Spruance class destroyer

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The Spruance-class destroyer, developed as replacements for the large number of World War II built Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class destroyers, was the primary destroyer built for the US Navy during the 1970s. The class was originally designed for antisubmarine warfare with only point defense missiles for the AAW role, although subsequent upgrades have provided them with an anti-ship and land attack capability.

The class is notable for being the first large US Navy ships to use gas turbine power. Spruance-class vessels are powered by four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines generating approximately 80,000 horsepower (60 MW). This configuration was so successful that the entire hull and physical plant of the Spruance-class was used unchanged for the later Kidd-class destroyers and Ticonderoga class cruisers.

The entire class of thirty ships was contracted with a single shipyard to facilitate mass construction on 23 June 1970 although labor and technical problems delayed construction. One additional ship was ordered on 29 September 1979. Four additional ships were built for the Iranian Navy with the Mark 26/Standard AAW missile system but were completed as the Kidd class destroyers for the United States Navy.

Of the thirty-one vessels of this class constructed, twenty-four have been decommissioned and the remaining seven ships, which have been extensively modernized, were expected to remain in active service through at least the end of the decade. However their withdrawal has been accelerated as a cost cutting measure, and they are now to be retired by 2006. At the end of 2004 only 4 destroyers of the class are still in service.