snipechief wrote:
Garry, your question that a preliminary design for the DLG-6 could have included Weapon Alfa and torpedo tubes prompted me to double check Norman Freidman's book "U.S. Destroyers." There is nothing stated about torpedo tubes for the DLG-6. The ASROC launcher was the primary anti-submarine defense system.
As for additional information - The Farragut had the misfortune to be the lead ship of a new class with a new main propulsion system design. The 1200 psi boilers were controlled by a new pneumatic control system known as the Automatic Combustion Control System. It was a nightmare for the fireroom crews to operate until the "bugs" were worked out. As a result of many problems with the Automatic Combustion Control System, DLG-6 became known as "Building 6" because it spent so much time along side the pier for repairs.
Carl, thanks for the kind words. I too was a MM. I opted to not volunteer for the nuke program because I did not want to sign on for a six year obligation program when I entered A School in '61. It never entered my mind that I would serve a whole lot more than six years ....as a conventional monkey mate.
I was stationed aboard the USS Farragut DLG-6 when it was in dry-dock at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in 1969. I was part of the "on-board" crew (and stood many a fire-watch for the welders during the renovations) and am a "PLANK-OWNER". My son has my certificate. And, I was a member of the crew until March 1971. I was on board when we hit the loose bouy and damaged our sonar dome and one screw. I was also on board when the boiler-feedwater tank collapsed and we had an ocean-going tug drag us to the shipyard.
We most certainly did have torpedo tubes amidships. Three on each side. That was in addition to the ASROC just behind the 5 inch 54 on the foredeck. To launch torpedoes, the tubes would pivot about the middle. They most certainly were aboard the DLG-6.