USS Fletcher (DD-992)

History

United States
Namesake:	Frank Jack Fletcher
Ordered:	15 January 1975
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	24 April 1978
Launched:	16 June 1979
Acquired:	16 June 1980
Commissioned:	12 July 1980
Decommissioned:	1 October 2004
Struck:	1 October 2004
Motto:	Pace et Bello Paratus "In Peace and War Prepared"
Fate:	Sunk in torpedo test exercise, 16 July 2008
General characteristics
Class and type:	Spruance class destroyer
Displacement:	8,040 (long) tons full load
Length:	529 ft (161 m) waterline; 563 ft (172 m) overall
Beam:	55 ft (16.8 m)
Draft:	29 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion:	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MW)
Speed:	32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) 3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement:	19 officers, 315 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-40 air search radar AN/SPG-60 fire control radar AN/SPS-55 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar Mk 23 TAS automatic detection and tracking radar AN/SPS-65 Missile fire control radar AN/SQS-53 bow mounted Active sonar AN/SQR-19 TACTAS towed array Passive sonar Naval Tactical Data System
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures Mark 36 SRBOC Decoy Launching System AN/SLQ-49 Inflatable Decoys
Armament:	2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns 2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns 1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher (removed) 1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher 2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters 2 x Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes) 1 x 61 cell Mk 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk missiles 1 × 21 cell RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
Aircraft carried:	2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

USS Fletcher (DD-992), the thirtieth Spruance-class destroyer, was part of the first major class of United States Navy surface ships to be powered by gas turbines. She was commissioned in July 1980 and was deployed mainly in the western and southern Pacific, but also voyaged to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. She was the second ship in the U.S. Navy to bear this name but the first to be named after Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. After her decommissioning in 2004, she was sunk in a torpedo test exercise in 2008.

Designed and built by Ingalls Shipyards of Litton Industries in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA, Fletcher was a member of the first major class of surface ships in the United States Navy to be powered by gas turbine engines. Four General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines, marine versions of those used in DC-10 aircraft, drove the ship at speeds in excess of 30 knots (56 km/h). Twin controllable reversible pitch propellers provided Fletcher with a degree of maneuverability unique among warships of her size.

Commissioned in July 1980, Fletcher was immediately sent to join the Pacific Fleet. Starting in 1982, Fletcher made regular deployments to the western and southern Pacific, with some of those extending into the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf areas. During 1994 and 1995, she was modernized with the vertical launch system, giving her a much broader range of capabilities.

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