THE ARLEIGH BURKE-CLASS DESTROYERS
The Arleigh Burke-Class
When USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. is commissioned, it will become the 75th Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) destroyer to join the fleet, in a class that could eventually include 100 vessels. Among the most powerful, capable classes of destroyer ever built, these multi-mission ships rival World War II cruisers in length and displacement, but are more flexible and far more lethal. They are named for Adm. Arleigh Burke, a destroyer captain during World War II who pioneered particularly successful destroyer tactics, distinguished himself during the Korean War, and served three terms as Chief of Naval Operations during the administrations of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy.
Originally intended to replace the 23 (plus six others for foreign customers) destroyers of the Charles F. Adams (DDG 2) class, the Arleigh Burke class has expanded its capabilities and grown in number over the years, eventually replacing or assuming the roles and missions of four different classes of escorts. The class was conceived under the DDX program, begun in 1978. At the time, escorts like frigates and destroyers were usually designed for and assigned dominant roles, such as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) or anti-air warfare (AAW). The Adams class were considered guided missile destroyers (DDG) with a predominant role of AAW, and so the Burkes' primary role was considered AAW, with secondary ASW and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) roles.
The 1970s were characterized as a tight budgetary environment, and every effort was made to keep costs down, with the class being envisioned as the "low" part of a high/low mix of escorts. The Ticonderoga-class (CG 47) Aegis cruisers comprised the "high" part of this mix. The Arleigh Burke class borrowed much of its machinery and propulsion from the Spruance-class destroyers, which were the first large U.S. Navy warships to use gas turbine propulsion instead of steam. DDG 51s employ four General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines driving two propeller shafts, with 100,000 total shaft horsepower available when all four turbines are engaged, delivering a top speed in excess of 30 knots.
Due to various considerations, including the belief that costs could be reduced by limiting overall length, the Arleigh Burke class introduced an all-new hullform, wider in the beam and shorter in length than in previous destroyers. While this meant reduced endurance and speed in contrast with longer, narrower hullforms like the earlier Spruances (which were nearly 60 feet longer at the waterline and five feet narrower in beam), it also allowed the Burke class to maintain higher speeds in heavier seas. The hull shape also had a pronounced flare down to the waterline, which, in concert with a superstructure sloping inward as it rose from the deck, reduced radar cross-section, making the ship more stealthy and adding to survivability.
And ship survivability had become a high priority. World War II-built escorts were relatively small (a DDG today carries more tonnage in fuel than some World War II destroyers displaced fully loaded) and the first guided weapons they faced were Kamikaze suicide planes. Escorts hit by a Kamikaze rarely survived, and the belief was that any escort hit by a modern guided weapon like an anti-ship missile would be put out of action. Most post-war escorts were still relatively small the Adams-class DDGs being replaced displaced about half what an Arleigh Burke does today and emphasis was placed on shooting down or making such weapons miss rather than being able to take a hit. This thinking began to change as escorts grew in size and expense, and the DDG 51s were designed to take a hit and keep on fighting. The hull and superstructure of the class are built almost entirely of steel, with two layers of steel armor as well as Kevlar armor blankets protecting vital spaces.
It has been said that the reversion to all-steel construction from the former practice of using aluminum superstructures was due to lessons learned from British Royal Navy ship losses in the Falkland Islands war, but this is largely a myth. In fact a Department of the Navy report found no evidence that aluminum construction had contributed to British ship losses during the conflict. The U.S. Navy had already decided to build the Burkes entirely of steel, in part because of its own previous experience in two separate incidents. First, in 1972 during the Vietnam War, the USS Worden (CG 18) had been accidentally hit by two Shrike anti-radar missiles. When the Shrikes struck the ship's aluminum superstructure, every pellet in their fragmentation warheads created two or more pieces of shrapnel, actually multiplying the damage. The deadly fire aboard USS Belknap (CG 26) in 1975, where the ship's aluminum superstructure had been almost entirely destroyed, also factored into the decision.
The Belknap's misfortune, however, played an important role in the development of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Reconstructed from the deck up with the latest weapons and equipment, the ship became a test platform for the new Aegis Combat System (ACS) which later formed the core capability of the Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruisers, and then the Arleigh Burke class as well. The Aegis Combat System, or ACS, uses advanced "command and decision" to integrate and operate the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) at its heart. The AWS is comprised of the AN/SPY-1 three-dimensional passive electronically scanned phased array radar, the Mark 99 Fire Control System, the Weapon Control System (WCS), the Command and Decision Suite, and associated weapons. These include a variety of missiles and the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) for AAW capability, as well as the multi-role 5-inch gun, the ASW capability of the shipboard torpedoes, and anti-surface warfare and strike capabilities according to the mix of weapons contained in the Mark 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS).
The ACS also includes the ship's AN/SQQ-89A undersea warfare system, which integrates information from the bow-mounted sonar, a towed array sonar streamed from the stern, and from the sonobuoys and dipping sonar of the embarked MH-60R helicopters. The ACS can combat multiple threats simultaneously, from small boats to sea-skimming anti-ship missiles. The SPY-1 radar is capable of running more than 100 target tracks at more than 100 nautical miles, as well as conducting Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD). Much of the system's flexibility with respect to taking on disparate threats lies with the second technological breakthrough when DDG 51 destroyers were in development: the aforementioned Mark 41 VLS.
Formerly, weapon systems took up their own individual spaces above and below decks. An AAW missile launcher with rails consumed deck space as well a magazine belowdecks where the missiles were stored, and was devoted to threats from the air. Anti-submarine torpedoes and ASROC were devoted to ASW, and consumed their own space with dedicated launchers. Harpoon anti-ship missiles had their own quad launch tubes arranged on deck, and land-attack strike missiles like Tomahawk required armored box launchers, again adding weight and taking up valuable deck space. The advent of the VLS meant a variety of weapons could be stored and launched from vertical "cells," concentrating them in a single, more compact space above and belowdecks. For the same space and weight as an armored box launcher containing 20 Tomahawks, a ship could fit a 60-cell VLS. The Burke-class destroyers were the first U.S. Navy ships to be designed from the start to incorporate the system.
Mark 41 VLS is available in three different lengths and weights to accommodate self-defense, tactical, and strike roles. Weapons accommodated by VLS systems aboard the class can include the Standard Missile family RIM-66 Standard Missile 2 (SM-2), RIM-156 Standard Missile 2 Extended Range (SM-2 ER), RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3), and RIM-174 Standard Missile 6 Extended Range Active Missile (SM-6 ERAM) RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and the RUM-139 Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC). Not all ships of the class can operate all of these missiles, and individual ships carry mixes of weapons to suit their assigned mission profile.
Other standard weapons on ships of the class are the Mark 45 5-inch gun in two different variants, two Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes, the Phalanx CIWS, two 25mm Bushmaster autocannons, and four 50-caliber machine guns. Some Burkes also embark the SeaRAM self-defense missile system, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, or Naval Strike Missiles, as well as carrying out testing of more exotic weapons such as lasers. Comprising weapon systems in themselves are the ship's helicopters. The class was designed from the start to be able to operate shipborne helicopters, which had come to be a vital element of surface ships from frigate size on up. The ships' MH-60R Seahawks are multirole helicopters, extending the reach of the destroyers' sensors and weapons and adding to the ships' flexibility.
Seahawks carry the latest sensors, sonobuoys, a dipping sonar, and torpedoes in their primary anti-submarine role, but can also be used in an air-to-ground or anti-ship role with Hellfire missiles as well as crew-served machine guns. They can transport personnel, fly rescue missions, land boarding parties, and transport supplies, among other roles. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been built in "flights," by Bath Iron Works and Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding, each flight an improvement over the last and incorporating new capabilities. DDG 51-DDG 71 represent the original design and are designated Flight I ships. DDGs 72-78 comprise Flight II, incorporating improvements in the SPY-1 radar, Standard missiles, communications systems, and electronic countermeasures.
Flight IIA, including DDGs 79-124 and DDG 127, added a hangar for two Seahawk helicopters on a lengthened hull, ballistic missile defense capability, and organic mine hunting sonar, among other improvements. Flight III ships add another leap in capability, incorporating the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) system. AMDR enables Flight III ships to perform AAW and BMD simultaneously, and incorporates the Aegis Baseline 10 Combat System. The first Flight III ship, USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), was commissioned in 2023 to act as an Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) ship for the flight. While USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. will be the 75th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be delivered to the fleet, 25 more are on contract, with 12 ships in various stages of construction. As new ships enter the fleet, older ships of the class have continued to be upgraded, for instance with BMD capability, keeping them up to date and capable against new threats and challenges far into the future.
