USS_Farragut_(DDG-37)

USS <i>Farragut</i> (DDG-37)

USS Farragut (DDG-37)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Farragut.

USS Farragut (DLG-6/DDG-37) was the lead ship of her class of guided-missile destroyers (originally destroyer leaders) built for the United States Navy during the 1950s.

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Design and description

The Farragut class was the first class of missile-armed carrier escorts to be built as such for the USN.[1] The ships had an overall length of 512 feet 6 inches (156.2 m), a beam of 52 feet 4 inches (16.0 m) and a deep draft of 17 feet 9 inches (5.4 m). They displaced 5,648 long tons (5,739 t) at full load. Their crew consisted of 23 officers and 337 enlisted men.[2]

The ships were equipped with two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by 4 water-tube boilers. The turbines were intended to produce 85,000 shaft horsepower (63,000 kW) to reach the designed speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph). The Farragut class had a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[1]

The Farragut-class ships were armed with a 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun forward and two twin mounts for 3-inch/50-caliber guns, one on each broadside amidships. They were fitted with an eight-round ASROC launcher between the 5-inch (127 mm) gun and the bridge. The Farragut (DDG-37) was the only ship of her class that had an ASROC magazine mounted behind the launcher. The class was already top-heavy and the addition of the magazine reportedly made it worse, so the decision was made not to equip the other nine ships with magazines. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two triple sets of 12.75-inch (324 mm) Mk 32 torpedo tubes. The primary armament of the Farraguts was the Terrier anti-aircraft missile designed to defend the carrier battle group. They were fired via the dual-arm Mark 10 launcher and the ships stowed a total of 40 missiles for the launcher.[1]

Construction and career

Farragut, named for Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, was laid down as DLG-6 by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Quincy, Massachusetts, on 3 June 1957, launched on 15 July 1958 by Mrs. H. D. Felt, wife of the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and commissioned on 10 December 1960. Farragut was reclassified as a guided missile destroyer on 30 June 1975 and designated DDG-37. USS Farragut was decommissioned on 31 October 1989, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 November 1992 and sold for scrap on 16 December 1994. On 26 September 2006 a contract to dismantle ex-Farragut was awarded to International Shipbreaking Limited of Brownsville, Texas. The ship's bell is currently being kept and preserved at Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Notes

  1. [1]
    Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 580
  2. [2]
    Friedman, p. 423

References

  • Friedman, Norman (1982). U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-733-X.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen & Budzbon, Przemysław (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
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