ASROC
The original trainable launcher fired antisubmarine rockets. On ships later converted to VLS, it was removed from the forecastle.
THE SPRUANCE CLASS
A generation
of American destroyers.
Thirty-one ships built at Pascagoula, Mississippi. From Spruance’s commissioning in 1975 to Cushing’s decommissioning in 2005, they served through three decades of change at sea.
Built to hunt submarines.
Designed with room to grow.
The class was developed to protect carrier forces from submarines. A large hull, gas-turbine propulsion, and helicopter facilities supported that mission. Later weapons and sensor changes extended the ships’ capabilities.
31ships in the class
4LM2500 gas turbines
2propeller shafts
80,000shaft horsepower
RECOGNIZING THE DIFFERENCES
Similar silhouettes.
Different fits.
Armored box launchers
Deck-mounted ABLs added Tomahawk capability. Some photographs also show the original ASROC launcher; the fit changed over time. John Rodgers is documented with this arrangement in Navy photography.
Navy photograph and captionVertical launch
The Mk 41 VLS installation provided 61 missile cells forward. Spruance received it during the 1986–1987 overhaul.
Spruance’s official historyA ship’s equipment belongs to a particular period of service. The individual profiles describe later service; earlier photographs can look different.
Which ships received VLS?
Twenty-four received Mk 41 VLS. The six ships with ABLs that did not convert were Comte de Grasse (974), Merrill (976), Conolly (979), John Rodgers (983), Leftwich (984) and Ingersoll (990). Harry W. Hill (986) received neither Tomahawk ABLs nor VLS.
Deyo (989) initially carried ABLs and later converted to VLS. The individual pages use “The VLS generation” only for VLS-equipped ships.
THE CLASS NAMESAKE
Raymond Ames Spruance
1886–1969
Spruance led Task Force 16 at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. He later commanded the Fifth Fleet during the Pacific campaign and served as president of the Naval War College after the war.
His name connects these destroyers to an earlier generation of naval service. Here, that history sits alongside the lives of the sailors who served aboard his namesake class.
Read the Navy’s biography →