A few months ago there was a discussion about the "bulb", I think. Here is a good view of the bulb on an Arleigh Burke DDG. It is actually said that these large warships, particulalry the new version, are not classic destroyers, but really cruisers; however, the word "destroyer" made it easier to get the project past in the US Congress. The DDG 82 USS LASSEN is shown in drydock:
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=42040 (click on HiRes!)
The Bow Bulb
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Ulrich Rudofsky
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The Bow Bulb
Ulrich
What you are looking at is the ship's bow sonar array.
I'd agree they are more like cruisers from a displacement point of view. In today's US Navy, the definition is a bit different. I think cruiser has come to mean a ship which specializes in fleet AA defense and cruise missile strikes, and a destroyer is not quite as capable at those things but is more flexible and is often better at ASW. The line has indeed blurred, at least in the US Navy's 10,000 ton ships.
I'd agree they are more like cruisers from a displacement point of view. In today's US Navy, the definition is a bit different. I think cruiser has come to mean a ship which specializes in fleet AA defense and cruise missile strikes, and a destroyer is not quite as capable at those things but is more flexible and is often better at ASW. The line has indeed blurred, at least in the US Navy's 10,000 ton ships.
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Ulrich Rudofsky
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Here are some more. The function of the huge bow bulbs on modern ships is to modify the bow wave and increase efficiency. The newer Burke and Nimitz classes have improved larger versions
http://www.defenselink.mil/transformati ... 05-03.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... us-bow.htm
http://www.defenselink.mil/transformati ... 05-03.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... us-bow.htm
Ulrich