A late-1980s Burke Flight III proposal is recalled as an example of preparing later configurations while the initial ships enter service. The proposal was intended to replace Ticonderoga-class cruisers. The historical comparison connects that choice to the description of Ticonderoga as an original destroyer leader and later cruiser designation. The design recalled here looked substantially different from the Flight III that subsequently emerged. The lesson drawn is that a future-flight study can preserve ideas for improvement without adding them all to the first ships.
Notable Point · 1:38:52-1:39:38
An early Burke Flight III proposal and the sequencing of improvements
The Burke example distinguishes an early proposed Flight III from the later design and considers when improvements enter a shipbuilding program.