The first three ships were constructed at Bath Iron Works, the next two at New York Shipbulding Corp, and the rest at Puget Sound Bridge and Dry Dock Company, Todd Shipyards, San Pedro, CA, San Francisco Naval Shipyard and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Modernizations were accomplished between 1967 and 1972 upgrading air warfare capabilities. Nearly all modernizations were completed at Bath Iron Works, but Leahy received the modernization at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard at a cost of $36.1 million.
All Leahy class ships were modernized again in the late 1980s New Threat Upgrade program. This program added advanced air search and track radars (AN/SPS-49 and AN/SPS-48E), updated targeting radars (AN/SPG-55), and combat direction systems. The upgrade included massive remodeling of the ship from food service space rehabilitation to a main propulsion system overhaul. Entire systems were removed and replaced, for example the AN/SPS-40 air-search radar was replaced with the AN/SPS-49 air-search radar. The upgrade was also quite expensive and the ships modified didn't serve much longer after the modification. For example, USS Gridley (CG-21) received NTU in 1991 at a cost of $55 million, but was decommissioned in early 1994.
The Leahy class was taken out of service in the early 1990s, stricken from the naval register, and transferred to the maritime administration for disposal.
The Bainbridge class cruiser, which consisted of the USS Bainbridge (CGN-25), was largely identical to the Leahy class, except it was nuclear powered.
| Leahy class guided missile cruiser | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Leahy class destroyer leader / cruiser |
| Builders: | Several |
| Operators: | United States Navy |
| Preceded by: | Albany-class cruiser |
| Succeeded by: | Belknap-class cruiser |
| Subclasses: | Bainbridge-class cruiser |
| Built: | 1959-1964 |
| In commission: | 1962-1995 |
| Completed: | 9 |
| Active: | 0 |
| Retired: | 9 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Guided missile cruiser |
| Displacement: | 7,800 tons (full load) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × steam turbines providing 85,000 shp (63 MW); 2 shafts 4 × boilers |
| Speed: | 32 knots |
| Range: | 8,000 nm @ 20 knots |
| Sensors and processing systems: | AN/SPS-39 followed by AN/SPS-48 3D air search radar AN/SPS-43 followed by AN/SPS-49 2D air search radar AN/SPS-10 surface search radar AN/SPG-55 missile fire control radar AN/SQS-23 bow mounted sonar |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: | AN/SLQ-32 Mark 36 SRBOC |
| Armament: | 2 × Mark 10 Terrier SAM 1 × ASROC ASW system 4 × 3 in(76 mm)guns (replaced by Harpoon missiles during 1980s) 6 × 12.75 in(324 mm)ASW TT 2 x Phalanx CIWS |
| Aircraft carried: | None |
