The first of a unique class of surface missile ships, the guided missile escort ship, has joined the Pacific Fleet. The ship is the USS Brooke (DEG-1), similar in many respects to the Garcia-class ocean escorts.* The major difference is that the Brooke has a Tartar guided missile system aft in lieu of the Garcia's second 5-inch gun.
The Brooke missile system is distinctive in many ways. She is the first so-called “destroyer escort” in the world to have a surface- to-air missile system. (However, the term “escort” has a misleading connotation. The Brooke, 3,425 tons full-load, is larger than many conventional destroyers.)
A cursory inspection of the Brooke's topside configuration reveals one basic dissimilarity with other surface missile ships in the U. S. Navy. The Brooke has only one of everything, while the larger guided missile cruisers and destroyers have two or more search radar and fire control systems. The Brooke's one air search radar is the SPS-39A, while her five sister ships will have the newer SPS-52. The ships’ weapons direction system (MK 4-2) is distinguished by its compactness and improved tracking accuracy. The fire control system (MK 74-2) is almost identical to that in guided missile destroyers, except there is but one system.
The missile launching system (MK 22-0) is an integral magazine and launcher machinery package, which provides a complete unit ready for rapid shipboard installation or removal. The single-arm launcher will provide a rapid-fire capability commensurate with DDG launchers.
This one-of-everything installation has several implications. The system will either be ready or not ready. There will be no partial or reduced readiness status as obtainable in multiple-system ships. Maintenance personnel must possess a consummate skill in their preventative and corrective maintenance techniques. They cannot resort to a back-up system if their efforts fail.
The Brooke has several inherent features to benefit the technicians. The fire control, search radar, and launcher control stations are in close proximity. This arrangement will foster technician liaison and encourage crosstraining and system technician development. All missile system personnel, from fire controlmen to gunner’s mates, will be in the same division under the missile officer. This organization will ensure co-ordination and cooperation for maintenance and training evolutions. Finally, as with all other surface missile ships, the fire controlmen will maintain the three-dimensional air search radar.
Underway missile replenishment will be characterized by two innovations derived from existing concepts—the Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer (FAST) and Vertical Replenishment (VERTREP). The FAST system will be unique in that the kingpost will be housed in a vertical trunk, located several feet aft of the missile launcher, when not in use. The trunk stowage will protect the FAST equipment from damage and deterioration and will reduce topside clutter. When needed, the kingpost will be raised to an above-deck position, ready for missile replenishment.
Another prototype equipment, called the Tartar Transfer Fixture, will remove the missile from the FAST kingpost and rapidly transfer it to the missile launcher arm. The fixture is a hydraulically powered device that moves transversely on a deck track between the kingpost and the missile launcher. It is initially positioned under the kingpost to receive the lowered missile. When the missile is securely positioned, the fixture is driven forward to the missile launcher and elevated so that it mates with the elevated missile launcher arm, forming a continuous span. The fixture then rams the missile onto the launcher arm, disengages, and returns to its position under the kingpost to receive another missile. Meanwhile, the launcher unloads the missile into a selected magazine cell and then awaits another missile from the fixture. The whole system is designed to facilitate safe, rapid missile replenishment with every operation under positive control.
The VERTREP installation will enable the Brooke to receive missiles on the fantail via helicopter. The missile, supported within a wheeled dolly, will be transported up the main deck to an elevator adjacent to the launcher. The elevator will raise the missile up to the 01 level for further transfer to the missile launcher and magazine. An added dividend is that the conventional fantail kingpost can be used for underway replenishment should the FAST/VERTREP methods be unavailable. Again, once the missile is on the fantail it can be transferred to the magazine by the same method used with a VERTREP delivered missile. Thus the Brooke will have a versatile underway replenishment capability, allowing her to refill her missile magazine from any kind of missile-carrying supply ship in the Fleet.
The Tartar Transfer Fixture has been adapted to another important function associated with missile systems tests. On earlier Tartar ships, the tests are conducted with the missile suspended on the launcher rail. This method has serious limitations. At sea, inclement weather often shorts electrical connections or makes topside work hazardous. In port, the tests are often impossible because of local restrictions on topside high explosive handling. Also, disassembling a missile on the launcher is a slow and cumbersome process.
These shortcomings have been eliminated on the Brooke, because the Tartar Transfer Fixture can convey a missile from the launcher to a spacious, enclosed missile-checkout compartment. Once inside, the missile will be positioned on a test stand, ready for testing or any other servicing operation. Missile testing and repair can be carried on around the clock, unhampered by the restrictions imposed in other Tartar ships. The improvements in combat readiness are substantial.
Three tactical roles are envisioned for the Brooke. Her primary mission is ASW, so she will certainly be used as a unit of a hunter- killer group. The HUK groups have never been abundantly endowed with an antiair- warfare capability, because the relatively few DLG/DDG type ships usually are employed with attack carrier strike forces. The ASW carrier must be content with a handful of jet fighters for a miniscule combat air patrol. The bulk of the carrier’s air defense is shouldered by the short-range, 5-inch guns of her conventional destroyer screen. The addition of a DEG to the HUK group will bring joy to the heart of the task group commander, because her AAW capability will provide an unaccustomed degree of protection and security to a formerly all-gun force. The HUK group will now be emboldened to venture into waters formerly inviolate because of the lack of air superiority.
In a similar manner, the DEG will provide protection against aircraft when acting as a screening unit for an amphibious or merchant convoy. Again, the attack carriers and DLG/ DDG types are rarely used for convoy protection. The Soviets have demonstrated an ability to intercept convoys in mid-ocean. It is reassuring to know that a DEG can engage and destroy the kinds of aircraft that would normally attack a convoy. Indeed, the introduction of the DEG into the areas of hunter- killer and convoy operations should have a profound influence on future tactical and strategic considerations.
Finally, it is not inconceivable that the Brooke will find herself employed with an attack carrier strike force. The Brooke will hold her own when speed is needed, and her missile battery will always be a welcome reinforcement. Her superior ASW capabilities will be an added bonus to the strike-force commander, who may be uneasy about the vulnerability of his aircraft carriers to enemy submarines.
We have, then, in the Brooke and her five sister ships, a weapon system with tremendous potential. Her ASW system alone makes her an invaluable addition to the Fleet. Her Tartar missile system, although not as powerful as that of a DDG, nevertheless will radically change the entire air defense posture of our previously all-gun ASW surface forces.
* See Donald A. Smith, “USS Garcia (DE-1040),” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, September 1965, pp. 160-162.