Sam Spade's San Francisco

The news reports I have read about the destruction of a U.S. spy satellite by a U.S. Navy Missile Cruiser offered very few details. I've taken the time to find those details and I want to share them with you here.

In the photo: The USS Lake Erie (CG-70) firing the AEGIS missile at sea. Click to enlarge in a separate window. Photo by U.S. Navy.

At 10:26 PM yesterday evening, Wednesday, February 21, 2008, the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) launched a missile and destroyed the satellite as it orbited above the Pacific Ocean. The USS Lake Erie is a Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser and she is armed to the teeth.

She carries two 61-cell Mark 41 Vertical Missile Launch Systems. Her arsenal of missiles includes over 100 SM-2 and SM-3 Aegis missiles, Tomahawk missiles and VLA-ASROC weapons systems. She also carries Harpoon missiles and an assortment of other weaponry including torpedoes, Phalanx CIWS, and 50-caliber guns.

The Lake Erie fired a single modified SM-3 and struck the satellite 133 nautical miles above the Pacific Ocean as the satellite was whizzing by overhead at the incredible speed of 17,000 miles per hour. The missile made a bulls eye strike. The SM-3 blasted the satellite and its fuel tank into thousands of small pieces with none being larger than a football.

One-thousand pounds of hydrazine contained within the fuel tank was also blasted into microscopic particles that pose no threat to life on Earth.

Most of the debris fell toward Earth and was destroyed by the intense friction-produced heat of re-entry. Pieces that remain in space should re-enter the atmosphere and burn-up within the next month.

Resources:
USS Lake Erie (CG-70)
SM-2 and SM-3 missiles
National Reconnaissance Office
NRO Satellite Photos
hydrazine
Phalanx CIWS Weapons Systems
Harpoon Missile System
Aegis Weapons Ssystem
Mark 41 Vertical Launch System
VLA-ASROC missiles
U.S. Navy Cruisers (CG series)
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