Shipbucket

Greetings!

As promised, here is the revised Vermont class guided missile battleship. I tried to take all the suggestions and comments I received during the Modern Battleship Challenge to improve the design with the biggest change being the top view layout I did to plan out the final design.
This is a one-off for now as I want to get back to Nusantara and continue that AU. However, I might return here someday (time permitting) to expand on the ships of this alternate history.

Vermont class guided missile battleships:

After the Soviet Union shocked the postwar naval world with the launch of the 21,500 ton “heavy guided missile ship” Belorussiya in September of 1963, they ignited the most unlikely of events – a second battleship arms race. Within two years construction had begun on counter designs by the US, Great Britain, and France. The first to enter service was USS Vermont (BBG-72); she was commissioned in July of 1967.
The first battleships designed in the US since the Montana class (canceled in July of 1943), the four Vermont class ships; Vermont, Idaho, Nebraska, and Oregon, displaced nearly 27,000 tons standard and were 755ft (230m) long overall. The ships were capable of 33 knots with a range of 10,000 nautical miles and were armed with four 12”/55 Mk 9 rapid-fire guns in a new design Mk 60 twin turret mounted fore and aft. The Mk 9 was based on the 12”/50 Mk 8 guns used by the Alaska class adapted for use with semi-fixed ammunition (based in turn on the 8”/55RF Mk 16’s used by the Des Moines class heavy cruisers) with a practical ROF of 4-6 rounds per minute and a maximum range of 21.8 nautical miles – slightly better than the 16”/50 Mk 7’s mounted on the preceding Iowa class. Secondary guns consisted of six single 5”/54 Mk 42 guns amidships.
The primary missile battery comprised two Mk 18 four-round armored box launchers also located fore and aft for the RGM-33 Falchion anti-ship missile. The Falchion was a turbojet-powered supersonic cruise missile with semi-active radar homing guidance and a range of 130 nautical miles. Surface to air defense consisted of a RIM-24 Tartar launcher forward while a single ASROC box launcher amidships provided a limited ASW capability. Two Kaman UH-2 Seasprite helicopters could be accommodated on the helipad aft with an additional UH-2 stored in the below deck hanger.
Of the four ships built, USS Nebraska (BBG-74) was sunk during the South China Sea Crisis in 1977. The surviving ships were modernized in 1983-84 which included switching out the obsolete Tartar missiles for the new RIM-73 Tempest (although the Mk 13 launcher could only fire the short-range Tempest without the booster stage), and replacing the Falchions with RGM-81 Rapier anti-ship missiles fired from two Mk 32 launchers with protected below deck 14-round magazines. Four Mk 77 Paladin CIWS mounts as well as updated radar, fire control, and ECM systems were installed and the UH-2’s were replaced with SH-2F LAMPS I helicopters.
All three ships continued in frontline service until 2006 when they were decommissioned and placed in reserve.

In class: (4) Vermont, Idaho, Nebraska, Oregon

Built: 1965-1968

In commission: 1967-2006

Displacement: 26,930 tons standard, 29,300 tons full load

Dimensions: Length (o/a) 754.6 ft, length (w/l) 741.5 ft, beam 80.4 ft, draft (normal) 26.2 ft

Propulsion: 4-shaft, 4 x GE geared steam turbines, 8 x Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 178,000 shp

Performance: 33.0 knots

Range: 10,000 nm at 12 knots

Armor: STS-II alloy/Class C homogeneous. Belt 9” tapering to 5” ends, deck 4-6”, main turret face/other 12.8”/5.5”, barbettes 12”, secondary turret ammo hoists 5”, Falchion launcher 3”, conning tower 11”

Armament: 4 (2 x 2) 12”/55RF Mk 9, 6 x 5”/54 Mk 42, 2 x Mk 18 4-round ABL launchers for RGM-33 Falchion, 1 x Mk 13 launcher for RIM-24 Tartar w/40 rounds, 1 x Mk 16 8-round box launcher for RUR-5 ASROC, 1-3 Kaman UH-2 Seasprite helicopters

Sensors/Electronics: SPS-10 surface search radar, SPS-48 air search radar, SPS-40 air search radar, 3 x SPG-57 Falchion fire control, 2 x SPG-51 Tartar fire control, 2 x SPG-58 12” gun director, 4 x SPG-53 5” gun directors, SQS-26 sonar

Crew: 1,400

Cheers!
Stealthjester

I think this is a great improvement on your challenge entry. My primary concerns would now be a somewhat anemic AAW capability (I'd personally trade out a pair of 5/54 for more Tartar, but that's a design decision) and very limited arcs of fire for the ASROC launcher.