USS Somers (DD-947)
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| Career | 
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| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 4 March 1957 |
| Launched: | 30 May 1958 |
| Commissioned: | 9 April 1959 |
| Decommissioned: | |
| Fate: | Converted to a guided missile destroyer by the San Francisco Naval Shipyard between 11 April 1966 and 10 February 1968 and designated DDG-34 |
| Struck: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 2,800 tons standard.
4,050 tons full load. |
| Length: | 407 ft (124 m) waterline, 418 ft (127 m) overall. |
| Beam: | 45 ft (13.7 m) |
| Draught: | 22 ft (6.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 x 1,200 lbf/in² (8.3 MPa) Foster-Wheeler boilers, General Electric steam turbines; 70,000 shp (52 MW); 2 x shafts. |
| Speed: | 32.5 knots (60 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 15 officers, 218 enlisted. |
| Armament: | 3 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre dual purpose Mk 42 guns; 4 x 3 in (76 mm) 50 calibre Mark 33 anti-aircraft guns; 2 x mark 10/11 Hedgehogs; 6 x 12.75 in (324 mm) Mark 32 torpedo tubes. |
| Motto: | |
The sixth USS Somers (DDG-34, ex-DD-947) was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer when her keel was laid down at the Bath Iron Works on 4 March 1958, she was launched on 30 May, and commissioned on 3 April 1959.
Somers was decommissioned 11 April 1966, and converted at San Francisco Naval Shipyards. On 15 March 1967 she was reclassified as a Decatur-class guided missile destroyer, and was re-commissioned 10 February 1968.
She was decommissioned on 19 November 1982 and on 26 April 1988, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
On 21 July 1998, two B-52s from the 20th Bomb Squadron fired missiles at Somers as part of the Rim of the Pacific 1998 exercise. Each B-52 crew launched one AGM-142 Have Nap missile that struck its target set adrift about 30 miles northwest of Kauai. On 22 July 1998, she sunk in 2800 fathoms (5100 m).
General characteristics
- Displacement: 3150 tons
- Length: 418.5 ft (128 m)
- Beam: 45.2 ft (13.8 m)
- Draft: 20 to 22 ft (6.1 to 6.7 m)
- Displacement: 4,050 tons full load, 2,850 tons standard
- Propulsion:
- four Babcock & Wilcox 1,200 psi
- Turbines: two General Electric geared steam (others)
- Power: 70,000 shp (52 MW)
- Shafts: two
- Endurance: 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
- Max speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
- Armament
- Main Battery: 3 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 (Mk 42) DP, one single mount forward, two single mounts aft (aft mounts removed in DDG conversions)
- AAW: 4 x 3 in (76 mm) 50-cal in two twin mounts (reduced to 2 then removed from all by 1975)
- 4 x .50-cal (12.7 mm) HMG
- SAM: one Mk13 single launcher w/40 Tartar (RIM-24) missiles aft
- ASW: one Mk 16 8 tube ASROC launcher amidships
- Depth Charges: two Hedgehog launchers replaced later by Mk32 torpedo launchers
- Torpedoes: four Mk-25 fixed torpedo tubes with Mk-32 torpedoes replaced by 6 x 324 mm torpedoes in two triple Mk 32 launchers
- Countermeasures: SLQ-25 Nixie towed torpedo decoy
- Radars
- Air search: SPS 40B/D
- Surface search: SPS 10F/D, SPS-52C,
- Fire control:
- Mk-13 weapon director,
- Mk-86 w/SPG 60D & SPQ 9A
- two Mk-74 missile fire control
- Mk-114 antisubmarine fire control
- Sonars: GE/Hughes SQQ 23 PAIR keel mount
- Aircraft: helicopter landing pad aft
- Complement: 319-332 men