THE “SPRU-CANS”

 By the 1960s our aging fleet of WWII Allen M. Sumner and Gearing-class destroyers was increasingly inadequate against the growing threat of Soviet submarines.  A more capable platform for convoy escort and to counter submarine-launched ballistic missiles was needed.  In response, the Major Fleet Escort Study of 1967 called for a fundamental technological re-design of our surface escorts.  That vision materialized 50 years ago this day with the commissioning of USS SPRUANCE (DD-963).

The Spruances were the largest post-WWII destroyers in any navy, stretched to a size more typical of a cruiser.  They were the first in our Navy to be powered by gas turbines, with later modifications installing General Electric LM-2500 aircraft engines in their four engine rooms.  Each carried 16 anti-submarine rockets (ASROC) and six Mk-46 torpedoes in addition to sophisticated submarine detection and tracking equipment.  Due to their predominant ASW mission they mounted only fore and aft 5″/54 guns and twin Phalanx 20mm CIWS mounts–small enough anti-surface weaponry to class them as “destroyers.”  (In traditional nomenclature surface ships are differentiated by the size of their guns.  Battleships mount 10″ guns or larger; heavy cruisers, 8″ guns; light cruisers, 6″ guns; and destroyers carry 5″ guns).

The Spruance platform had enduring utility and formed the backbone of our surface Cold War anti-submarine capabilities.  Thirty-one units were launched, from DD-963 to HAYLER (DD-997), commissioned 5 March 1983.  They served in every action of the latter decades of the Cold War.  Four additional hulls were laid down in 1978-79 intended for the Shah of Iran and fitted with more robust anti-air capabilities.  But after his abdication to the Ayatollah Khomeni in 1979, the four were retained in our Navy as the Kidd-class.  They took our Navy past the turn of the 21^st century and remained popular with our allies thereafter.  Their versatile hulls, power plants, and auxiliary systems are their legacy, being retained for the later Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke DDGs.

It was the emergence of this latter DDG that eclipsed the venerable “Spru-cans.”  Thirty years and one day after the lead ship was commissioned, our last Spruance left service.  On 21 September 2005 CDR Steven A. Mucklow, Commanding Officer of USS CUSHING (DD-985), accepted his ship’s commissioning pennant in ceremonies in San Diego timed to the 25^th anniversary of that warship’s commissioning.  An era of superlative destroyers for whom crews still emote undying affection thus ended.  “I could not have asked for better duty.” summed-up SH3 (SW) Eric Browning at the CUSHING ceremony, echoing the feelings of many “Spru-can” sailors.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  25 SEP 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Global Security website. DD-963 Spruance-class.”  AT: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/dd-963-specs.htm, 29 September 2005.

Polmar, Norman.  The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet, 14^th ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1987, pp. 150-55.

Smith, Cynthia.  “Navy’s Last Spruance-Class Destroyer Decommissioned.”  Military.com electronic news release, 27 September 2005.

ADDITIIONAL NOTES:  USS SPRUANCE remembers ADM Raymond A. Spruance (1886-1969), who commanded US Naval forces in WWII at the battles of Midway and the Philippine Sea.  Near the end of WWII, Congress authorized the 5-star rank of Fleet Admiral, allotting 4 billets to the Navy.  Chester Nimitz, Ernest King, and William Leahy were obvious choices.  For the fourth billet, both William Halsey and Raymond Spruance were considered.  Halsey was chosen, to which Spruance reacted, “…if I had received it instead of Bill Halsey, I would have been very unhappy over it.^”

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                      ATTACK ON USS STARK

On 22 September 1980, years of animosity between Iran and Iraq erupted into a shooting war.  Early in that conflict Iranian jets destroyed Iraq’s only Persian Gulf oil terminal, greatly hindering the flow of this strategic resource.  (Saddam Hussein would not forget how easily his limited coastal access had been denied–a vulnerability that influenced his annexation of Kuwait in 1990).  Iraq countered with attacks against merchantmen, largely tankers, from Iran.  By 1984 both sides were actively attempting to choke off oil leaving, or war supplies bound for, the other.  In what was to become known as the “Tanker War,” by 1986 neutral Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian ships were falling victim to mines and missile attacks at a rate of about two a week.

In March 1987 Kuwait approached the United States with a plan to re-flag eleven Kuwait Oil Company supertankers as American and have them proceed under escort of US warships.  President Reagan reacted favorably, and while plans were finalized several American warships took up station in the Persian Gulf.  One of these was the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate HAROLD R. STARK (FFG-31).  While standing radar picket duty 80 miles northeast of Bahrain, STARK received warning at 2000 hours from a circling E-2 Hawkeye of an Iraqi F-1 Mirage in the area.  At 2058, STARK acquired the Mirage on its air-search radar at a range of 70 miles.  At 2105 the Mirage turned toward the frigate and launched a French-made Exocet anti-ship missile at a range of 22.5 miles.  A second followed less than a minute later.  Both incoming missiles were spotted by lookouts on the STARK, but chaff rockets and the Phalanx CIWS gun could not be armed in time.

The first missile entered the port side and penetrated passageways, computer spaces, and berthing before coming to rest without detonating on the 2^nd deck.  Along its course it deposited 360# of burning fuel.  The second struck 25 seconds later, eight feet forward of the first.  Its warhead detonated on impact, starting a 3000^o fire intense enough to melt the frigate’s aluminum superstructure.  Despite the fire and a 16^o list, LT Art Conklin’s damage control parties were able to keep the warship afloat.  Thirty-seven crewmen were lost, and the medical department’s efforts were complicated by polyester fabric from the Certified Navy Twill (CNT) uniforms melted into many of the burns.

Within 24 hours STARK was under tow to Bahrain for repairs.  The Iraqi government apologized, stating the Mirage had mistaken STARK for a tanker.  On July 21^st the first convoy of re-flagged tankers left Khawr Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, under escort of FOX (CG-33), CROMMELIN (FFG-37), and KIDD (DDG-993) for Kuwait.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  22 MAY 23

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Howarth, Stephen.  To Shining Sea:  A History of the United States Navy  1775-1991.  New York, NY: Random House, 1991, p. 549.

Levinson, Jeffrey L. and Randy I. Edwards.  Missile Inbound:  The Attack on the STARK in the Persian Gulf.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1997.

Love, Robert W.  History of the US Navy, Vol 2  1942-1991. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992, pp. 771-79.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, pp. 283-86.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  ADM Harold Rainsford Stark (1880-1972) was a WWI veteran and our Chief of Naval Operations throughout World War II, from 1939-49.

     The STARK experience was a factor in removing CNT uniform fabric from use at sea, in favor of all-cotton “shipboard” khaki.

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