The USS Kinkaid (DD 965) is the first ship named for Adm. Thomas Kinkaid. Designed and built by Ingalls Shipyard of Litton Industries in Pascagoula, Miss., this Spruance-class destroyer is a member of the first major class of surface ships in the Navy to be powered by gas turbine engines. Four General Electric LM-2500 engines, marine versions of those used on DC-10 and C5A aircraft, drive the ship in excess of 30 knots. Twin controlled reversible pitch propellers provide Kinkaid with a degree of maneuverability unique among warships of her size.
The Kinkaid is designed for undersea warfare operations in support of carrier battle groups, amphibious readiness groups and convoys; strike operations against shore-based targets; surface warfare against hostile shipping; air warfare for local area air protection; command, control, and communications operations; and humanitarian missions, including rescue and evacuation operations.
The Spruance-class destroyers are undergoing extensive modernizing, including addition of vertical launchers for advanced missiles on 24 ships of this class, an advanced ASW system, and upgraded helicopter capability. Spruance-class destroyers are expected to remain a major part of the Navy's surface combatant force into the 21st century
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