The guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) fires her MK-45 5-inch/62 caliber lightweight guns during a Pre-Action Calibration Fire (PAC-FIRE) evolution as part of a Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT) exercise. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) carrier strike group (CSG) cruiser-destroyer (CRUDES) units are conducting the first East CRUDES SWATT. SWATT is led by Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) and is designed to increase warfighting proficiency, lethality and interoperability of participating units.
The 5-inch/54 caliber (Mk 45) lightweight gun is a modern U.S. naval artillery gun mount consisting of a 127 mm (5 in) L54 Mark 19 gun on the Mark 45 mount. Originally designed and built by United Defense, it is now manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments after the former was acquired. The gun is designed for use against surface warships, anti-aircraft and shore bombardment to support amphibious operations. The gun mount features an automatic loader with a capacity of 20 rounds. These can be fired under full automatic control, taking a little over a minute to exhaust those rounds at maximum fire rate. For sustained use, the gun mount would be occupied by a six-man crew (gun captain, panel operator, and four ammunition loaders) below deck to keep the gun continuously supplied with ammunition.
USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was named in memory of the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific. She is powered by four large gas-turbine engines, and she has a large complement of guided missiles for air defense, attack of surface targets at sea and ashore, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). In addition, she carries two “Seahawk” LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, whose primary mission is ASW.
The Ticonderoga class of guided missile cruisers is a class of warships in the United States Navy, first ordered and authorized in the 1978 fiscal year. The class uses passive phased-array radar and was originally planned as a class of destroyers. However, the increased combat capability offered by the Aegis Combat System and the AN/SPY-1 radar system, together with the capability of operating as a flagship, were used to justify the change of the classification from DDG (guided missile destroyer) to CG (guided-missile cruiser) shortly before the keels were laid down for Ticonderoga and Yorktown.
(U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jesse Marquez Magallanes/Released)
