USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

We had them. Someone told me that's what they were for. I don't know anything other than that.

I think he got it wrong. Most likely they were for chaff rockets.

The only AA we had for sure was the dual-purpose part of the 5" guns - all four of them. One day during an excersize an A-7 came straight at us, maybe fifty feet above the water. By the time the guns could be brought to bear he had hopped up and over us. By the time they could be swung around the other way he had gone vertical and was out of range before the director could get a position lock.

Ouch, the new 5" guns are quite a bit better, they are fast enough to target subsonic ASMs.

Absolutely useless in modern warfare. In every mock engagement we had, whether aircraft or submarine, we lost.

Don't feel so bad, not much has changed. My buddy served on a Arleigh Burke FLT IIA and he told me that against subs they are toast (the only time they found any was when the sub drivers were told to let them know where they were), and against missiles they are toast because the PRC has missile that home right in on their SPY-1D radar (he said one 'can drives around with its radar on to detect and guide missiles and soaks up the vampires while the others shoot using their data).