wilson@b11.ingr.com (Jon Wilson) (08/23/90)
From: wilson@b11.ingr.com (Jon Wilson) Work on the U.S.S. Kentucky was stopped when that ship was about 75% complete. It was _officially_ scrapped in 1950. Another Iowa-class ship, the U.S.S. Illinois, was scrapped at 20% complete. Interestingly, the four G.E. steam turbines intended for the Kentucky ended up in the first two units of the Sacramento-class Fast Combat Support ships (Sacramento and Camden, launched in '64 and '67.) While the Iowas used 600 p.s.i. Babcock & Wilcox boilers to supply the four turbines, producing a total of 212,000 horsepower, the Sacramentos used Combustion Engineering boilers with two turbines each, for 100,000 horsepower total. The Iowas, with twice the power, 4 screws, not much more tonnage, and a longer hull, could manage 33 knots, while the Sacramentos could do 27.5 knots. (This just illustrates how non-linear the effects of increased power are - of course, there are other variables!) The Sacramento class is noteworthy - they are the world's largest at-sea replenishment vessels, at 53000 tons full load. (The closest rival is the Soviet Berezina, at 40000 tons.) They have three helicopter hangars and operate two CH-46 Sea Knights for VERTREP (vertical replenishment) operations. A defensive armament of one NATA Sea Sparrow launcher and two Phalanx mountings is shipped. Inexplicably, the ships are equipped for sonar, although it has never been mounted. Reference: _Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet_, Norman Polmar. 1984 edition. Jonathan Wilson Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL Internet: ingr!b11!wilson@uunet.uu.net