The Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) Flight IIA-class guided-missile destroyer Roosevelt (DDG-80) is seen with a Navy SH-60B Seahawk helicopter hovering over the fantail during the ship's third pre-delivery sea trial in the Gulf of Mexico this spring. The Roosevelt, named for both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor, is to be delivered by Ingalls Shipbuilding to the Navy this month and is scheduled to be commissioned at Mayport, Florida, on 14 October The 9,238-ton (full load displacement) Flight IIA ships differ markedly from the 28 already-commissioned Flight I and II Burkes in having twin helicopter hangars aft flanking their after 64-cell group of Mk 41 vertical missile launchers; the two after antenna faces of the AN/SPY-ID Aegis radar system have been raised to provide a clear "view." DDG-79 through DDG-82 retain two Phalanx close-in weapon systems, but later ships are to carry ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow missile) surface-to-air missiles in four-packs in six of the Mk 41 cells. Starting with the Winston S.
Member-Only Content
Join the U.S. Naval Institute to gain access to this article and other articles published in Proceedings since 1874. Members receive this valuable benefit and so much more.