The ''Belknap''-class cruiser was a class of single-ended
guided-missile cruisers (their missile armament was installed only forward, unlike "double-ended" missile cruisers with missile armament installed both forward and aft) built for the
United States Navy during the 1960s. They were originally designated as DLG frigates (
destroyer leaders; the USN use of the term frigate from 1950 to 1975 was intended to evoke the power of the sailing frigates of old), but in the
1975 fleet realignment, they were reclassified as guided missile cruisers (CG).
Description
When commissioned, the main armament of the ''Belknap'' class was a
5-inch/54-caliber Mk. 42 gun on the quarterdeck and a twin-rail
RIM-2 Terrier Mk 10 Missile Launcher on the foredeck.
[
] The Mk 10 Mod 7 launchers in this class were also capable of launching
RUR-5 ASROC to eliminate need for a separate Mk 112 ASROC launcher.
These were unofficially spoken of as Ter/AS (tear-ass) launchers. The class was also equipped with two twin
3"/50 caliber gun
The 3"/50 caliber gun (spoken "three-inch fifty-caliber") in United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile in diameter, and the barrel was 50 calibers long (barrel length is 3 in × 50 = ). Different guns (identifi ...
s for defence against sub-sonic aircraft.
[
] In the early 1980s, the Terrier missiles were replaced with RIM-67
Standard missiles; and during the
NTU program in the late 1980s and early 1990s the class had its Standard SM-1 system upgraded to utilize
SM-2ER Block II, the 3-inch guns were replaced with two 4 cell Harpoon Surface-to-surface missile launchers, and two
Phalanx CIWS systems were installed.
The derivative
USS ''Truxtun'' shared the weapons systems outfit of the ''Belknap'' class, but was
nuclear-powered, larger and substantially unrelated in design (for example, many weapons systems in different locations, such as the aft-facing GMLS). Most information related to nuclear cruisers is still classified, but ''Truxtun'' appears to be more a Belknap-like derivative of the nuclear cruiser ''Bainbridge'' than the other way around.
Ships in class
See also
*
List of cruisers of the United States Navy
*
List of United States Navy destroyer leaders
*
Nuclear powered cruisers of the United States Navy __NOTOC__
In the early 1960s, the United States Navy was the world's first to have nuclear-powered cruisers as part of its fleet. The first such ship was . Commissioned in late summer 1961, she was the world's first nuclear-powered surface combat ...
References
Bibliography
*
External links
''Belknap''-class frigatesa
Destroyer History Foundationwrite-up
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belknap-class cruiser