USS Cochrane

The Charles F. Adams class was based on a stretched Forrest Sherman-class destroyer hull modified to accommodate smaller RIM-24 Tartar surface-to-air missiles and all their associated equipment.[1] The ships had an overall length of 437 feet (133.2 m), a beam of 47 feet (14.3 m) and a deep draft of 15 feet (4.6 m). They displaced 4,526 long tons (4,599 t) at full load. Their crew consisted of 18 officers and 320 enlisted men.[2]

The ships were equipped with two geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The turbines were intended to produce 70,000 shaft horsepower (52,000 kW) to reach the designed speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph). The Adams class had a range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[1]

The Charles F. Adams-class ships were armed with two 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun forward, one each forward and aft of the superstructure. They were fitted with an eight-round ASROC launcher between the funnels. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two triple sets of 12.75-inch (324 mm) Mk 32 torpedo tubes. The primary armament of the ships was the Tartar surface-to-air missile designed to defend the carrier battle group. They were fired via the Mk 13 missile launcher and the ships stowed a total of 40 missiles for the launcher.[1]

Cochrane, named for Vice Admiral Edward L. Cochrane, USN, was laid down by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company at Seattle, Washington on 31 July 1961, launched on 18 July 1962 and commissioned on 21 March 1964. In April 1975 Cochrane participated in Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam.[3]

On 1 October 1980 Cochrane rescued 104 Vietnamese refugees 620 miles (1,000 km) east of Saigon.[4] Cochrane was decommissioned on 1 October 1990, struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 November 1992 and sold for scrap to International Shipbreaking, Incorporated, of Brownsville in Texas on 14 November 2000.

• Friedman, Norman (1982). U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-733-X.
• Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen & Budzbon, Przemysław (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.

• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Cochrane (DDG-21).

• DANFS page on USS Cochrane
• MaritimeQuest USS Cochrane DDG-21 pages