Ticonderoga class Cruisers (1981)

These missile destroyers, eventually renamed missile cruisers, were derived from the previous Spruance class, but with a difference in size, and this time fully designed to implement the new AEGIS system, a true revoluton in detection, command, target management, fire control and weapons/ECM management response. In fact, they were (are still) known as the “Aegis cruisers”. The latter system was originally designed for an anti-aircraft escort frigate, like the future California cruisers. Their design was the result of numerous studies and landmarks from the late 1970s, which resulted in the rejection of Typhon frigate project and heavy cruisers of the CSGN type. Instead, the backup destoryer solution based on the largest destroyer hulls of the time, Spruance, was preferred.

The armament, cost, and effectiveness of the USS Tirconderoga, made the entire class redesigned as a class of cruisers (CGs) rather than destroyers. The Aegis system is based on a highly efficient system of two SPY-1 solid fixed antennas installed in the front superstructure, and comprising 4080 separate phase transformers. The block is powered by its own radio frequency generator, several megawatts. This system is not for long range, but to handle a maximum of echoes and must be relayed by a SPS-49 type of airborne surveillance radar and two SPG-62 target illuminators.

The combined capability of the SM-2 (anti-aircraft and anti-ship) with the ability to detect and track multiple all-round targets simultaneously, makes the protection provided by a Ticonderoga much more effective than that of a previous generation ship. Despite the cost of the system, the Ticonderoga class comprised 14 operational ships in 1990 with famous names (Yorktown, Vincennes, Valley Forge, Thomas S Gates, Buker Hill, Mobile Bay, Antienam, Leyte Gulf, San Jacinto, Lake Champlain, Philippine Sea, Princeton, Normandy, Chancellorsville). But sine the end of the cold war, 12 more entered service, the last one, USS Port Royal, in April 1994. Fice were scrapped, another group of remainder ships are decommissioned and in reserve, and the remainder still active service, still considered valuable as CBG escorts today and engaged in all recent conflicts. The 1990s Arleigh Burke class destroyers were also equipped with an updated Aegis and started to make the cruisers appear redundant, apart for their flagships accomodations. However for what these cruisers offers and new geopolitical context in Asia, it is probably wise to keep these ships in reserve should a war break out.

Development

The Ticonderoga class were guided-missile cruisers ordered and authorized in the 1978 fiscal year (FY78). The original plan was to build improved destroyers following the Spruance class. However, the Aegis Combat System developed at the time, coupled with the passive phased array AN/SPY-1 radar, coupled with the need for a flagship now that legacy WW2 ships converted as guided missile cruisers were on their way out, the planned destroyer was to inregrated all these systems and reassified from DDG (guided-missile destroyer) to CG (guided-missile cruiser) just as their keels were laid down. This only concerned USS Ticonderoga and USS Yorktown.

The Ticonderoga-class shared the same hulls as the Spruances and were a continuation of that class, but were reclassed as guided-missile cruisers, and more multi-role warships, whereas the Spruances were specialized ASW vessels. One major change in design was the adoption of Mk 41 VLS, fore the first time missile racks instead of launchers, that can fire Tomahawk cruise missiles to strike land targets, or the anti-aircraft SM-2MR/ERs for local defensen both against aircraft and anti-ship missiles. They did not lost theor ASW capabilities which were retained, between their LAMPS III helicopters, RUM-139 ASROCs and sonars. These new ships were designed to take car of carrier strike groups or amphibious ready groups as flagships/command ships due to their new Aegis system, facilities and large array of weapons. They were as much to coordinate a defence or an attack as escort themselves. Other assigned missions at program stage included interdiction or escort. Their Aegis Missile Defense System proved invaluable as anti-ballistic missile and anti-satellite platforms.

USS Ticonderoga and Spruance side by side. Yes, they share the same hull and powerplant. That’s it.

In all, 27 of these cruisers were completed, nineteen at Ingalls Shipbuilding, eight by Bath Iron Works (BIW), keeping the tradition of a “single yard, wnner takes all” professed by the “wiz kid” of McNamara, an inheritance of the RAND corp. All but two of these cruisers, Thomas S. Gates and the renamed USS Robert Smalls (CG-62), referred to events in U.S. military history, notably WW II legacy aircraft carriers. By October 2023, there were 13 ships active but between the cost of maintenance due to age, and just crews costs due to 1980s standards automation being they are progressively retired with the last ones scheduled for decommissioning in 2027. With today’s perceived threat fropm the PLAN, the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers as expected as stopgap replacements. Their true replacements are going to be the 2030s DDG(X) destroyers, larger and potentially abled to answer the Chinese current Type 055 Renhai class “heavy destroyers”.

The Aegis defence system

The centerpiece of these designs, an very reason why they were reclassed as cruisers, despite having a destroyer base, was this brand new system. The very named, Aegis, is not an acronym as often believed, but referred to the Zeus’s shield in Greek mythology. The Aegis Combat System (ACS) was the sum of all combined past experiences in terms of command and control, to create an advanced command and decision, or C&D, composed of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS), fast-reaction Anti-Aircraft Warfare (AAW) with a CIWS and Mark 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS).

This Mark 41 VLS came in the 209 in (5.3 m) deep self-defense version or 266 in (6.8 m) tactical version, 303 in (7.7 m) for the strike version. Empty weight of the VLS 8-cell module was 26,800 lb (12,200 kg) in self-defense but 29,800 lb (13,500 kg) tactical and 32,000 lb (15,000 kg) strike version capable of launchin ASW missiles, Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles. The ship also integrated shipboard torpedo and naval gunnery systems.
The AWS was at its heart, comprising the following:
-AN/SPY-1 Radar
-MK 99 Fire Control System
-Weapon Control System (WCS)
-Command and Decision Suite
-Standard Missile family (RIM-66, RIM-156 Standard ER, RIM-161 Standard M3/bs ballistic missiles, RIM-174 Standard ERAM (2016).
A core princple was that the Weapons loads were adjusted to suit any mission profile. The well containing the VLS was as dee^as the tactical VLS with hydraulic supports not only to dampen the launches, but also provide a modular base for shorter VLS. This was the first “plug an play” missile battery ever.
The Aegis Combat System core asset is the automatic detect-and-track, multi-function three-dimensional passive electronically scanned array radar. It is better known as the AN/SPY-1. The “Shield of the Fleet” was designed as a high-powered (6 megawatt) radar capable of performing search, tracking, and missile guidance simultaneously over 100 targets over 100 nautical miles (190 km). The AN/SPY-1 Radar was mounted lower than the AN/SPS-49 radar which reduced its radar horizon.

Communicates with the Standard missiles used a special radio frequency uplink for mid-course updates during engagements, and AN/SPG-62 fire-control radar for terminal guidance. By combining the absence of reload time for the VLS and that double capability of multiple two-stage guidance, many targets, from sea-skimming to ballistic missiles and incoming aircraft wierhing that 100 miles bubble, could be dealt with simultaneously.
The computer-based command-and-decision (C&D) which is the background for all digital operations was derived from the well known Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS). It was tasked for threat evaluation and weapons assignment (TEWA), all monitored in the Central Operation Center of the shipn, buried under deck and well protected. This is that simultaneous operation to deal at the same time against all kinds of threats, up to 100 or more, that made the whole system a powerful combination, unique at the time in 1984. The idea was already worked on in 1969 for the base system, well before it was deemed “operational”. Lockheed Martin in December 2019, released a promotional video for its 50th anniversary. So if its was new in the 1980s it came a long way and started with the need to upgrade the NTDS. Other elements, like the VLS and progresses in arrays then added up and completed the system as a very potent mix.

USS Long Beach firing a Terrier missile. With her boxy AN/SPG-59 for the Typhon system, ancestor of Aegis. The radar was too fragile and unreliable and doomed the project.

Aegis was initially developed by the Missile and Surface Radar Division of RCA (later General Electric) and then the Government Electronic Systems which teamed wuth GE Aerospace businesses, until sold to Martin Marietta in 1992, and now Lockheed Martin since 1995. Its initial concept was expressed already in the late 1950s, as a way to manage guided missiles but by the mid-1960s the USN recoignised that reaction time and availability was below what was needed the anti-ship missile threat. It was especially true of the latest Soviet anti-ship missiles tactics. Radar were not up to the task and the NTIC was too convoluted for rapid responses. Senarios were worked on combined massive missile attacks from SSGNs, long range bmbers, and missile ships on a CBG and the picture did not looked good. Requirements for tracking and targeting were simply limited by technology, and the number of radars, between two and four. In 1958, the Typhon Combat System program was started as a distant ancestor of the Aegis, centered around the AN/SPG-59 phased array radar. It was deployed on USS Long Beach and Enterprise, both nuclear powered, and both protect, as the Typhon system were cancelled in 1963 due to spiralling costs. Instead, attention focused on a simpler system, deemed more reliable, the Advanced Surface Missile System (ASMS).

USS Norton Sound was the first test ship for the Aegis on its initial development form, from 1973 onwards. At the time, it had no VLS but a classic twin arm Standard missile launcher (seen here at the stern).
The latter was an engineering development program started in 1964 to meet the former requirements and in 1969 it was renamed “Aegis”, as suggested by Captain L. J. Stecher, a former Tartar Weapon System manager in a naming contest. In 1970, then-Captain Wayne Meyer became project Manager for this Weapons System. It was successfully deployed on several ships, with a development early model installed on USS Norton Sound in 1973. By then the goal was to install an operational variant of the system on the planned nuclear-powered “strike cruiser” (or CSGN) and the conventional DDG 47 class destroyers derived from the new Spruance class ASW destroyers initiated in 1969.

A proposed conversion of US Long Beach as an Aegis flagship, 1977 concept.

The 17,000 tonnes CSGN concept, 1979

The CSGN was a 17,200 ton cruiser, a “super-California” also incorporating many elements from the Virginia-class and using either multiple twin-arms launchers and VLS, in the works at the time. The Aegis destroyer design on the other hand was to be based on the Spruance class which had gas turbines to chase down the latest fand fastest Soviet SSNs. When the CSGN was cancelled were was a scaled dpwn project based around sister ships of the Virginia-class (CGN 42) with a new superstructure tailored for the Aegis Combat System and 12,100 tons displacement. However it was rejected as not survivable and with reduced command and control facilities and cancelled during the Carter Administration. Its cost was also high compared to the DDG 47 program. The latter became the Aegis destroyers, then CG 47 guided missile cruisers.

USS Port Royal, one of the last of the class, in the South China Sea, 2017.
The first of these already had her keel laid down, and was renamed USS Ticonderoga. As a representant of Batch I she had two twin-armed Mark-26 missile launchers fore and aft. From the sixth ship USS Bunker Hill (Batch II), these were replaced by the Martin Marietta Mark-41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) fore and aft, and offering a wider missile selection. Then came the improved AN/SPY-1B radar from USS Princeton onwards (Batch III), while USS Chosin introduced the AN/UYK-43/44 computer suite.
Among the points seen for these whips were an improved sea-keeping hull form (notably with the bulwards forward) and fore suvivability, a reduced infrared and radar cross-sections (explaining the shape of funnels, see later) and a tailored Aegis Combat System for the smaller hull. The ultimate evoltion of the class was in fact the new Arleigh Burke class commissioned in 1991.
The most recent evolutions of the Aegis Combat System ships had active electronically scanned array radars using solid-state gallium nitride emitters for the AN/SPY-7 radar (Lockheed-Martin) with the Raytheon AN/SPY-6 installed in Flight III and Flight IIA Arleigh Burke and its Ballistic Missile Defense capability.

Design of the class

Originally ordered as guided-missile destroyers as DDG-47 they were revised by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Elmo Zumwalt’s “high-low mix”, so as lower-cost platforms for the high cost new new Aegis Combat System. The Spruance-class destroyer was thus a cost-effective saving. They were at first designed to complement the Strike Cruiser (CSGN) at the high end of Zumwalt and flagships until cancelation as the CGN-42 Virginia hull alternative. On the DDG-47 adding Flagship capabilities was only possible with compromises and greater automation. The denomination CG-47 only reflected additional capabilities but they seems a bit small as cruisers. In any case they became the “high end” until the arrival of the Arleigh Burke-class.
CG-52 introduced the Mk 41 VLS and additional roles were later added to the design, but this added more weight to the flexible, yeat already taxed Spruance-derived hull. It was the limited growth potential in weight and power margin that led to the Cruiser Baseline (CGBL) concept, mating the new CG-52 cruiser hull to the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. This hardly gained traction since.

Hull and general design

These ships were obviously heavier than the Spruance class despitre sharing the same hull. They were as designed approximatively classed as 9,600 long tons (9,800 t) full load, 8,200 t standard, compared to 8,040 (long) tons full load for the Spruance. This almost an increase of 1,500 tonnes, but the comparison holds water only compared to the ealy Spruances which were criticized as “underarmed” for their size and had a modular design for future addition. For the massively upgraded Spruances of the late 1990s, they were close to 9200t indeed. So engineers worked out already a hull that could manage relatively large additional payloads and top weight in the future. This too, made the Spruance hull attractive as a platform.

As for their dimensions, they were about the same: An overall length of 567 feet (173 m) versus 563 ft (172 m) on the Spruances, a beam unchanged at 55 feet (16.8 meters) but a much higher draft at 34 feet (10.2 meters) versus 29 ft (8.8 m). That reserve of buoyancy was important to keep stability. The increased lenght was only due to the addition of a bulwark at the prow as the ships were expected to “plough” more, but the forward deck was raised altogether at such an angle the prow was way taller than the Spruance class to better cope with heavy weather. Thanks to this, the Ticos and moderately “wet” in heavy seas.

As for the general design, the Ticonderoga looked far more “buffier” and massive. They shared with the Spruance blocky, roomy structures and more of less the same rear island, albeit taller and integrating the Aegis array, the forward section and its three antenna below the bridge being the most recoignisable. Instead of a simple three-faceted blockhouse of the Spruance and relatively low bridge, they have a massive forward structure supporing the three forward arrays inside a sloped box-like structure, and the bridge planted on top, benefiting from an excellent view. In some ways it looked like the old system (array in a boxy structure, bridge on top) of the USS Long Beach and Enterprise. At the time, this was combo AN/SPS-32 and AN/SPS-33 which proved way too fragile.

Protection: Supertructures were in non-aluminium alloys but the hull was in regular steel and reinforced steel alloys o better distributed top and high weights. Adding armour was difficult due to an already texed design, so it was restrained to Kevlar splinter protection in critical areas, such as the missile container for the VLS or before that, the fore and aft launchers, early SSM canisters, and the flexible VLS boxes fore and aft, but also the Central Operation Center at the core of the ship, and steering compartment.

Powerplant

They duplicated the Spruance powerplant and its useful gas turbines arrangements. This took the form of four General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines mated to two controllable-reversible pitch propellers and two rudders. Top speed was offically 32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37.4 mph) governed, based on 86,000 hp. Range was 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) or 3,300 nmi (6,100 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h) based on a supply of 2000 tonnes gas turbine oil.

Armament

Batch I

This was by far the most mobile part of the design, and needs to be dealt with between batches among the 27 ships of the class as it varied greatly over time.
The lead ships (Batch I) CG47 and 48 had two quad Harpoon SSM (8 RGM-84) canisters, two twin Standard SM-2MR SAM capable of launching the ASROC ASuR (68 RIM-66C/D, 20 RUR-5), and two 127mm/54 Mk 45 Mod. 0 main guns fore and aft, completed by two six-tubes rotating 20mm/76 Mk 15 Phalanx to deal with missiles. Later four sinle 12.7mm/90 Browning HMGs were added. They also carried for ASW warfare from the start two triple 324mm TT and one or two helicopters of the SH-2F type. See below for the sensors.

Batch Ib

this concerned CG49, 50, and 51. They kept the two Harpoon SSM canisters,the two Standard SM-2MR SAM/ASROC, main guns, Phalanx and TTs but received SH-60B Seahawk helicopters, far more capable. They also had electronics upgrades.

Batch II

This concerned CG52 to CG68 (Bunker Hill subclass). They were the first fitted with two 61 missiles Mk 41 Mod. 0 VLS replacing their formar twin arms launchers. In total, they could carry the following among 122 missiles in store total:
-Tomahawk RGM-109 Cruise Missiles
-Standard SM-2MR RIM-66 SAM
-ASROC RUM-139 ASuR)
They also kept they quad armoured canisters for the Harpoon SSM, main guns, Phalanx, HMGs, TTs and the new SH-60B helicopters.

Batch III

CG69 to CG73 or Vicksburg sub-class: Same Mk 41 Mod. 0 VLS, Harpoon, main guns, Phalanx, HMGs, TTs and SH-60B. Most upgrades were done in their electronics suite.

About the Mark 41 VLS (1986)

Refinement of the initial concept of Aegis system in the 1960s had the VLS conceived in 1976 and originally intended to fire only the RIM-66 Standard missile. Its height was played around later however to accommodate the larger Tomahawk, prototype tested on USS Norton Sound. First operational launch was done on USS Bunker Hill, which became a sub-class.
The canisters allowed both the Standard and Tomahawk to be quickly operated, and this system was also installed aboard USS Spruance in 1986 and became standard on the Ticonderoga class cruisers, placed fore and aft. The forward VLS was located at the foot of the bridge, which received a heat-absorbent paint, behind the main gun. The second was installed on an intermediate step deck aft, between the helideck and aft main gun.
These were 61-cell module, with 3 cells dedicated to the reloading crane and a well designed to receive three types wit various dephts. Missiles were pre-loaded at port, and lifted fully loaded into the well by heavy duty cranes.
This successful modification greatly enhanced firepower and not only all Ticonderoga class cruisers but also twenty-four Spruance-class received this upgrade, modified in the late 1990s, sometimes shortly before decommission. This VLS installation enabled both antiship and land attack capabilities and kept an ASW capability through the Vertically Launched ASROC (VLA) started by 1983, but delays due to the promising (and later cancelled) Sea Lance missile had it only available in the 1990s.

VLS Mark 41 on USS Normandy aft’s deck.

Over time, this universal launcher was upgraded to house and launch a large variety of missiles, the RIM-66, 156, 161 Standard M3, RIM-174 Standard ERAM, RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, RIM-162 ESSM, CAMM (CAMM, CAMM-ER, CAMM-MR), RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (Block 2), Tomahawk, Joint Strike Missile, RGM-179 JAGM, LRASM (BTV) with a Mk-114 booster rocket, RUM-139 VL-ASROC, and Nulka EW missile.

Missile Details

RGM-84 Harpoon

This upgrade was of eight Harpoon antiship missiles in canister launchers aft, angled up, facing port and starboard, for anti-ship offensive capability. The first having these was apparently in 1978 USS Hewitt (DD-966) for the Spruance class, but they were standard on all Ticonderoga class ships. Having them in external launchers was also the result of them never being designed for the Mark 41 VLS. The VLS Tomahwawks provided a much greater anti-ship bubble.

⚙ AGM-84 Harpoon specs.
Weight	1,523 lb (691 kg) including booster 600 lbf (2,700 N) thrust
Dimensions	15 ft (4.6 m) x 13.5 in (34 cm) x wp 3 ft (0.91 m)
Propulsion	Teledyne CAE J402 turbojet/solid propellant booster
Speed	Block II 537 mph (864 km/h; 240 m/s; Mach 0.71)
Range	Block II 120 nmi (220 km)
Guidance	Radar altimeter, active radar terminal homing
Ceiling	Sea skimming
Payload	488 pounds (221 kg), Impact fuze

Standard RIM-66/SM-2MR SAM

RIM-66 standard during live fire trials off Puerto Rico by USS Ticonderoga, March 1983
The RIM-66 Standard MR (SM-1MR/SM-2MR) was developed as a medium-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) and secondary anti-ship missile, to replace the RIM-2 Terrier and RIM-24 Tartar. The RIM-67 Standard had an extended range with its solid rocket booster stage. The first two ships of the class had a twin arms launcher instead of VLS fore and aft.
The RIM-66C/D Standard MR (SM-2MR Block I) was developed as a key part of the Aegis combat system and New Threat Upgrade (NTU). It had an inertial and command mid-course guidance and able to fly the most efficient path to target with course corrections from the ground. Target illumination was used for semi-active homing in terminal phase. This way, the Ticonderoga could time share illumination radars, and increase the number of targets engaged in quick succession. This was match in heaven with the VLS Mark 41.

⚙ specs. SM-2MR
Weight	1,558 lb (707 kg)
Dimensions	15 ft 6 in x 13.5 in x 3 ft 6 in (4.72 x 34.3 cm x 1.07 m wp)
Propulsion	Dual thrust, solid-fuel rocket
Speed	Mach 3.5 (4,290 km/h; 2,660 mph; 1.19 km/s)
Range	40 to 92 nmi (74 to 170 km)
Guidance	Block IIIA Command and Inertial midcourse guidance with monopulse semi-active radar homing in the terminal phase of the interception.
Ceiling	25,000 m (82,000 ft)
Payload	Blast fragmentation warhead with Radar and contact fuze

Tomahawk RGM-109 TLAM

The Tomahawk arrived not in canisters located aft of the ship like when experimented in 1980 on USS Merrill (DD-967), making its first surface launch. Instead of four-vector canister Launchers, armoured (ABL) rhey were directly installed on the Mark 41 VLS when it became mandatory on all Ticonderoga class ships. This early Tomahawk model could be conventional or nuclear tipped when used as antiship missile, so did the ASROCs as an option, and all ships were supposed to carry compatible nuclear arheads for any type of missions at all times.

⚙ specs. RGM-84 Harpoon MISSILE
Weight	2,900 lb (1,300 kg), 3,500 lb (1,600 kg) with booster
Dimensions	18 ft 3 in (5.56 m) wt booster x 20.4 in (0.52 m) x 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m) wp
Propulsion	Williams Intl. F107-WR-402 turbofan TH-dimer fuel+ solid-fuel rocket booster
Speed	567.7 mph (493.3 kn; 913.6 km/h)
Range	Block II 1,350 nmi (1,550 mi; 2,500 km)
Guidance	GPS, INS, TERCOM, DSMAC, active radar homing
Payload	W80 warhead (5-200 kt), 1,000 pounds (450 kg) HE/Subm BLU-97/B/PBXN

ASROC RUM-139 ASuR

Design and development started at 1983 by Goodyear Aerospace under contract for an ASW missile tailored for the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System. It was called the VLS ASROC but started almost from scratch and experienced significant delays, only appearing by 1993. In between Goodyear Aerospace was purchased by Loral Corporation in 1986 and ended with Lockheed Martin in 1995. Block I was a modified RUR-5 ASROC with upgraded solid-fuel booster section and digital guidance system to carry the Mark 46 homing torpedo. 450 were produced by 2007.
From 1996, it was replaced by the RUM-139A and later the RUM-139B. The proposed Mark 50lightweight torpedo was proposed but canceled.
In October 2004, the RUM-139C arrived with the Mark 54 torpedo Mod 0, fully operational in 2010.

⚙ specs. ASROC RUM-139
Weight	1,409 lb (639 kg)
Dimensions	15 ft (4.5 m) x 1 ft 2 in (0.36 m) x 2 ft 3.4 in (0.69 m)
Propulsion	Two-stage solid-fuel rocket
Speed	Mach 1 (309 m/s; 1013 ft/s)
Range	11.8 or 12 nm or 22 kilometers (24,000 yd)
Guidance	sInertial guidance/Mk 210 Digital Autopilot Control subsystem
Payload	Mark 46 Mod 5/5A Homing Torpedo, see notes

5-in/54 Mark 45 Mod 0

Design from 1968, introduced in 1971 as the Spruance entered service. Fully automated instead of the previous weapon system, so it was much smaller and lighter but fired faster and more accurately. There were two, one for and aft on the Ticonderoga class, not modernized apart for the fire control sytem over the years.

⚙ specifications 5-in/54 Mark 45 Mod 0
Weight	21,691 kg (47,820.5 lb)
Barrel length	8.992 m (29 ft 6.0 in) long.
Elevation/Traverse	−15° to +65° at 20°/s, traverse ±170° from centerline at 30°/s
Loading system	Barillet
Range	13 nmi (24.1 km)
Guidance	Radar
Crew	Automated
Round	Shell 127 x 835mm (54 caliber) .R 31.75 kg (70.0 lb)
Rate of Fire	16–20 rounds per minute, automatic 2,500 ft/s (760 m/s)

Phalanx Mark 15

Read more

324mm Mark 32 TTs

Each Ticonderoga class had two triple 2,230 lb (1,010 kg) launchers mounted on either beam, not on deck but internally in the hull, with a sliding panel protecting them. They were located at the level of the helideck. When the Ticonderoga class were active, these were the Mark 46 mod 5 and later 5A homing torpedoes that were provided. They were shared with the RUM-139 VL-ASROC.

⚙ specs. 324mm Mark 48 TTs/Mark 46 mod 5 Torpedo
Weight	508 lb (230 kg)
Dimensions	8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) x 12.75 in (323.8 mm)
Propulsion	2-speed, recip. ext. combustion, Otto fuel II
Range/speed setting	12,000 yd (11,000 m) at 40 kn (74 km/h; 46 mph)
Warhead	PBXN-103 high explosive 96.8 lb (43.9 kg)
Max depth	1,200 ft (370 m)
Guidance	Active or passive/active acoustic homing

Sensors

The first two ships (CG47, 48) came out with the following suite:

SPS-64(v)9

Mariners Pathfinder navigation radar. The (V)9 jad a six-foot X-band antenna and 20 kW transmitter, one 12-inch display. Frequency 9 375 ± 25 MHz in X-band, 3 030 ± 25 MHz in S band. PRF 900, 1800, 3600 Hz, pulsewidth 0.06, 0.5, 1 µs on PP 10-60 kW range 64 nm (118 km) beamwidth from 0.7° to 1.9°, 33 rpm.

AN/SPS-55

Surface-search model working on I band (9.05 to 10.0 GHz) with a +50 nm (92.6 km) range, Azimuth 1.5º, Elevation -10° to +10°, PP 130-160 kW.

SPS-49(v)6.7.8

Complementary 24 ft (7.3 m) × 14 ft 3 in (7.3 m × 4.3 m) model for the Aegis system, 2D Air-search. Frequency L band 851–942 MHz, Range 3 nmi (5.6 km) to 256 nmi (474 km) (49A(V)1) more on the V6/7/8* Altitude 150,000 ft (45,720 m), 360° Prec 1/16 nmi range 0.5 deg azimuth PP 360 kW peak, 13 kW average (V)1.
*V6 Double shielded cables and a modified cooling system (USS Ticonderoga), V7 (V)5 system with (V)6 cooling system of the Aegis combat system and V8 (V)5 system enhanced to include the AEGIS Tracker modification kit.

SPY-1A

3D Air search working on S band at a 370 km (200 nmi; 230 mi) range, 360° azimuth, using Horizon–zenith elevation, for an unprecedented Power of 6 MW. Centra part of the Aegis combat system, first installed in 1973 on USS Norton Sound, in service from 1983 with the SPY-1A on USS Ticonderoga and up to CG-58, 1B upgrade on USS Princeton from 1986 and 1B(V) retrofitted to existing ships until USS Port Royal.
The SPY-1A has four antenna arrays in two separate deckhouses, the forward one having one array front left, and two others on either side. The aft block has just one facing aft. They sthus covers all angles. Each antenna array contains 148 modules and each of the latter containing up to 32 radiating elements and phase shifterse paired to form transmitting and receiving sub-arrays grouped into 32 transmitting and 68 receiving arrays. Each of the transmitting arrays are driven by eight transmitters, each with four crossed-field amplifiers (CFAs). Peak power for each of them is 132 kW for a grand total of 4,096 total radiators, 4,352 receivers, 128 auxiliary elements on each antenna array. Peak Power is 4x one of the AN/SPS-48, and the system is coupled for exploitation with the AN/UYK-7 computer.
On these cruisers, they occupies a two-deck high space on the bridge and aft structures. The exagonal array external covers gave the system away, but htios mades the Ticonderoga’s bridge tall and bulky.
First use was by USS Ticonderoga off the Lebanese coast, and returned a lot of false alarm as it even picked up swarms of insects or just clutter from mountainous terrain. This allowed to modifiy its sensitivity profile by periodically reducing attenuation, setting threat/non-threat sectors depending on the immediate environment. 10% of the software (30,000 lines) were later rewritten to accommodate upgrade. The system was decommissioned in 2003 with the U.S. Navy donated on SPY-1A antenna to the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma. They were all removed in 2016.
They were replaced by the SPY-1B aiming fro increased performance and reduced size and weight and then the SPY-1B(V) from 1997 and SPY-1D first installed on USS Arleigh Burke, but not installed on the “Ticos”. Last upgrade for the class was the still capable AN/SPY-1B(V) upgrade for the -1B, retrofitted on all ships in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

AN/SPQ-9A search/fire control radar

Initially tested on the USS Norton Sound (AVM-1), deployed on the Spruance and Kidd, Arleigh Burke-class and Ticonderoga-class among others. Worked with X band (8-12 GHz) for a Range of 150 yds (137 m) to 20 nm (37 km) at a peak power of 1.2 kW

Four AN/SPG-62 fire control radars

Classic dish-plate types installed on the first two ships to guide the SM Standard SAMs. Frequency 8–12 GHz (X Band), Peak Power 10 kW (average). They are common to all Ticos and the Arleigh Burke class DDs.

Two Mk 90 FC radars

No data

SQS-53A sonar

Computer-controlled surface-ship sonar with both active and passive operating capabilities. Later upgraded to the AN/SQS-53C for direct path ASW search, detection, localization, and tracking. The SQS-53A with its transducer assembly common to the 53B/C makes it the best US Navy sonar, hull-mounted ever. This high-power, long-range system evolved from the AN/SQS-26CX. The SQS-53B is located in a large dome at the bow with higher power and improved signal processing equipment. The analog receivers on the AN/SQS-53A/B were later upgraded to digital uisng COTS processors as SQS-53D.
Power operating from 1 to 10 kilohertz (kHz), range classified. More

SLQ-32(v)3 ECM suite

Shipboard electronic warfare suite from Raytheon Goleta and Hughes Aircraft, primary electronic warfare system nicknamed the “Slick-32”.
The v(3) added antennas with electronic attack capability, to actively jam targeting radars and anti-ship missile terminal guidance radars. Later replaced with (V)6.

4x Mk 36 SRBOC

BAE Systems Super Rapid Bloom Offboard Countermeasures Chaff and Decoy Launching System (SRBOC or “Super-arboc”), short-range decoy launching system for radar or infrared decoys. Two sets of six tubes either beam on upper decks, with reload canisters, manually loaded, launched through Aegis.

6x Hycor Mk 137 decoy RL

Six sets on either beam, rocket launchers fitted each with 6 tubes in the same direction in the azimuth plane in relation to the sailing direction.
More

SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo decoy

Introduced in 1987, towed torpedo decoy comprising the towed decoy device (TB-14A) and shipboard signal generator to defeat wake-homing, acousting-homing, and wire-guided torpedoes. Mounted at the stern of the Ticonderoga class behind a sliding panel.

Aegis Mk 7 Baseline 1 CCS

The large Ticonderoga class CCS with all the operator’s locations.

CG49-51 were upgaded to the SPS-64(v)9 and CG52, 53 had the Aegis Mk 7 Baseline 2 CCS.
CG54 and 55 had the additional SQR-19 sonars, the CG5658: SPS-64(v)9, SPS-55, SPS-49(v)6.7.8, SPY-1A, 4x SPG-62, SPQ-9A, 2x Mk 90 radars, SQQ-89(v)3 sonar suite (SQS-53B + SQR-19 towed array), SLQ-32(v)3 ECM suite, 4x Mk 36 SRBOC or 6x Hycor Mk 137 decoy RL, SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo decoy, Aegis Mk 7 Baseline 2 CCS. From CG59 to CG-64 the SPY-1B was installed, completed with the upgraded Aegis Mk 7 Baseline 3 CCS. They also introduced the SQQ-89(v)3 sonar suite (SQS-53B + SQR-19 towed array).
CG65, 66 and 67 had the SPY-1D(v), same SQQ-89(v)3 sonar suite and in addition the Mk 50 floating decoy system (composed of four Mk 166 launchers for the SLQ-49 floating radar reflection buoys) as well as the latest Aegis Mk 7 Baseline 4 CCS. CG68, 69, 70, 71, 72 and 73 combined the SPY-1D(v), SQQ-89(v) sonar suite, Mk 50 decoy and Aegis Mk 7 Baseline 4 CCS.

Air Group

SH-60B Seahawk

The MH-60R Seahawk is a multi-mission maritime helicopter developed by Sikorsky Aircraft and is primarily used by the United States Navy. It is part of the SH-60 Seahawk family, which is itself a naval variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk. The MH-60R is designed for a wide range of missions, including anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), search and rescue (SAR), naval gunfire support, surveillance, and vertical replenishment (VERTREP).
It carries the AN/APS-153 Multi-Mode Radar, AN/AQS-22 Airborne Low-Frequency Sonar, AN/ALQ-210 Electronic Support Measures (ESM) and Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) system.
Typically equipped with Mark 54 torpedoes for ASW but also AGM-114 Hellfire missiles against surface targets and a crew-served M240 or GAU-21 machine gun.
Crew of 3-4, two pilots, 1-2 sensor operators or rescue swimmers. Capable of 267 km/h (165 mph, 144 knots) and 450 nautical miles or 3.3 hours without refueling.
It coukd deploy sonobuoys for submarine detection and combined this with advanced communication and data link systems for network-centric warfare. It could relay for example the flight of Tomahwak missiles beyond the horizon.

They are both contained in a hangar with narrow door, and launched or retrieved from the small helideck aft of the hangar, between the main structure and aft VLS/main gun, making it a tricky and small spot to land on in heavy weather.

Upgrades

To come in a 2025 update

General Evaluation of the type

Triplets at Philadelphia NyD – from USNI.org

These ships are waiting to be broken up and recycled. These are the USS Thomas S. Gates (CG-51), USS Ticonderoga (CG-47), and USS Yorktown (CG-48), spotted at Philadelphia NyD.
The first ships in the US Navy to feature AEGIS, now adopted by a collection of destroyers in many navies, including Japan, Spain, South Korea, Australia, and Norway. Most of the time it was fitted on destroyers, since Frigates seems too small to house it, until recently. Recognisable by a massive structure on top of which was placed the bridge in general, it is only betrayed by a few internal antennae protections on the front and sides of the “box”. AEGIS is, of course, one of the most famous late cold war American integrated naval weapons system, developed by the Missile and Surface Radar Division of RCA, now produced by Lockheed Martin.
It was capable of coordinating the detection of 200 targets simultaneously, including from other ships and either subs, aircraft, missiles or ships, and guiding the appropriate weaponry to targets, or activate ECM and counter-measures. Before that, it needs to be recalled that there was already a failed attempt in 1958, with the Typhoon Combat System, but tracking was only possible at any given time by dedicated radars, so few targets. It was theorized in 1970 and the EDM-1 tested on the USS Norton Sound, in 1973.

In fact, after this system was adopted, Soviet saturation attacks planned on American task forces were no longer possible. This was not an acronym but referred as the name of the shield used by the god Zeus in Greek Mythology. It is difficult to believe this system is already 30+ years old: The Ticonderoga class cruisers, yet of the size of the Spruance class DDs of but higher tonnage, were 28 ships delivered from 1981 to 1992. Now superseded by the Arleigh Burke, they are pending disposal and to be broken up in the following years. “Aegis” became almost a brand, sometimes far away from the original concept, and local declinations. The Chinese for example designed a similar system sometimes called the “chinese AEGIS” by some authors, used by their Type 052C and Type 052D destroyers. Even the Admiral Gorshkov class frigates seems to use a Russian version of it, called the Poliment Redut.

⚙ USS Ticonderoga Batch I specifications
Displacement	c9,600 long tons (9,800 t) full load
Dimensions	567 x 55 x 34 ft (173 x 16.8 x 10.2 meters)
Propulsion	2× shafts CRP props, 4x General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines, 2× rudders
Speed	32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range	6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h)
Armament	2× Mk 26 SAM (68 RIM-66 SM-2 +20 RUR-5 ASROC), 2×4 × RGM-84 Harpoon, 2× 5 in/54, 2× HMGs, 2× Phalanx CIWS, 2×3 Mk 32 TTs
Protection	Kevlar in CCS, plus AN/SLQ-32 RW suite, Mark 36 SRBOC, AN/SLQ-25 Nixie
Sensors	AN/SPY-1A, AN/SPS-49, AN/SPG-62, AN/SPQ-9, see notes
Air Group	2 × MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS Mk III helicopters
Crew	30 officers + 300 enlisted

Career of the Ticonderoga class

USS Ticonderoga in 1983
She was built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, laid down on 21 January 1980, launched on 25 April 1981 and completed on 22 January 1983, as lead ship. She was decommissioned on 30 September 2004 after 21 years, 252 days of service.
She first sailed to her new homeport of Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, after commissioning in Pascagoula and started with exercises in the Caribbean/Atlantic. She was deployed on 20 October to the Mediterranean, USS Independence carrier strike group and stopping at Portsmouth. She was soon seen in action on the coast of Beirut after the terrorist attack on a U.S. Marine barracks on 23 October 1983. She stayed there for 48 days on station, firing her 5-inch guns at located artillery units which tried to shot down F-14 Tomcat fighters in reconnaissance. She stopped for R&R at Haifa, and was back to Norfolk on 4 May 1984.
On 8 September 1984 while in exercises off Mayport she had a fire in her main engine exhaust uptake, later put down.
On 23 March 1986, she took part in the Freedom of Navigation exercise in the Gulf of Sidra and passed Ghaddafi’s “Line of Death” covered by fighters and attacked by aircraft. With her Aegis system used in anger for the first time she destroyed several Libyan patrol boats and would later be awarded a 2nd Navy Unit Commendation and Navy Expeditionary Medal after Lebanon 1983. She took part as flagship in joint strikes on 15 April, awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.
She took part in the Persian Gulf Operation Earnest Will later and Gulf war. By the late 1990s she was based at Pascagoula, Mississippi for Commander, Naval Surface Forces Atlantic’s Western Hemisphere Group. She operated from 20 April 2001 to 28 August 2001 in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific and from 10 March 2004 to 4 August 2004 in the Caribbean
Final deployment wa smade on 3 August 2004, visiting Cozumel, Mexico, Colon and Mayport on 1-9 Apriln Guantánamo Bay and Cartagena in Colombia, Vasco Núñez de Balboa in Panama as well as Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala in May, then stayed for counter-narcotics operations with Colombian military authorities in June. She interceted five “go-fast” smuggling boats and a suspicious fishing vessel seizing 14,000 pounds of cocaine. She was decommissioned on 30 September, towed to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, by 2010 offered for museum donation but not enough funds were secured so by May 2013, she was formally stricken for disposal. By September 2020 she was scrapped in Brownsville, Texas.

She was laid down Ingalls Shipbuilding on 19 October 1981, launched on 17 January 1983 and completed on 4 July 1984. Decommissioned on 10 December 2004 (20 years, 159 day service), scrapped. USS Yorktown’s first deployment started in August 1985 until April 1986, taking part in the Achille Lauro hijacker intercept, two Black Sea excursions (second in 1988) and Libyan coast Operations El Dorado Canyon, Attain Document and Prairie Fire.

In 1987 she was awarded the Atlantic Fleet’s “Top Gun” award for gunfire support. On her second deployment from September 1987 to March 1988 she took part in many US and NATO exercises and gained international attention during her Mediterranean deployment for her Black Sea Freedom of Navigation program. On 12 February 1988, while in Soviet territorial waters she was closed and rammed by the Krivak-class Frigate Bezzavetnyy. Ass. Sec.MoD Richard L. Armitage acknowledged the transit was not operationally necessary but still of a valid innocent passage under international law (albeit in contested waters).
In 1991, Yorktown won the “Old Crow’s” award for electronic warfare excellence and in 1992 Yorktown the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for combat readiness. Her 3d and 4th Mediterranean deployments saw Operation Desert Storm. She trained for the first time with ex-WaPac Romanian and Bulgarian navies and took part in Operation Provide Comfort, humanitarian relief to Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq. She also took part in her first BALTOPS ’92 later back in northern waters. She visited Severomorsk in Russia, for a first of such visits, and as “open ship” and widly visited by the public.
In 1993 she was an awared for superior safety record and 2 Navy Unit Commendations plus a Meritorious Unit Commendation and 4th “E”.
She became Flagship for Commander Task Group 4.1 for her counter narcotic operation in the Caribbean by May–July 1993 and in August 1993, Ex. Solid Stance, North Atlantic. October–November excursion saw her taking part in the embargo of Haiti. In April–May 1994 this was Ex. Agile Provider as flagship DesRon 6, 26 missile exercise. She also won 101 for naval gunfire. By August 1994 she sailed to the Adriatic Sea as flagship Comdr. Atlantic, UN embargo on Yugoslavia over 6 month. She was the Air Warfare Commander, Adriatic over the US and eight European nations. May–June 1995 saw her as Air Warfare Commander, Caribbean, counter-narcotics.
1996 saw an overhaul.
In May 1997 USS Yorktown completed another 5-month counter-narcotic deployment with USS George Washington and CruDesGp 2. NAVMAC conducted a detailed review of manpower requirements compared to operational capabilities, to reassess the entire Ticonderoga-class.
On 21 September 1997, she had a computer network crash, and lost all power*. 25 September 1999 saw a new 4-month counter-narcotics. She carried the Second Fleet staff serveying islands potentially used by the cartels. She was also the last US warship transiting the Panama Canal prior to it transfer to the country of Panama.
She was decommissioned and stricken on 10 December 2004, berthed at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia until 16 September 2022, sent to Brownsville, arriving on 29 November 2022 for scrapping.
*”smart ship” testbed program 1996. She carried 27 dual 200 MHz Pentium Pro-based machines on Winsows NT 4.0 communicating with fiber-optic cable coupled with a Pentium Pro-based server to test a new network and run all integrated control center on the bridge, and monitor the entire ship. It was predicted to save $2.8 million per year by reducing complement by 10%. A zero entered into a database field caused a full crash. She was or was not towed back to port depending on versions. But the press got the story and the Navy was criticised to choose this operating system…

Ingalls Shipbuilding laid down on 19 October 1982, launched on 14 January 1984; commissioned on 6 July 1985. Decommissioned on 29 June 2005 (19 years, 358 days) and in Scrapped 2011. She started service under Captain George N. Gee and helped test the SM-2 Block II SAM. In May 1986 she took part in RIMPAC 86, coordinating 40 ships from five nations.August 1986 saw her in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean and she was the AAW commander, VBG Carl Vinson/New Jersey off Japan with the JSDMF and RAN, over 46,000 nautical miles from the Bering Sea to the Indian Ocean.
Next she took part in the Iran–Iraq War, protecting shipping in the Persian Gulf and Operation Earnest Will, redeployed from Fleet Exercise 88–2 to San Diego and prepared for a 6-month deployment, protecting the damaged Samuel B. Roberts through Hormuz. By July she guarded the Strait and made 14 Hormuz transits.

She was implicated in the Iran Air Flight 655 incident, on 3 July 1988 under Captain Will Rogers III while on patrol, reported gunboats attacks by Iranian Revolutionary Guard on a Pakistani merchant vessel, sending her helicopters to investigate. On of these came under gunfire from the Iranians. She ship was turned around and to join the frigate Elmer Montgomery and intercept the gunboats, but crossing into Iranian waters. Both ships commenced firing on the gunboats, sinking two, damaging another.
Tracking aircraft area becam confusing and one operator isidentified the Iran Air Airbus A300 civilian airliner Iran Air Flight 655 (IR655) for an attacking F-14 Tomcat due to unrecoignised IFF transponder, radio challenges and engagement. At 10:24 a.m two SM-2MR were fired and shoot down the airliner over Iranian airspace, 290 souls killed to international outrage.

In February 1990, USS Vincennes made a 3rd 6-month WestPac, coordinating all battle group air events and as flagship for Harpoon-Ex-90. From August 1991 she amde a 4th WestPac with CBG Independence, flag, Battle Group Delta, MERCUBEX 91 with Singapore, bilateral exercise Valiant Blitz (ROKN) Annualex 03G with the Japanese, ASWEX 92-1K (ROKN again) and R&R in Hong Kong plus as representative for Navy Day and back home 21 December 1991.
In June 1994, she departed for her 5th WestPac, Kitty Hawk CBG, PASSEX 94–2 with Japan, MERCUB 94–2 with Singapore, Keen Edge with Japan, Tandem Thrust and back on 22 December 1994.
In August she was homeported to Yokosuka, taking art in Exercise Valiant Usher 98–1 with the ABG Belleau Wood and HMAS Perth. She took part in Fleet Battle Experiment Delta from 24 October to 2 November 1998, and exercise Foal Eagle off South Korea. On 12 August 2000, she was in Sharem 134 with Japan. In mid-November 2000, she made live fire on drones off Okinawa at MISSILEX 01–1.
23-27 August 2001 saw her in Multi-Sail exercise. On 17 September 2001 she departed for the middle east and Operation Enduring Freedom, back on on 18 December 2001 after 3 months.
In March 2003, she took the head of DesRon 15. She was not retrofitted with the Mark 41 VLS (not funded) and like her 5 batch I-II sisters she was decommissioned, stricken on 29 June 2005 at San Diego, mothballed at Kitsap, Bremerton and by 9 July 2010 contracted for scrapping in Brownsville, Texas, completed on 23 November 2011.

Ingalls Shipbuilding, laid down 14 April 1983, launched on 23 June 1984, commissioned on 18 January 1986. At the 1986 RIMPAC naval exercise, she acted as plane guard for USS Ranger. She took part in Operation Desert Storm with the USS Ranger Carrier battle group (CBG) and as Anti-Air warfare commander in the gulf, identified as “Bravo Zulu AAWC”.
In March 2003, she was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 21. She was decommissioned on 30 August 2004, 18 years, 225 days at San Diego Naval Station, first Aegis ship so withdrawn from service. She was sunk on 2 November 2006 as target at the test range near Kauai, Hawaii.

She was built at Bath Iron Works, laid down on 31 August 1984, launched on 14 December 1985; commissioned on 22 August 1987 with Captain Robert Sutton in command. Her maiden deployment from 31 May 1989 to 10 November 1989 was in the Mediterranean Sea with USS Coral Sea CBG. She took part in Operation National Week on 10–19 June 1989 at Augusta Bay in Sicily and stopped at Majorca and Toulon, then sailed to the eastern Med. to İzmir for Exercise Demon Jazz 89 late july, visited Istanbul and carried the Deputy CiC if U.S. Naval Forces Europe for a cruise in the Black Sea on 3–4 August with USS Kauffman. She visited Sevastopol on 4–8 August and back to Istanbul.
She was present for the crisis in Lebanon as flagship with the cruiser Belknap, and Coral Sea/America CBGs off Beirut. She had maintenance in Toulon in September and took part in NATO Display Determination 89 and later Exercise National Week in October, relieved by USS Yorktown at Pollensa Bay in Majorca for the 2d Fleet and back to Norfolk on 10 November 1989.
In 1990 (15 August 1990 – 28 March 1991) she took part in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
The first under RADM Riley D. Mixson, USS John F. Kennedy CBG in August. On 1 September she however has a gas turbine issue and was repaired in Augusta Bay, Sicily in Septembe, then sailed to Port Said, Suez Canal to join TG 150.5 in the Red Sea, Straits of Tiran, for airborne maritime interdiction and later “Gate Guard” in the Gulf of Suez. Later she visited Naples, İzmir and Haifa, Souda Bay and bacl to the Red Sea and CTG 150.5. She also took part in three exercises with RAF in December and had R&R in Jeddah, then Desert Shield operations and ASW ex. Operation Camelot 91. She acted as Red Crown Coordinator for John F. Kennedy, Saratoga and America CBGs. She was later stationed in the Gulf of Aqaba. She was bac to Norfolk on 28 March.

She made another 6th fleet Med TOD from 6 May to 6 November 1992 with USS Biddle and USS Comte de Grasse, CBG Saratoga and Exercise Dasix Lafayette 92-1 among others, Eclipse Bravo on 21–28 June. She visited Villefranche-sur-Mer, the Gulf of Lyon and Monaco and sent to the Adriatic as AAW Cmdr TF 61 for Operation Provide Promise from July to September. Her helicopters searched for an Italian humaniatrian helicopter crashed in former Yugoslavia. She was at Display Determination 92 and assisted the Turkish destroyer Muavenet after she had been hit by a missile.
Next she was at Exercise Dasix Lafayette 92-2 and headed for home, arriving on 6 November.
She made another deployment from 20 May 1994 to 17 Nov 1994 in George Washington CBG, and was present at the 50th anniversary of D-Day off Normandy. Later she was in the Adriatic as “Red Crown” for Operations Sharp Guard, Deny Flight and Provide Promise. She had engines repairs in Augusta Bay in July 1994. In August she was the 50th anniversary of the Provence landings. Later she proceeded to the Northern Persian Gulf for Operation Southern Watch and back in the Med, NATO Exercise Dynamic Guard 94 plus “Red Crown” in the Adriatic and bacl to Norfolk. I will be brief for the next deployments:
29 April 1997 to 27 October 1997: Exercise Linked Seas (May), Exercise INVITEX 97 (30 June – 18 July), conference in Romanian and Greece, Exercise Rescue Eagle 97 (17–18 August 1997), Black Sea.
Exercise Strong Tarpon (September).
25 September 1999: Assistance to USCG Resolute boaridng the suspect merchant vessel Love, later sank as a hazard to navigation.
3 June 2002: Counter-drug ops in the eastern Pacific, 3-months.
March 2003: homeported at Pascagoula, DesRon 6.
21 March 2004: Met the RCCL cruise ship Celebrity Summit with an USCG Enforcement Detachment boarding team to catch Jose Miguel Battle, Jr. suspected organized crime boss. AAW for USS Ronald Reagan, Strait of Magellan. Transisted the first via Smyth Channel. Back on 2 August 2004.
She was decommissioned on 15 December 2005, stricken after 18 years, 116 days, and Scrapped 2017.

Ingalls Shipbuilding laid down on 11 January 1984, launched 11 March 1985, commissioned on 20 September 1986. Commissioned in Charlestown, entered the Pacific via Panama adn joined the 7th Fleet from July 1987, a year ahead of schedule. In short: READIEX 87-5 with Battle Group Sierra CruDiv Group 1 and battleship USS Missouri, cruiser Long Beach (Task Group 30.7). Became AAW Coordinator for TG 70.10 sailing for the North Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. Patrolled the Strait of Hormuz.
August 1988: Homeported to Yokosuka, Midway CBG, 4 months, earned a Meritorious Unit Commendation and Battle Efficiency Award “E”.
November 1990: Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm as multinational AAWC, first to launch a Tomahawk on Iraq. Operation Southern Watch and visited Vladivostok in 1993, then Qingdao.
March 1996, 3rd Taiwan Strait Crisis, station south of Taiwan. July 1998, HP San Diego. Late 2000, joined the Abraham Lincoln CBG, Operation Southern Watch and joined the Tarawa ARG off Kuwait and Bahrain, back home February 2001. Six times Persian Gulf deployment, awared 15 “E” Awards.
March 2003: Flag of Cruiser-Destroyer Group 3, Operation Iraqi Freedom.
December 2004, same command of ESG-5 Middle East. Humanitarian aid mission in Indonesia. 5th Fleet, CTF-150 off Oman. Back San Diego May 2005.
March 2006 first slated to receive the Aegis upgrade. January 2007, off Somalia, anti-terrorist operations with CBG Dwight D. Eisenhower, earned a Meritorious Unit Citation.
28 February 2008, 6yh Battle “E”. From 1 October 2009, assigned to Carrier Strike Group One, flagship USS Carl Vinson.
January 2010, Haiti, disaster relief after earthquake. February 2011 defeated a pirate attack in the Gulf of Oman. 2011–2012, Carrier Strike Group One. 22 October 2012 DSRA maintenance period, San Diego. October 2017, Carrier Strike Group 9, WestPac/Persian Gulf. No records afterwards. Decommissioned on 22 September 2023 after 37 years, 2 days at Bremerton, WA (formerly San Diego); sent to Reserve Fleet, extant 2024.

USS Mobile Bay was built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, laid down on 6 June 1984, launched on 22 August 1985; commissioned on 21 February 1987. U.S. Atlantic Fleet, HP Mayport, Florida, March 1987. Maiden deployment 11 May 1988, operations Gulf of Oman. June 1990 HP Yokosuka. August 1990, Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. First AAWC to control a four-carrier Task Force and launched 22 Tomahawk missiles, and acted as Battle Force Anti-Surface Warfare Commander, destroyed the Iraqi fleet and directed carrier-launched attacks, destroying 38 Iraqi naval vessels.
February 1991: Detected SCUD missile launches, engaged by Patriot Batteries. May 1991, Subic Bay, Philippines for Operation Fiery Vigil (Mount Pinatubo evacuation). December 1991: Spring 1992 Persian Gulf deployment. Persian Gulf AAWC and Operation Southern Watch. ANNUALEX-92 with the JSDMF. SPRING TRAINING-93 off Australia and visited Vladivostok in September 1993 with sister USS Bunker Hill.
East Timor, INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce until October 1999. March 2003: Assigned to Cruiser-Destroyer Group 5. 2003 invasion of Iraq (17 June to 17 December 2004), awarded the Iraq Campaign Medal. 2006,: WestPac and AAWC for the Abraham Lincoln CSG. 16 February 2007, awarded her first “E”. 10-month overhaul from early 2010. 8 April 2011: “unsatisfactory” grade in INSURV inspection mostly due to propulsion, issues, fixes and inspection passed by June 2011. Deployments 2011 and 2012 with USS John C Stennis, awarded Battle E and Spokane Award.
December 2020, planned to be placed Out of Commission, Reserve 2023. Tokyo Bay May 2022, Carrier Strike Group 3, USS Abraham Lincoln, RIMPAC 2022. Decommissioned on 10 August 2023, after 36 years, 179 days. Bremerton, WA (formerly San Diego) Reserve Fleet, Extant.

Ingalls Shipbuilding, laid down 15 November 1984, launched on 14 February 1986 and completed on 6 June 1987. Took part in Operation Desert Shield, with the USS Independence Battlegroup. March 2003, assigned to Carrier Group Three, homeport San Diego. From February to August 2005, circumnavigation.January to August 2007 Persian Gulf Ops. 2009, six-month deployment in Asia.
February 2013 she relieved Cowpens in Yokosuka with the two crews swapped ships. New HP Yokosuka. 31 January 2017 she ran aground in Tokyo Bay, off Yokosuka. Damage to both propellers and one propeller hub. Large hydraulic oil to leak. Repairs estimated $4.2 million. 22 October 2018, Taiwan Strait with USS Curtis Wilbur. 24–25 July 2019, Taiwan Strait again. 19–20 September 2019 same. Was shadowned by a PLAN WZ-7 HALE drone and Shenyang J-11 fighters with summations as she was declared inside Chiense waters.
December 2020 the Congress announced she was to be placed Out of Commission and Reserve by 2024.
From May 2022, was in Carrier Strike Group 5, USS Ronald Reagan. 28 August 2022, routine cruise in Taiwan strait with USS Chancellorsville, first such transit after 2022 visit by Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. 25 June 2023, visited Vietnam, Tien Sa port, Da Nang, until 30 June. 5 February 2024 replaced by USS McCampbell (DDG 85), HP Pearl Harbor. She was decommissioned on 27 September 2024, today based in Pearl Harbor, active.

Ingalls Shipbuilding, laid down on 18 March 1985, launched on 20 June 1986 and commissioned on 26 September 1987. 14 October 1996: She collided with USS Theodore Roosevelt while off the coast of North Carolina as the latter reversed her engines without informing Leyte Gulf, just behind. She slammed into her bow. No casualties, $2 million damage repairs. In 2002, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award, Atlantic Fleet. Late 1992 she was assigned to Carrier Group 2. March 2003 Carrier Group Eight. 15 September 2007 she had a fire during modernization program in BAE Systems Shipyard Norfolk. Five shipyard workers were injured.
February 2011, she intervened after Somali pirates captured the US yacht Quest. Total she captured 75 Somali pirates and launched missile strikes against the Libyan government. January 2015 she was back after a 6 month deployment, as flagship, Standing NATO Maritime Group 2. August 2022 saw her again in the Mediterranean back on 09 June 2023.
29 January 2024 started a new deployment in the Atlantic and Med, until 17 May 2024. Final deployment before decommissioning. However on March 21, 2024 she captured a narco-submarine 150 miles off the coast of Guyana (5,225 pounds of cocaine aboard). She is scheduled to be decommissioned on 27 September 2024, today based at Norfolk, VA, In active service. This is recent history indeed.

Laid down at Ingalls on 24 July 1985, launched on 14 November 1986 and completed on 23 January 1988. She was deployed to the Mediterranean late May 1989, back in November. While off the Virginia coast they learned about the invasion of Kuwait. She sailed to Mayport and was prepared in Norfolk, for her deployment for CINCLANT which gathered an armada. She sailed with her sister USS Philippine Sea and the USS America and John F. Kennedy CBGs. She fired the first Tomahawk missiles strikes of Operation Desert Storm, 16 missiles in 43-day of a full load of 122 missiles. She also boarded dozens of ships in the Red Sea.
Her 2000-2001 deployment was with Carrier Group Two.
On 26 May 2010, her VBSS team rescued five Yemenis hostages from 13 pirates. By 13 October 2012 she had a collision with the submarine USS Montpelier off northeastern Florida. Her sonar dome was repaired in drydock and she missed Carrier Strike Group 10 (Harry S. Truman) sailing in the Persian Gulf. Damage was worht $11 million.
In 2020, she was with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) CBG, for 160 consecutive days at sea and later was deployed in Cape Verde to help Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab fleeing.
In December 2020 Congress Annual Long-Range Plan planned her decommission FY2022. San Jacinto however was retained. By the summer of 2022 she operated with Carrier Strike Group 8 (USS Harry S. Truman), Mediterranean. She was formally was decommissioned on 15 September 2023 after 35 years, 235 days. Today in Philadelphia, Reserve Fleet. Extant.

Laid down in Ingalls Shipbuilding, 3 March 1986, launched on 3 April 1987, commissioned 12 August 1988. While underway to HP San Diego via Cape Horn, she had her hurricane bulwark destroyed in heavy seas. Her first deployment was in the Persian Gulf with Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. On 25 January 1990 (northern Philippine Sea) she rescued 14 sailors from MV Huazhu and in 1991 helped to evacuate civilians in the Mount Pinatubo eruption. Wit Carrier Group One she made 17 major deployments.
On 10 November 2007 in routine maintenance at San Diego dry dock she suffered an accidental explosion, injuring six workers, due to flammable gases inside the fuel-tank compartment. The OSHA investigation implied the contractor NASSCO committed seven serious safety violations and two minor safety violations. The inspector filed a lawsuit against the company later, after pressure to not report these. On 9 May 2017, she had a collision with a 70ft South Korean fishing vessel, port side. No injuries. The fishing vessel had no radio. She survived and went back home. USS Lake Champlain was decommissioned on 1 September 2023, after 35 years, 20 days; today at Bremerton, WA, formerly San Diego, Decommissioned, Reserve Fleet.

USS Philippine Sea was laid down at Bath Iron Works on 8 April 1986, launched on 12 July 1987, commissioned on 18 March 1989. She was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet HP Portland, Maine and later Naval Station Mayport, Florida. No logs for 1990-2003. From 2003 she joined Cruiser-Destroyer Group 12. In 2010 she failed her INSURV inspection. 7 May 2011, she left Mayport to join the 5th Fleet and 6th Fleet and on 3 June 2011, visited Kiel, Germany, before BALTOPS-2011. On 6 July 2011, she rescued 26 Filipino crew from the supertanker Brillante Virtuoso off Aden, after a pirate attack using RPG. She then transited the Suez Canal on 1 July, and cremated remains of Neil Armstrong (a former US Navy pilot) on 14 September 2012 in the Atlantic as he wished.
From 23 September 2014, USS Philippine Sea fired Tomahawks in Syria against ISIS targets notably near Raqqa. She was part of USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group. May 2021 saw her homeported to Norfolk, Virginia.
On 14 October 2023 Lloyd Austin directed her with three DDs and carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean after Hamas attacks. This group was added to Gerald R. Ford’s group dispatched six days earlier. She so taked part in the current United States–Houthi conflict. On 12 January 2024, with the DDs Mason and Gravely, she fired Tomahawks at Houthi rebel launche sites. Carrier Air Wing 3 (Dwight D. Eisenhower ) took part in these and the cruiser acted as coordinator. She was proposed for decommission in 2025, and is today at Norfolk, VA, active service.

Laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding laid down on 15 October 1986, launched on 2 October 1987 and completed on 11 February 1989. She was home-ported at NS Long Beach. In 1990, she was the flagship for the first US Navy visit to Vladivostok, with USS Reuben James. She she joined USS Ranger Battle Group in the Persian Gulf. On 18 February 1991 in Operation Desert Storm, while 28 nautical miles (52 km) off Failaka Island, guarding the USMC naval invasion forces, at 7:15 AM local time she hit two Italian-made MN103 Manta bottom-mounted influence mines provided to the Iraqis prior the war. One exploded under her port rudder, the other forward of her starboard bow, causing a “sympathetic detonation” while blasts cracking the superstructure and buckling her hull, jamming her port rudder, and flooded a switchboard room through cracked water pipes. Her starboard propeller shaft was also damaged. She had 3 sailored injured, one seriously. However her AEGIS system were back online in 15 minutes and she continued operations, assisted by HMCS Athabaskan, delivering damage-control supplies. She stayed there 31 hours until relieved.
USS Princeton was later guided through the minefield by the minesweeper Adroit and had short repairs in Bahrain, then Jebel Ali near Dubai with the tender USS Acadia, and in Dubai drydock for eight weeks, Princeton then additional repairs in the US.
Later she was HP San Diego, overhauled 1999-2000 and in 2003, sailed with Carrier Strike Group Three. On November 2004 she was involved in the UFO “tictac incident” vectoring F/A-18F fighters from Nimitz. This was disclosed on December 2017 and still the footage is the object of controversy.
On 21 July 2005, she assisted the Iranian dhow Hamid which batteries were dead. In 2005 she escorted Carrier Strike Group 11 (USS Nimitz) and was featured in the documentary Carrier. She was in the Persian Gulf when during the documentary a sailor fell overboard, never found. By September 2010, Princeton she rescue hostages on the pirated MV Magellan Star, Gulf of Aden. She was proposed for decommission in 2026 but is stillactive today.

USS Normandy was laid down at Bath Iron Works 7 April 1987, launched on 19 March 1988, completed 9 December 1989. She sailed on 28 December 1990 to join Desert Shield and Desert Storm with USS America Battle Group, via the Suez Canal, Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. She fired 26 Tomahawks and provided maritime interdiction.
On 8 May 1990, she assisted USS Conyngham after a severe fire off the coast of Virginia. Fire crews were transferred from Normandy via small boats, instrumental in extinguishing the fire.
From 11 August 1995 still with USS America CBG she was in the Adriatic for a blockade of ex-Yugoslavia as air-space controller for Operations Provide Promise, Deny Flight, Sharp Guard.
On 18 May 1994 she carried veterans for a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Nprmandy landings a special responsibility given her name. She was prepared on Portsmouth until 31 May, then Le Havre, France toured by more than 15,000 visitors with an honor guard assisting WW2 D-Day landings veterans for various memorial services and events, notably the commemorations at Slapton Sands with U.S. Ambassador Crowe and later President Bill Clinton.
On 27 June 1994 she was at the NS New York closing ceremonies in Staten Island, and left for Norfolk. Next she took part in Operation Deliberate Force from 28 August 1995 in the Mediterranean with USS America. On 8 September she proceeded to the Adriatic, making 1,600 nautical miles (2,960 km) at top speed. She lanched 13 Tomahawks in Lisina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Banja Luka. The new Block-III models were praised for their accuracy against Bosnian Serbs.
Next she took part in Exercise Bright Star and Operation Southern Watch in another 6-month deployment, as Air Defense Commander, USS George Washington CBG. Exercise Bright Star was held off the Egyptian coast. Souther Watch was in the Persian Gulf from 16 November, joining the Nimitz CBG. She conducted several maritime-interception operations, maded 27 RAS and sailed for 48,000 miles (77,000 km). Pop singer Paula Cole was heliboarded on 23 December for a special Christmas assisted by CNO Admiral Jay L. Johnson and family. Later John C. Stennis CBG relieved them. Normandy had later a major overhaul.
On 21 June 2000 she was deployed in the Med with USS George Washington CBG. On 20 June 2002, the same, back on December 2002. In 2003 she was assigned to Cruiser-Destroyer Group 2. On 25 March 2005, she escorted the USS Kearsarge ESG in the Northern Persian Gulf, back in October 2005. In April 2007 she made a 7-month NATO cruise and awarded the NATO Medal. She made a circumnavigation of Africa whe back. On 13 January 2010 she assisted efforts after the Haiti earthquake. On 20 May 2010 she sailed for the Persian Gulf for a 7-month deployment, back on 12 December 2010.
In 2012, she was in the Baltic Sea for BaltOps 2012 and FRUKUS 2012. On 20 April 2015 she escorted USS Theodore Roosevelt off the coast of Yemen to intercept smugglers to Houthi rebels.
On 9 February 2020 she captured a stateless dhow with 358 Iranian SAMs aboard. On 8 October 2023 with the Hamas attack on Israel, she scorted USS Gerald R. Ford in the Eastern Mediterranean with the Arleigh Burke class USS Ramage, Carney, Roosevelt and Thomas Hudner. She was back on 24 January 2024 after 8-months at sea, 262 days, 40 RAS, 670 heli flights of the “Spartans” HSM 70, 393 sorties, 1,132 hours aloft. She was proposed for decommissioned in 2025. Today based in Norfolk, VA, in active service.

Laid down at Bath Iron Works on 19 August 1987, launched on 23 October 1988, commissioned on 16 June 1990. She was decommissioned on 16 September 2022 after 32 years, and 92 days at Philadelphia, PA, Reserve Fleet, extant. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding on 24 June 1987, launched on 15 July 1988 and commissioned on 4 November 1989. Proposed fro decommission in 2026, currently homeported to Yokosuka, Japan, active service, former USS Chancellorsville. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down on Bath Iron Works on 23 December 1987, launched on 11 March 1989 and commissioned on 9 March 1991. She was decommissioned on 27 August 2024 after 33 years, 171 days in Bremerton, WA (formerly San Diego) just sent to the Reserve Fleet. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down at Bath Iron Works on 17 August 1988, launched on 22 July 1989 and completed on 22 June 1991. Proposedfor decommission in 2026, currently in Norfolk, active service. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding on 22 July 1988, launched on 1 September 1989, commissioned on 12 January 1991. She was Proposed for decommission in 2027, currently based in San Diego, active. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding on 20 February 1989, launched on 1 June 1990 and commissioned on 14 September 1991. She was decommissioned on 23 September 2022 after 31 years, 9 days in Philadelphia. Today in the Reserve Fleet. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down at Bath Iron Works on 1 August 1989, launched on 8 September 1990 and commissioned on 18 July 1992. Requested for decommission in 2024, based today in Pearl Harbor, active. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding on 21 August 1989, launched on 2 November 1990 and commissioned on 2 May 1992. She was decommissioned on 22 September 2022 after 30 years, 143 days at Philadelphia, Reserve Fleet. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down on Ingalls Shipbuilding on 30 May 1990, launched on 2 August 1991, commissioned on 14 November 1992. Decommissioned on 28 June 2024 after 31 years, 227 days at Philadelphia, Reserve Fleet. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down at Bath Iron Works on 6 March 1990 launched on 13 July 1991 and commissioned on 10 May 1993. Proposed for decommission in 2025, currently at San Diego, active. To be completed at a later date.

Ingalls Shipbuilding, laid down on 19 November 1990, launched on 10 January 1992, commissioned on 12 June 1993, she was proposed for decommission in 2027, active. To be completed at a later date.

Laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding on 22 April 1991, launched on 13 June 1992 and commissioned on 18 September 1993. Decommissioned on 4 August 2022 after 28 years, 320 days in Philadelphia, Reserve Fleet. To be completed at a later date.

USS Port Royal was built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, laid down on 18 October 1991, launched 20 November 1992 and completed on 9 July 1994. She was decommissioned on 29 September 2022 after 28 years, 82 days of service, now mothballed at Pearl Harbor. To be completed at a later date.

Read More/Src

Books

AEGIS Guided Missile Cruiser by Dennis M. Bailey 1991
Ticonderoga-Class Cruisers (Squadron/Signal Publications 14038)
Ticonderoga-Class Cruisers In Action No. 14038 John Gourley 2017
Ticonderoga Class Cruisers (Classic Warships Publishing 35)
Ticonderoga Class Cruisers Warship Pictorial No. 35 Kurt Greiner 2010

Links

weaponsandwarfare.com/
navypedia.org/ ticonderoga.htm
en.wikipedia.org Ticonderoga-class_cruiser
Aegis_Ballistic_Missile_Defense_System
Aegis_Combat_System
commons.wikimedia.org /Category:Ticonderoga_class_cruiser

Videos

Model Kits

all kits on scalemates.com
On one of those standing out: USS Cowpens CG-63 1998, FlyHawk Model 1:350

3D

Ticonderoga Missile Cruiser by waelXcm on Sketchfab
First published on 03 January 2018