Because of the unexpected interest in this ship I decided to kind of finish it of.
![[ img ]](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/rhomel91/AU_US_BGN_JohnWayne.png)
USS John Wayne BGN-72
Commissioned into the US Navy in 1986 the John Wayne was named for the US President considered by many to be the most popular and successful since FDR. ‘The Duke’ as he was affectionately known served in the highest office from 1969 to 77 and is credited with winning the Vietnam War and smashing both the OPEC Oil War and Communist expansion in Africa. He was also the inaugural “Actor President” a professional class that would hold the American presidency without defeat since his election. (John Wayne R-68, Ronald Reagan R-76, Paul Newman D-84, Clint Eastwood D-92, Chuck Norris R-00, Denzel Washington D-08.)
BGN-72 was programmed as the lead ship of the navy expansion plan in the second Reagan Presidential term in 1981. Originally to be named the Montana she was rechristened the John Wayne after his death by cancer in 1983. The new class was to follow the rebuilding of the Iowa class battleship to lead new Surface Action Groups (SAG) with a particular focus on deep sea and ASW operations. But with the efficiency of its nuclear power propulsion the BGN-72s were often to be found on forward deployment in the Persian Gulf, Taiwan Strait or Bay of Bengal holding back international communism, the non-aligned movement and other threats to world peace.
Class and type: Nuclear powered, guided missile battleship
Displacement: 38,500 tons
Length: 881 (268.6 m)
Beam: 91 ft 9.375 in (28.0 m)
Draft: 27 ft 1 in (8.25 m), 37 ft 6 in (11.4 m) to bottom of sonar dome
Propulsion: 4-shaft nuclear with four (40 MW) B1W reactors
Speed: 38 knots (68.5 kph)
Range: unlimited
Complement: 1,240
Armament: two Mk 71 203mm guns (fore and aft), two Mk 45 127mm guns (port and starb), four Mk 15 20mm CIWS, six Mk 41 61 cell VLS (usual load: 146 x Tomahawk cruise, 124 x SM-2ER AAW, 64 SM-2MR AAW and 32 x VLA ASW missiles), 32x Harpoon ASM, two Mk 32 324mm triple tube torpedos
Aircraft: four Sea Apache strike helos, four Sea Hawk ASW helos