The USS Spruance, the US Navy warship that fired on and intercepted an Iranian cargo vessel on Sunday, is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer.
US Central Command stated the Spruance fired “several rounds” from its 5-inch gun into the engine room of the Iranian-flagged cargo ship, the M/V Touska, to disable it. US Marines then boarded the Touska and took management.
The Spruance’s 5-inch gun is designed to be used towards ships, plane and land targets, in accordance with a Navy fact sheet.
First deployed in 1971, the Mark 45 gun has a variety of 15 miles with standard ammunition.
It’s a completely automated weapon and can fireplace 16 to twenty rounds per minute from a 20-round drum, which then may be reloaded by crew beneath deck for additional use, the Navy says.
The ship carries a variety of different weaponry, together with torpedoes, Tomahawk missiles for land assaults, Standard interceptors for ballistic missile protection and Sea Sparrow missiles for short-range missile and plane protection.
The Spruance, with a displacement of round 9,000 tons, is greater than 500 ft lengthy and carries a crew of 329. It joined the fleet in 2011, now operates as half of the USS Abraham Lincoln provider strike group, and is homeported in San Diego.
The Spruance is known as for the Adm. Raymond Spruance, commander of US carriers at the World War II Battle of Midway, throughout which the US Navy sank 4 Japanese plane carriers, turning the tide of the warfare within the Pacific.