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USS Dahlgren and USS Spruance Visit to Århus, Denmark, September 1988

The double-visit of the USS Dahlgren (DDG-43) and USS Spruance (DD-963) to

Both USS Dahlgren and USS Spruance were capable of carrying nuclear weapons and in addition had been inspected and certified to store nuclear weapons prior to their departure from the United States.

The USS Dahlgren was a Farragut (DDG-37) class guided-missile destroyer. It was able to stow and fire nuclear-armed ASROC anti-submarine warfare rockets and nuclear Terrier anti-air warfare missiles. During the 1980s the ship was regularly inspected and certified to carry out its assigned nuclear mission. Such inspections were given to major combatants to ensure that the ships were ready to fulfill their nuclear weapons missions in accordance with approved war plans.

The inspections and certifications of the USS Dahlgren were documented in a briefing paper which was released to the media in Denmark prior to the visit. The briefing paper showed that the latest inspection and certification prior to the arrival in Århus, a Navy Technical Proficiency Inspection (NTPI), was successfully held and passed on June 26-27, 1986.

What the briefing paper did not show, because it was not known at the time, was that the USS Dahlgren prior to its departure from the U.S. east coast loaded nuclear weapons onboard. The details of the nuclear loadout, the schedule for the ship's operations in the Middle East and Northern Europe, and the visit to Aarhus follow below:

The USS Spruance is the lead ship in the Spruance class of destroyers. It was originally outfitted with ASROCs, and from 1979 to 1985 the ship was regularly inspected and certified to stove and launch nuclear ASROCs. In 1986, the ASROC launcher on the forward deck was removed and replaced by a vertical launch (VLS) system capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles. During 1987, after the installation of the VLS, the Spruance tested out and trained with its new capability. By August 1988, it was certified for Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The briefing paper did not mention, because the details did not become available until later, that the Tomahawk certification included an intense series on nuclear weapons inspections in the months prior to USS Spruance's visit to Århus. They includes as many as five nuclear-related inspections and as well as a live (unarmed) nuclear Tomahawk launch in the Gulf of Mexico. The detailed follow below:

A copy of the briefing paper was delivered to the Danish government, which responded that it did not wish to comment on the "speculations" in the paper. "I do want to point out," Defense Minister Knud Enggard later stated in the Parliament, "that the ships' certification to use nuclear weapons does not mean that they have nuclear weapons onboard." Once again, the Danish government chose to turn a blind eye to violations of its nuclear ban.

Even when a much larger report on U.S. Naval Nuclear Weapons in Sweden was published in 1990, the Danish government told reporters: "No comments." In Sweden, meanwhile, the Defense Ministry's research unit (FOA) acknowledged that the report was credible and the Swedish ruling Social Democratic Party voted -- against the will of the Foreign Minister -- to begin enforcing Swedish non-nuclear policy.

The visit of the USS Spruance was also noteworthy because of its loadout of Tomahawk cruise missiles. One year prior to the visit, the Danish government praised the INF-agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate intermediate-range land-based nuclear missiles. It was ironic that at the same time the INF-agreement began removing the land-based Tomahawk (the Ground Launched Cruise Missile) from Europe, the Danish government welcomed the sea-based Tomahawk onto its own territory.

© Hans M. Kristensen | www.nukestrat.com | 2004-2005
 

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