USS Leahy (DLG-16) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

Leahy was the first of a new "double-ender" class fitted with Terrier (later Standard ER) missile launchers fore and aft, and the first and only frigate class designed without a main gun battery for shore bombardment or ship-vs.-ship engagements. The gun armament was reduced in order to carry a larger missile load. One of the principal missions of these ships, like their predecessors, the Farragut class, was to form part of the anti-air and antisubmarine screen for carrier task forces while also controlling aircraft from the carrier by providing vectors to assigned targets.

Leahy carried over the propulsion plant of the Farragut class, fitted into a longer hull designed with a knuckled “hurricane” bow that reduced plunging in rough seas, thus keeping her forecastle dry as needed to operate the forward missile launcher. Other features included an expanded electrical plant and increased endurance. A major design innovation was the use of "macks" -- combined masts and stacks -- on which the radars could be mounted without smoke interference.

Close-in anti-aircraft defense consisted of a pair of MK 22 3-inch/50 caliber guns; anti-submarine armament consisted of ASROC and two triple MK 32 torpedo mounts. The 3-inch gun mounts were replaced with Harpoon ASMs and the Phalanx CIWS during an overhaul in 1981.

Leahy was laid down by Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine, 3 December 1959; launched 1 July 1961; sponsored by Mrs. Michael J. Mansfield, wife of Senator Mansfield, Montana, Senate Majority Leader; and commissioned 4 August 1962, Captain Robert L. Baughan, Jr., in command.