USS Reuben James (FFG-57) in 2012. US Navy Photo
Posted on 03/07/2016 9:36:49 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
The former frigate USS Reuben James (FFG-57) was sunk in January during a test of the Navy’s new anti-surface warfare (ASuW) variant of the Raytheon Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), company officials told USNI News on Monday.
The adaptation of the SM-6 was fired from guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG-32) and hit James during the Jan. 18 test at the U.S. Pacific Missile Range Facility off the coast of Hawaii, a Raytheon spokeswoman told USNI News.
“The test was a demonstration of the U.S. Navy’s concept of ‘distributed lethality,’ employing ships in dispersed formations to increase the offensive might of the surface force and enabling future options for the joint force commander,” read a release from Raytheon.
News of the test follows the public announcement of the ASuW modification of the SM-6 in February by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.
“We are going to create a brand-new capability,” Carter told reporters in San Diego on Wednesday. “We’re modifying the SM-6 so that in addition to missile defense, it can also target enemy ships at sea at very long ranges.” The modification – part of a $2.9 billion missile purchase over the next five years – will give the Navy’s fleet of guided missile cruisers and destroyers a Mach 3.5 supersonic weapon with a range of more than 200 nautical miles.
Along with the recently announced modification to the Block IV Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM), the Navy is pushing more offensive capability in its large surface combatants after decades of not fielding a new ASuW capability in the fleet.
Now that the capability has been tested, the service will introduce the modified missile into Baseline 9 Arleigh Burke destroyers (DDG-51).
The target – Reuben James – was decommissioned in 2013 after 27 years of service, which included convoy duty during the Iran-Iraq War and a nine month deployment in 2002 and 2003.
In fiction, the ship was featured in the Tom Clancy and Larry Bond novel Red Storm Rising and (played by another frigate) in the filmed version of The Hunt for Red October.
USS Reuben James (FFG-57) in 2012. US Navy Photo
USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) launches a Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) during a live-fire test of the ship’s aegis weapons system on June 19, 2014. US Navy Photo
I would like to see this on video.
Modifying the SM-6 to be ASuW capable at long range is extremely smart.
Before they took all of the SM-1s out of service, there was talk of modifying them to be GPS guided land attack missiles. That too would have been very smart.
The Sinking Of The Reuben James
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie
Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James
Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes of the land of the free
But tonight she’s in her grave at the bottom of the sea.
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names,
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?
What were their names, tell me, what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James
Well, a hundred men went down in that dark watery grave
When that good ship went down only forty-four were saved.
‘Twas the last day of October we saved the forty-four
From the cold ocean waters and the cold icy shore.
It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
That we watched for the U-boats and waited for a fight.
Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared
And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor.
Now tonight there are lights in our country so bright
In the farms and in the cities they’re telling of the fight.
And now our mighty battleships will steam the bounding main
And remember the name of that good Reuben James.
Me also. Considering the small warhead size, just how the frigate was hit so as to sink her would be fascinating, but likely very classified.
Leave the CIWS, RAM and supporting systems operational. Why pass up the opportunity?
“anti-surface warfare (ASuW)”
Technically, ASuW would work for “anti-submarine warfare,” too.
Reuben James (1776 – 3 December 1838)
was a boatswain’s mate of the United States Navy,
famous for his heroism in the First Barbary War.
Born in Delaware around 1776, James joined the Navy
and served on several ships, including the frigate USS Constellation.
James continued his Naval career,
and was forced to retire in January 1836 because of ill health.
He died in 1838 at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Washington, DC.
Three warships of the Navy have been named Reuben James in his honor:
- Reuben James (DD-245), a four-stack Clemson-class destroyer
Launched 4 October 1919 Sunk by U-552, 31 October 1941
- Reuben James (DE-153), a Buckley-class destroyer escort
Launched 6 February 1943 Sunk as target, 1 March 1971
- Reuben James (FFG-57), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate
Launched 8 February 1985 Sunk as Target January 19, 2016
The Sinking Of The Reuben James
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICy5P1pKy5A
-
Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James
Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes of the land of the free
But tonight she’s in her grave at the bottom of the sea.
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names,
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?
What were their names, tell me, what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James
Well, a hundred men went down in that dark watery grave
When that good ship went down only forty-four were saved.
‘Twas the last day of October we saved the forty-four
From the cold ocean waters and the cold icy shore.
It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
That we watched for the U-boats and waited for a fight.
Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared
And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor.
Now tonight there are lights in our country so bright
In the farms and in the cities they’re telling of the fight.
And now our mighty battleships will steam the bounding main
And remember the name of that good Reuben James.
Ha, you beat me.
It took me too long to paste it all together.
Haha! I love this image of *Woodie*
I bet it cut a hole through the ship all the way to the keel beam thus breaking its back from its own weight.Just my guess.
Kenny Roger’s song is good,
but it has nothing to do with the naval hero
or with the three ships named in his honor.
As soon as I saw the name I thought of “The Hunt for Red October”.
Anyone else see the symbolism in this?
I remember the conversation between the Captains of the USS Reuben James and HMS Battleaxe where they were teasing each other about the names of their respective ships.
"We don't name our ships after our mother in laws."
I think that was Red Storm Rising.
The term anti-surface warfare went away years ago. As of the time I left the Navy it was Surface Warfare (SUW).
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