Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers

• The Arleigh Burke class is a class of United States Navy guided-missile destroyers (DDGs).
• It centers around the Aegis Combat System.
• It uses the SPY-1D multi-function passive electronically scanned array radar.
• The class is named after Arleigh Burke, a World War II destroyer admiral and later Chief of Naval Operations.
• The destroyers range from 505 to 509.5 feet (153.9 to 155.3 m) in overall length.
• Displacement ranges from 8,300 to 9,700 tons.
• They carry over 90 missiles.
• The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are larger and more heavily armed than many previous guided-missile cruisers.
• These are multi-mission destroyers.
• They conduct anti-aircraft warfare with Aegis and surface-to-air missiles.
• Tactical land strikes are carried out with Tomahawk missiles.
• Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) is enabled with towed array sonar, anti-submarine rockets, and ASW helicopters.
• Anti-surface warfare (ASuW) is conducted with ship-to-ship missiles and guns.
• Upgrades to the AN/SPY-1 radar systems and missile payloads support the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.
• The class can function as mobile anti-ballistic missile and anti-satellite platforms.
• USS Arleigh Burke, the lead ship, was commissioned on 4 July 1991, during Admiral Burke's lifetime.
• With the decommissioning of USS Cushing on 21 September 2005, the Arleigh Burke-class ships became the U.S. Navy's only active destroyers.
• The Zumwalt class became active in 2016.
• The Arleigh Burke class has the longest production run of any U.S. Navy surface combatant.
• As of December 2024, all seventy-four built are active.
• Nineteen more are planned to enter service.

Structure

• The Arleigh Burke-class ships are among the largest destroyers built in the United States.
• Only the Spruance, Kidd (563 ft or 172 m), and Zumwalt classes (600 ft or 180 m) are longer.
• The class was designed with a new large, water-plane area-hull form and a wide flaring bow.
• These features improve seakeeping ability and permit high speed in high sea states.
• The design incorporates stealth techniques, such as angled surfaces and a raked tripod mainmast.
• These features make the ship more difficult to detect by radar.
• Lessons from the Ticonderoga-class cruiser were incorporated.
• The U.S. Navy returned to all-steel construction, except for the aluminum mast.
• The Ticonderogas had combined a steel hull with a lighter aluminum superstructure.
• Aluminum proved vulnerable to cracking and is less fire-resistant than steel.
• A 1975 fire aboard USS Belknap gutted her aluminum superstructure.
• Battle damage to Royal Navy ships during the 1982 Falklands War supported the decision to use steel.
• Lessons from the Falklands War led to the Navy's decision to protect vital spaces with double-spaced steel layers.
• These layers create a buffer against anti-ship missiles.

Production Restarted

• USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) was originally intended to be the last of the Arleigh Burke class.
• The Navy planned to shift production to the Zumwalt-class destroyer, focusing on NGFS and littoral operations.
• In July 2008, Navy officials announced intentions to restart Arleigh Burke production instead of additional Zumwalts.
• This was due to the Zumwalt's inability to counter emerging ballistic missiles, anti-ship missiles, and blue-water submarines.
• Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been in production for longer than any other surface combatant class in U.S. Navy history.
• In April 2009, the Navy announced a plan limiting the Zumwalt class to three units.
• Another three Arleigh Burke-class ships were ordered from both Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding.
• In December 2009, Northrop Grumman received a $170.7 million contract for USS John Finn (DDG-113) long lead-time materials.
• Shipbuilding contracts for DDG 113 to DDG 115 were awarded in mid-2011 for $679.6 million–$783.6 million.
• These contracts do not include government-furnished equipment such as weapons and sensors.
• The average cost of the FY2011/12 ships was about $1.843 billion per vessel.
• DDG 113 through 115 are "restart" ships, similar to previous Flight IIA ships.
• These ships include modernization features such as OACE and the TB-37U MFTA, which are being backfit onto previous ships.
• The U.S. Navy was considering extending the acquisition of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers into the 2040s.
• In April 2022, the Navy proposed a procurement plan for nine ships, with an option for a tenth.
• The plan was to build two ships a year from 2023 to 2027.
• Some lawmakers pushed to add a third ship to be built in 2023, bringing the total of the proposed deal to eleven ships.
• The Navy followed a two-ship per year procurement from 2018 to 2022.

The Arleigh Burke-class is a United States Navy class of guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) centered around the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D radar. These multi-mission destroyers conduct anti-air, anti-submarine, anti-surface, and strike warfare. They are named after Arleigh Burke, a World War II destroyer admiral.