Guns or Butter, part 1 of the Guns

[unhappycamper]

Let's start out with the guns.

The USS Harry S. Truman:



USS Harry S. Truman alongside MSC oiler USNS John Lenthall in the Mediterranean Sea


Career (United States) United States Navy ensign
Name: USS Harry S. Truman
Namesake: Harry S. Truman
Operator: United States Navy
Ordered: 30 June 1988
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding

Cost: US$4.5 billion

Laid down: 29 November 1993
Launched: 7 September 1996
Commissioned: 25 July 1998
Homeport: NS Norfolk, Virginia
Motto: The Buck Stops Here
Nickname: HST
Status: Active in service as of 2009
Badge: USS Harry S TRUMAN Patch.jpg
General characteristics
Class and type: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Displacement: Approximately 101,000 long tons (103,000 t) full load
Length: Overall: 1,092 feet (332.8 m)
Waterline: 1,040 feet (317.0 m)
Beam: Overall: 252 ft (76.8 m)
Waterline: 134 ft (40.8 m)
Draught: Maximum navigational: 37 ft (11.3 m)
Limit: 41 ft (12.5 m)
Propulsion: 2 × Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors
4 × steam turbines
4 × shafts
260,000 shp (194 MW)
Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h; 35+ mph)
Range: Essentially unlimited distance; 20 years
Complement: Ship's company: 3,200
Air wing: 2,480
Sensors and
processing systems: AN/SPS-48E 3-D air search radar
AN/SPS-49(V)5 2-D air search radar
AN/SPQ-9B target acquisition radar
2 × AN/SPN-46 air traffic control radars
AN/SPN-43B air traffic control radar
AN/SPN-44 landing aid radars
4 × Mk 91 NSSM guidance systems
4 × Mk 95 radars
Electronic warfare
and decoys: SLQ-32A(V)4 Countermeasures suite
SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo countermeasures
Armament: 2 × Mk 57 Mod3 Sea Sparrow
2 × RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
3 × Phalanx CIWS
Armour: Classified
Aircraft carried: 90 fixed wing and helicopters


USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000)



Conceptual image


Career (USA) United States Navy ensign
Namesake: Admiral Elmo Zumwalt
Awarded: 14 February 2008
Builder: Bath Iron Works

Cost: US$3.3bn (not really)

Laid down: February 11, 2009
Commissioned: 2013 (planned)
Homeport: San Diego, California
General characteristics
Class and type: Zumwalt-class destroyer
Displacement: 14,564 tons<1>
Length: 600 ft (182.9 m)
Beam: 80.7 ft (24.6 m)
Draft: 27.6 ft (8.4 m)
Propulsion: 2 Rolls-Royce Marine Trent-30 gas turbines and emergency diesel generators, 78 MW
Speed: 30.3 kn (56 km/h)
Complement: 140
Sensors and
processing systems: AN/SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar (MFR) (X-band, scanned array)
Volume Search Radar (VSR) (S-band, scanned array)
Armament: 20 × MK 57 VLS modules, comprising a total of 80 missiles
Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM)
Tactical Tomahawk Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC)
2 × 155 mm Advanced Gun System
920 × 155 mm total; 600 in automated store + Auxiliary store room with up to 320 rounds (non-automatic) as of April 2005
70-100 LRLAP rounds planned as of 2005 of total
2 × Mk 110 57 mm gun (CIWS)
Aircraft carried: 2 SH-60 LAMPS helicopters or 1 MH-60R helicopter
3 MQ-8 Fire Scout VTUAV


Cost issues

A January 26, 2009 memo from John Young, the Defense Department's top acquisition official, stated that the per ship price for the Zumwalt destroyers had reached $5.964 billion, 81 percent over the Navy's original estimate used in proposing the program. If true, that means that the program has breached the Nunn–McCurdy Amendment, requiring the Navy to recertify and rejustify the program to Congress.<7>



USS Independence



USS Independence

Career (US) United States Navy ensign
Ordered: 14 October 2005
Builder: Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama

Cost: US$704 million (almost 300% over budget)

Laid down: 19 January 2006
Launched: 29 April 2008
Christened: 4 October 2008
Homeport: Naval Base San Diego (planned)
Status: Under construction
General characteristics
Class and type: Independence-class littoral combat ship
Displacement: 2,176 tons light, 2,784 tons full, 608 tons deadweight
Length: 127.4 m (418 ft)
Beam: 31.6 m (104 ft)
Draft: 14 ft (4.27 m)
Propulsion: 2× gas turbines, 2× diesel, 4× waterjets, retractable Azimuth thruster, 4× diesel generators
Speed: 40+ knots, 47 knots (54 mph; 87 km/h) sprint
Range: 4,300 nm at 20+ knots<1>
Capacity: 210 tonnes
Complement: 40 core crew (8 officers, 32 enlisted) plus up to 35 mission crew
Sensors and
processing systems:

* Sea Giraffe 3D Surface/Air RADAR
* Bridgemaster-E Navigational RADAR
* AN/KAX-2 EO/IR sensor for GFC

Electronic warfare
and decoys:

* EDO ES-3601 ESM
* 4× SRBOC rapid bloom chaff launchers

Armament:

* BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun<2>
* 4× .50-cal guns (2 aft, 2 forward)
* Evolved SeaRAM 11 cell missile launcher
* Mission modules

Aircraft carried:

* 2× MH-60R/S Seahawks
* MQ-8 Fire Scout


unhappycamper comment: Next stop is gonna be the aircraft 'that keep us free'.

[gateley]

1. Cake or death. nt

[ensho]

2. looking forward to the aircraft report - thanks for info

nt