USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002)

History of the Lyndon Johnson (DDG-1002)

USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002) is the third ship in the United States Navy's (USN) planned Zumwalt-class three-person battleship group. The ships are classified as destroyers and are equipped with the most advanced equipment in systems and weapons to demonstrate the state-of-the-art capabilities of the U.S.

Navy's surface fleet. Stealth qualities and modularity have been built into the design, allowing ships to be incrementally upgraded as more advanced systems become available.

Bath Iron Works was awarded a construction contract on September 15, 2011 and is still under construction at the time of writing (2015). The single ship cost of this class keeps it small - 32 ships were originally intended by the US Navy authorities.

The ship has a displacement of 14,565 tons, a length of 600 feet, a beam of 80.7 feet, and a draft of 27.5 feet. Power comes from 2 Rolls-Royce Marine Trent-30 gas turbines and 2 Rolls-Royce RR4500 gas turbine generators driving a pair of shafts under the stern at speeds in excess of 30 knots. The standard crew is 140 people, consisting of officers and seamen.

The ship's shape is futuristic at its core, with angled surfaces and limited protrusions making it as unobtrusive as possible and creating a low profile on the horizon. The aft flight deck supports the launch and recovery of up to 2 Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS naval helicopters. The deck also supports utility transport helicopters and up to three Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout helicopter drones.

A full-service hangar facility is also available.

Her armament is spearheaded by 20 Mk 57 Series Vertical Launch Systems (VLS) for a total of 80 missile cells. These launchers support the Tomahawk cruise missile as well as the Evolved Sea Sparrow family of medium-range surface-to-air missiles. This enables the ship to easily deal with inland and air threats.

A pair of 155mm BAe Advanced Gun Systems (AGS) with turrets characterize their more traditional weapons. Additional fire support is provided by 2 x Mk 46 Mod 2 Gun Weapon Systems (GWSs) (ATK Mk 44 "Bushmaster II" series).

Airborne systems include the AN/SPY-3 Multifunction Radar (MFR) and Volume Search Radar (VSR), which are X-band scanned array and S-band scanned array systems, respectively.

DDG-1002 is a candidate for an electromagnetic "railgun" developed for the US Navy. This weapon system relies on electromagnetic forces to propel projectiles at extremely high velocities (greater than Mach 10) compared to traditional kinetic naval guns in service today.

The result is a more effective, safer, and more lethal weapon.

At some point, DDG-1002 was on the DoD's budget list. However, their construction was too advanced to see through the cancellation.

DDG-1002 is named after former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson (36th President of the United States).

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