Today's photo is of USS Laboon, guided-missile destroyer number 58 (DDG-58). Laboon is the seventh ship of the Arleigh Burke class which makes her one of the older destroyers in service, of early-'90s vintage. She weighs in at just over 9,100 tons (this is actually her "displacement", or how much water she displaces when stationary), and is approximately the size of a World War II light cruiser, or three times the size of a WWII destroyer. In fact, the Burke-class ships are among the largest destroyers in the world.
But is in firepower that Laboon and her sisters excell. Examining the photo, she would seem to have only the one gun mounting forward, but her vertical launchers conceal an impressive arsenal below decks. While I don't know what her actual load-out might be (and wouldn't tell you if I did know!), her launchers can hold up to 90 missiles ranging from short-range anti-submarine rockets through radar-guided SAMs up to telephone-pole-sized Tomahawk cruise missiles. In addition she can carry up to eight Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles in launchers situated aft, plus two mounts of anti-sub torpedo tubes. In other words, Laboon and her sisters are very dangerous customers.
No comments:
Post a Comment