USS Ticonderoga (CG-47)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see USS Ticonderoga.

USS Ticonderoga in May 1982
History
United States
NameTiconderoga
Namesake
Battle of Ticonderoga
Ordered22 September 1978
BuilderIngalls Shipbuilding
Laid down21 January 1980
Launched25 April 1981
Sponsored byNancy Reagan
Christened16 May 1981
Commissioned22 January 1983
Decommissioned30 September 2004
Stricken30 September 2004
Identification
MottoFirst AEGIS Cruiser
Nickname(s)Tico[1]
StatusArrived in Brownsville, Texas for scrapping in September 2020[2]
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeTiconderoga-class cruiser
DisplacementApprox. 9,600 long tons (9,800 t) full load
Length567 feet (173 m)
Beam55 feet (16.8 meters)
Draft34 feet (10.2 meters)
Propulsion
Speed32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Complement30 officers and 300 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems
  • AN/SPY-1A/B multi-function radar
  • AN/SPS-49 air search radar (Removed on some ships)
  • fire control radar
  • AN/SPS-73 surface search radar
  • AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar
  • AN/SQQ-89(V)1/3 - A(V)15 Sonar suite, consisting of:
    • AN/SQS-53B/C/D
      active sonar
    • AN/SQR-19 TACTAS, AN/SQR-19B ITASS, & MFTA
      passive sonar
    • AN/SQQ-28
      light airborne multi-purpose system
Armament
Aircraft carried2 × MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS Mk III helicopters.

USS Ticonderoga (DDG/CG-47), nicknamed "Tico", was a guided-missile

Aegis combat system. Originally ordered as a guided-missile destroyer, she was redesignated as a cruiser after capabilities from the cancelled Strike cruiser program were implemented into the ship's design.[3]
The new AEGIS system allowed Ticonderoga to track and engage many aerial targets more effectively than any previous U.S. Navy warship.

Ticonderoga entered service in 1983 and deployed later that year to the Mediterranean.

counternarcotics in the 1990s and 2000s, and made multiple patrols of the Caribbean
in that role.

After being decommissioned in 2004, Ticonderoga was stored at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia. She arrived in Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping in 2020.

Design and construction

Main article: Ticonderoga-class cruiser

The contract to build DDG-47 Ticonderoga was awarded to

Strike Cruiser
program, flagship capabilities were added to the Ticonderoga class's design and the ship was then redesignated as a guided-missile cruiser, CG-47 on 1 January 1980, shortly before her keel was laid.

Ticonderoga's keel was laid down on 21 January 1980, the 35th anniversary of the devastating kamikaze attack on the Essex-class aircraft carrier Ticonderoga (CV-14). CG-47 was launched on 25 April 1981 and christening on 16 May 1981 with First Lady Nancy Reagan, the ship's main sponsor, in attendance. Ticonderoga was delivered to the U.S. Navy on 13 December 1982 and commissioned in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 22 January 1983 with Captain Roland Guilbault in command.

U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan christened USS Ticonderoga on 16 May 1981.

Naming

CG-47 is the fifth United States Navy vessel to bear the name Ticonderoga. She was named for the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, the start of the American offensive during the American Revolution.[5] The name "Ticonderoga" is derived from the Iroquois word tekontaró:ken, meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways".[6] Most of the ships in the Ticonderoga class are similarly named for significant battles in U.S. history.

Service history

1980s

Departing for her new homeport of

Haifa, Israel
, for the New Year and then returned to Norfolk, arriving on 4 May 1984.

On 8 September 1984, while Ticonderoga was conducting exercises east of

Mayport, Florida, a fire broke out in her aft main engine exhaust uptake. The At-Sea and General Quarters fire parties eventually put the fire out and Ticonderoga returned to Norfolk under her own power in early October.[4]

On 23 March 1986, Ticonderoga, while conducting a Freedom of Navigation exercise in the Gulf of Sidra, moved south of the "Line of Death" in Libya, covered by fighter aircraft. Libya responded by unsuccessfully attacking battle-force aircraft. Ticonderoga responded by destroying several Libyan patrol boats. For her participation in the operation, Ticonderoga received her second Navy Unit Commendation and Navy Expeditionary Medal. During joint Navy-Air Force air strikes on Libyan targets on 15 April, she received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.[4]

In the late 1980s, she served in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Earnest Will while under the command of Captain James M. Arrison III, USN.

1990s

For a time in the late 1990s, she was based at Pascagoula, Mississippi, as part of Commander, Naval Surface Forces Atlantic's Western Hemisphere Group.

2000s

Ticonderoga was towed from Naval Station Pascagoula immediately following her decommissioning on 30 September 2004.

On 4 May 2004, she completed transit of the Panama Canal and then moved to cross the equator. Her ship crew engaged in the rites and rituals of the crossing, inducting the captain of the ship and many of the crew in to "Shell-Backs". She completed her final deployment on 3 August 2004. Ticonderoga then made liberty port visits to Cozumel, Mexico (15-17 March); Colon (27-28 March); Mayport (1-9 April); Guantánamo Bay (12-13 April); Cartagena, Colombia (27-29 May); Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Panama (6-7 May); and Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala (17-19 May). She conducted counter-narcotics operations in conjunction with Colombian military authorities from April–June. Ticonderoga successfully intercepted five cigarette-shaped “go-fast” smuggling boats, and one fishing vessel, netting over 14,000 pounds of cocaine, and detaining 25 suspects in the process. She was

decommissioned on 30 September of that year. After her decommissioning, she was towed to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia. In 2010, she was offered for museum donation by the Navy. An effort was made to bring Ticonderoga to Pascagoula, Mississippi, where she was built, to serve as a museum ship.[8] In May 2013, the vessel was formally stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, for disposal.[9] In October of the same year, The Ticonderoga Historical Society reported that the US Navy was going to scrap the ship after a number of potential museum sites were unable to add her to their collections.[10] In June 2014, NAVSEA released a disposal reporting letter declaring the ex-Ticonderoga to be available for inspection by bidders and ready for disposal by scrapping or sinking.[11] In September 2020, she arrived at Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping.[2]

The former USS Ticonderoga was at berth at the Philadelphia Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in January 2008.

Deployments

Start End Areas of Operation Notes
20 October 1983 4 May 1984 North Atlantic,
20 April 2001 28 August 2001 Caribbean, Eastern Pacific
10 March 2004 4 August 2004 Caribbean

Awards

In popular culture

Ticonderoga was featured in the 1986

Tu-22M
bombers.

Ticonderoga was mentioned in the Tom Waits song "Shore Leave" on his 1983 album Swordfishtrombones.

References

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

  1. New York Times
    . Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  2. ^ a b "The Navy's First Aegis Warship USS Ticonderoga Is Being Scrapped". thedrive.com. 27 November 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  3. ^ Friedman, Norman (1984). U.S. CRUISERS An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 419–422.
  4. ^
    Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 23 November 2019. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain
    .
  5. ^ GlobalSecurity.org USS Ticonderoga (CG-47).
  6. ISBN 9780874741971
    .
  7. ^ "Two U.S. ships pounded anti-aircraft positions east of Beirut..." UPI. 18 December 1983. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  8. Ships Monthly. April 2010. [dead link
    ]
  9. ^ "Ticonderoga (CG-47)". Naval Vessel Register. May 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  10. ^ "USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) To be Scrapped?". Ticonderoga Historical Society website. 20 October 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Disposal Reporting Letter for Ex-Ticonderoga (CG-47)" (PDF). 17 June 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Naval Vessel Historical Evaluation CG-47 Final Determination" (PDF). US Navy NAVSEA. 10 November 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.

Further reading

  • Nasuti, Guy J. (21 November 2019). "Ticonderoga V (CG-47)".
    Naval History & Heritage Command
    . Retrieved 23 November 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Ticonderoga (CG-47).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Ticonderoga_(CG-47)&oldid=1176960282"