In 1974, the Iranian military became interested in the capabilities of the American Spruance-class destroyer. The result of joint negotiations was a contract with Litton Industries for the construction of 6 Kurush-class destroyers, which became another modification of the Spruence.
Destroyers of the Kurush type were created as an integrated system of naval weapons, including a ship's hull, missile multifunctional weapons, combat and technical means.
The ship consists of 10 blocks and sections. The hull has a classic shape for all American destroyers of the 70s-80s, with a forecastle far outstretched aft, clipper bow, transom stern and contours, which help to reduce side and pitching. Compared to its predecessor, the impact and explosion resistance of hull structures was increased on Iranian ships. The next innovation was the semi-automatic damage control system: having received information about the nature and extent of damage, it automatically closes hatches, doors, necks, thereby preventing the spread of fire and water. Due to the use of low-noise power equipment (each gas turbine and the surrounding casing together with the gas generator represent a single module mounted on sound-insulating supports), and various noise-absorbing coatings, it was possible to reduce the acoustic background level of destroyers to a minimum.
Considerable efforts were spent on improving the living conditions of the crew: all living quarters are soundproofed, sleeping blocks have no through passages. The berths in the crew quarters are grouped into blocks of six and separated by light bulkheads. There are special rooms for rest and study. All personnel places are equipped with an air conditioning system.
Iran was preparing to become the owner of the world's most modern destroyers, but … the "Islamic revolution" broke out, Shah Reza Pahlavi fled the country and radical Islamists came to power. The United States urgently canceled the contract.
Of the six ships under construction, four were at a high degree of readiness by that time, so it was decided to continue construction and introduce them into the American fleet.
In 1981, the lead Kurush entered the US Navy under the name Kidd (having received the humorous nickname "Ayatollah" among sailors). And a few months later, its sister ships USS Callaghan (formerly "Daryush"), USS Scott (formerly "Nader") and USS Chandler (formerly "Anoshirvan") appeared in the fleet.
The complex of weapons of destroyers "Kidd" has undergone some changes in relation to the destroyers "Spruence". According to the Iranian contract, the "boxes" of the ASROC and SeaSparrow complexes gave way to the Mk26 universal launchers, unified for firing Standard-2 Medium Range anti-aircraft missiles (68 ammunition) and ASROC anti-submarine torpedo missiles. Like the Spruens, the Kiddas retained two single-gun 127-mm Mk45 artillery mounts, two six-barreled 20-mm Mk15 Phalanx CIWS anti-aircraft artillery systems and a couple of Mk141 launch containers for Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Anti-submarine armament included two built-in 12, 75 'Mk32 torpedo tubes (ammunition for 14 Mk46 anti-submarine torpedoes) and 2 LAMPS helicopters.
The destroyer's electronic armament includes the AN / SPS-48 phased radar for detecting air targets at a range of up to 200 nautical miles; and the AN / SPS-55 radar, used for both surface target detection and navigation. The AN / SLQ-32 (V) 3 system is installed as means of electronic warfare (EW) on the destroyers, which allows detecting the irradiation of the ship with enemy radars and aiming the Harpoon anti-ship missile system at them in a passive mode.
The four failed Iranian super-destroyers served under the Stars and Stripes for 25 years before being put up for sale on the global market. The planned deal with Australia fell through, due to the purchase of tank landing ships by the Australians, and Greece could not buy them for financial reasons. As a result, all 4 ships were acquired by Taiwan.
The Kidd-class destroyers have left their mark on the US Navy. Having an order of magnitude lower cost, they were not inferior in capabilities to the Virginia-class nuclear-powered missile cruisers. Therefore, their design was adopted as the basis for the development of a new missile cruiser of the Ticonderoga type (a symbiosis of Kidd and Spruance nodes), equipped with the Aegis system. But that's a completely different story.
Chinese footprint
In the early 2000s, the Russian Federation had an excellent chance to strengthen its military-technical cooperation with China. It was at that time that a large consignment of naval weapons was delivered to Taiwan from the United States, including two diesel submarines, 12 Orion P-3 base patrol aircraft and … 4 Kidd-class destroyers.
Initially, it was planned to supply an Orly Burke-class destroyer, but everything was decided by finances and time. The cost of each Aegis destroyer was more than $ 1 billion, and the contract could be completed for up to 10 years. The Chinese made a different decision: they bought 4 ready-made Kidd-class destroyers for a total cost of $ 600 million ($ 750 million, taking into account the modernization of ships and a set of "Standard" missiles). each ship turned out to be an order of magnitude cheaper than the Aegis destroyer (and, curiously, cheaper than the Russian Project 20380 "Guarding" corvette).
However, the Kiddas have not resolved all of Taiwan's security issues. The Republic of China is still interested in purchasing ships of the Orly-Burke type - the Aegis system is necessary for Taiwan primarily due to its missile defense function, since The People's Republic of China, in a possible conflict with the "rebellious province", threatens the island with the use of tactical and operational-tactical missile systems.
The Chinese carried out their own modernization of the Ki Luns - this is how the Kidd-class destroyers began to be called, now under the red flag of Taipei. The electronic equipment was modernized, the anti-ship missiles "Harpoon" were replaced with anti-ship missiles of their own production HF-3 "Hsiung Feng" (Bold Wind III).
Along with eight former US Knox-class frigates and eight licensed Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, the Ki Lun-class destroyers form the backbone of the Taiwan Navy and are an imposing force for the island's freedom, independence and territorial integrity.
The most curious moment in this story is that four Russian destroyers are in service with the Navy of the People's Republic of China: two projects 956E ("Modern") - "Hangzhou" and "Fuzhou", which also ended up in Southeast Asia by chance, in connection with reduction of the procurement program for the Russian Navy. The other two - "Taizhou" and "Ningbo" were built according to the 956EM project specifically for the Chinese Navy after the acquisition of new ships by Taiwan.
Being the same age as the Ki Luns, they represent a fundamentally different approach to the creation of warships. The more interesting will be their possible military clash.
Other technical aspects of US military supplies to Taiwan are also very important. The contract for 12 P-3 Orion aircraft allowed to dramatically increase the anti-submarine capabilities of the Taiwan Navy, which jeopardized the operations of the People's Republic of China submarine fleet.
These events significantly affected the naval balance between Beijing and Taipei. The situation in the Taiwan Strait has always been largely determined by the combat capabilities of the navies of the two states, therefore, after the sale of a large batch of weapons, a new round of the arms race followed. As a result, Russia was the winner, having managed to conclude a lucrative contract with the PRC for the supply of 4 large warships and laid the foundation for military-technical cooperation on anti-ship missiles and naval weapons.
