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With the keel laying of the Garcia (DE-1040) on 16 October 1962, the U. S. Navy entered into a major program of antisubmarine warship construction—a program encompassing more than 50 new ships of the Garcia, Brooke, and Knox classes. The new escorts, over a thousand tons heavier and 100 feet longer than their World War II predecessors, reflect a corresponding growth in the Navy’s ASW technology. The bridge of the Brooke (DEG-1), above, offers one example of the increase in size.
Displacement full load 3,400 tons Length over-all 414 Vi feet Beam 44 feet Speed 27 knots
Allowance 12 officers, 204 enlisted men
Armament Two single 5-inch/38-caliber guns
One eight-tube ASROC launcher
Two triple-tube torpedo launchers
Two single torpedo tubes
Drone antisubmarine helicopter system
KNOX CLASS
Displacement full load 4,100 tons Length over-all 438 feet Beam 47 feet Speed 27 knots
Allowance 12 officers, 204 enlisted men Armament One 5-inch/54-caliber gun One eight-tube ASROC launcher Two double-tube torpedo launchers Two single torpedo tubes Drone antisubmarine helicopter system
BROOKE CLASS
Displacement full load 3,425 tons Length over-all 414 Vi feet Beam 44 feet Speed 27 knots
Allowance 14 officers, 226 enlisted men
Armament One single Tartar missile launcher
One single 5-inch/38-caliber gun
One eight-tube ASROC launcher
Two triple-tube torpedo launchers
Two single torpedo tubes
Drone antisubmarine helicopter system
The new DEs have the most modern, long-range, submarine detection gear in destroyer-type ships. Each of the ships is fitted with an SQS-26AX bow-mounted sonar, an improved version of that on the earlier Bronstein-class escorts. Attacks against distant submarines may be carried out by a radio-controlled drone antisubmarine helicopter (DASH) housed on the fantail. A mockup of the ASW torpedo carried by the helicopter is seen in the DASH hanger, at left. The escorts also have an eight-tube antisubmarine rocket (ASROC) launcher forward of the bridge, and two triple-tube, air-ejection torpedo launchers amidships. Two tubes for long-range wire-guided ASW torpedoes are mounted in the transom, as seen below on the Ramsey (DEG-2) and the Schofield (DEG-3).
Garcia-Class DEs carry two single 5-inch/38-caliber dual-purpose gun mounts—built in World War II and taken out of mothballs—one forward on the main deck and one aft on the 01 level. The after mount on the USS Bradley (DE-1041) is seen at left, during firing exercises off the coast of California. The Brooke-class DEGs have a single-arm Tartar missile launcher in place of the after gun mount, as seen above. The missile installation includes a magazine, single-director fire control system, and an SPS-39 air search radar. A Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer (FAST) kingpost and associated equipment provide for rapid underway replenishment of the limited number of missiles carried on board.
On the following two pages, yard workers fit out the automatic combustion control console in the fireroom of one of the new escorts. Only four men will be required for the fireroom watch, and from this one station the engineer will regulate the necessary amounts of fuel, air, and water in the system. The single fireroom in the ship features two 1,2 50-pound-per-square-inch Babcock and Wilcox boilers, supercharged by an 11-stage gas turbine which is powered by the boiler exhaust gases. Clean burning JP-5 or diesel oil fires the boilers and is forced into the combustion chambers from above, increasing the combustion rate and efficiency. An automatic fuel oil compensating system ballasts the fuel tanks with sea water as the fuel is burned. The ships have a single engineroom and single screw. They have been designed with a low noise level both in the machinery spaces and along the hull exterior for added ASW capability.
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Six of the new destroyer escorts are now in commission. A total of ten Garcia-class DEs and six Brooke-class DEGs were authorized in the Fiscal Year 1961, 1962, and 1963 Shipbuilding and Conversion Programs. Thirty-six X«ox-class escorts were authorized in the Fiscal Year 1964, 1965, and 1966
programs, for a | current total of 52 | ships. |
USS Garcia | DE-1040 | Commissioned 21 December 1964 |
USS Bradley | DE-1041 | Commissioned 15 May 1965 |
USS Edward AlcDonnell DE-1043 | Commissioned 15 February 1965 | |
USS Brumby | DE-1044 | Commissioned 5 August 1965 |
USS Davidson | DE-1045 | Commissioned 7 December 1965 |
Voge | DE-1047 | Scheduled for completion in July 1966 |
Sample | DE-1048 | Scheduled for completion in December 1966 |
Koelsch | DE-1049 | Scheduled for completion in November 1966 |
Albert David | DE-1050 | Scheduled for completion in March 1967 |
O' Callahan | DE-1051 | Scheduled for completion in May 1967 |
USS Brooke | DEG-1 | Commissioned 12 March 1966 |
Ramsey | DEG-2 | Scheduled for completion in October 1966 |
Schofield | DEG-3 | Scheduled for completion in January 1967 |
Talbot | DEG-4 | Scheduled for completion in March 1967 |
Richard L. Page | DEG-5 | Scheduled for completion in July 1967 |
Purer | DEG-6 | Scheduled for completion in October 1967 |
Knox | DE-1052 | Keel laid October 1965, Scheduled for completion in December 1967 |
Roark | DE-1053 | Scheduled for completion in April 1968 |
DEs 1054 through 1087 are as yet unnamed. The last of the now authorized escorts is scheduled to enter the Fleet in 1970.
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