Of all the Navy’s roughly 100 surface combatants, they have the most missiles, the best sensors and the most space for a captain and their staff. Where the other surface warships in a carrier group might leave the group for days or weeks at a time to conduct their own, independent missions-the ADC ship never leaves the carrier.īecause the ADC vessel is the flattop’s last line of defense, the Navy assigns only its most heavily-armed ships to the role.įor a quarter-century, the Ticos have been the obvious choice for ADC. Its skipper usually is an experienced officer holding the rank of captain. It coordinates air-defense for the carrier group, which might include as many as five cruisers and destroyers in addition to the flattop. Perhaps more importantly, the Ticos have a full suite of radars in the L, S and X bands, plus the space and communications equipment they need to function as “air-defense commander” ships for aircraft carrier battle groups. The current Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, each displacing around 9,500 tons, boast 96 cells apiece. But the Ticos are the most missile-heavy.Įach Tico boasts 122 vertical cells for launching anti-air missiles and cruise missiles. The 9,800-ton Ticos aren’t the biggest surface combatants in the fleet-that honorific belongs to the three 15,900-ton Zumwalt-class destroyers.
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