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In the business they are referred to as Flight 2. I was at Bath Iron Works last week, they have 3 more to build, but there are pieces of the flight 3 on the ground.
Oddly enough the Flight II hulls are officially DDG-72 through 78, which introduced some relatively minor upgrades to the electronics and combat systems. DDG-79 was the first Flight IIA hull, which was a much more extensive set of changes including adding a double helicopter hangar (relevant to the original topic, while they gained ASW helicopters they also lost their tactical towed sonar array as well as the Harpoon launchers). DDG-116 through 124 and DDG-127 are classified as Flight IIA "Technology Insertion" hulls, which have some of the Flight III features built in. DDG-125 Jack H. Lucas is the first Flight III and was just launched from Ingalls in June; that version is mostly defined by having a new, larger radar system better suited to ballistic missile defense.
Nice job; if I recall the first four Type 094s have that straight leading edge to the sail and then the next two include a curve at the base like many contemporary boats.
The important part of the Flight 3 is the AEGIS suite, incorporating SPY-6. SPY-6 requires 4160v power and extra chill water for cooling. Flight 2A also has the extra chilled water, but not the power, so they still have SPY-3, still very capable.
I happen to like Cruisers. No, the flight 3 Arleigh Burke is an amazing bit of kit. The DDG1000 is also amazing, sadly, sailors aren’t smart enough to keep them running. We are spending all of the treasure trying to SLEP the 12 remaining cruisers not on the decom list. Gettysburg just left BAE after 2 years and likely has a year to go. Vicksburg is stuck here. The SLEP is a mess
The problem with the Ticos is they were never actually intended to be cruisers; Ticonderoga and Yorktown were almost laid down as DDG-47 and DDG-48 and the next two ships were to be 49 and 50 (hence why the Aegis DDGs that were built start off at DDG-51). The intent was for them to be the DDG counterpart to a nuclear-powered ~17,000-ton "strike cruiser," the prototype for which would be a rebuilt USS Long Beach (CGN-9, the last cruiser we built that actually had a WWII-style cruiser hull). The superstructure and radar array placements for those were more like what eventually went on DDG-51. That got canceled in the late 70s and the Ticos were redesignated as cruisers. The ships are a bit of a bodge; too much superstructure for what is essentially a slightly enlarged Spruance-class DD hull and they've had issues with stability and cracking. From what I understand it's not uncommon for them to heel 20+ degrees during hard manuvering and they aren't for sailors prone to seasickness.
And don't forget looks. I remember seeing that superstructure from 10 miles away and knowing exactly what class of warship that was.
www.navytimes.com
We are. Not revisiting them, but first ones deployed in 2028.
