflected in the application profile of the Truxtun . So she drove several trips with other nuclear-powered units in order to exploit the advantage or to train the mission profile that the ships are immediately operational even after a long approach at high speed in the target area.
literature
- Wilhelm M. Donko: The nuclear cruisers of the US Navy . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1987, ISBN 3-7637-5836-4
Web links
- Truxtun class on globalsecurity.org (Engl.)
- USS Truxtun on navysite.de (engl.)
