The German destroyer D187 Rommel was one of three Lütjens-class destroyer guided-missile destroyers, a modified version of the American Charles F. Adams-class destroyer, built for the Bundesmarine (West German Navy) during the 1960s.

Design and description

The Charles F. Adams class was based on a stretched Forrest Sherman-class destroyer hull modified to accommodate smaller RIM-24 Tartar surface-to-air missiles and all their associated equipment. The ships had an overall length of 134.4 m, a beam of 14.4 m and a deep draft of 4.5 m. They displaced 4526 t at full load. Their crew consisted of 333 officers and enlisted men. The ships were equipped with two geared General Electric steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four D-V2M water-tube boilers. The turbines were intended to produce 70000 shp to reach the designed speed of 36 kn. The Lütjens class had a range of 4500 nmi at a speed of 20 kn. Unlike their half-sisters, the ships had two macks. They were armed with two 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun forward, one each forward and aft of the superstructure. The ships were fitted with an eight-round ASROC launcher between the funnels. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two triple sets of 12.75 in Mk 32 torpedo tubes. The primary armament of the ships was the Tartar surface-to-air missile designed to defend the carrier battle group. They were fired via the single-arm Mk 13 missile launcher and the ships stowed a total of 40 missiles for the launcher.

Construction and career

Rommel was laid down on 22 August 1967 by Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine with the hull number DDG-30. She was launched on 1 February 1969, and christened Rommel by Lucie Maria Rommel, widow of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel. The vessel was commissioned on 2 May 1970, and was added to the ''1. Zerstörergeschwader'' (first destroyer squadron), based in Kiel. She operated for 28 years. On 30 September 1998, Rommel was decommissioned. The operating licence for the boilers had expired and it was not considered efficient to refit her. She was towed to Wilhelmshaven to be cannibalised for spare parts to support her two sister ships, GERMAN DESTROYER Lütjens and GERMAN DESTROYER Mölders. These two vessels continued to serve for five more years. In 2004 the hull of Rommel was scrapped in Turkey.