USS San Jacinto (CG-56)

USS San Jacinto (CG-56) was a Ticonderoga-class cruiser in the United States Navy. She is named for the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution.

USS San Jacinto on 6 June 2012
History
United States
NameSan Jacinto
NamesakeBattle of San Jacinto
Ordered20 June 1983
BuilderIngalls Shipbuilding
Laid down24 July 1985
Launched14 November 1986
Commissioned23 January 1988
Decommissioned15 September 2023
HomeportNorfolk, VA
Identification
MottoVictory is Certain
Nickname(s)San Jac
StatusOut of service
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
Armament
Aircraft carried2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

Construction

San Jacinto was laid down on 24 July 1985, by Ingalls Shipbuilding, in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on 11 November 1986, and commissioned 23 January 1988,[1] by then vice-president George H. W. Bush in Houston, Texas.

Service history

She completed her fitting out and work-ups, then deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in late May 1989, returning in November. While San Jacinto and her sister ship Leyte Gulf were underway off the Virginia coast, performing testing of CEC, the Iraqi army invaded and occupied Kuwait. The next day, Leyte Gulf detached and headed back to Mayport, Florida. The day after, San Jacinto returned to her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, to prepare for the massive armada to the Middle East.

After CINCLANT had all their ships provisioned, barely five days later, San Jacinto headed for the Mediterranean. Other ships in the battle group included the cruiser Philippine Sea and the aircraft carriers America and John F. Kennedy.

She fired the opening shots of Operation Desert Storm with the launch of two BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, firing a total of 16 missiles during the 43-day war. She was also the first ship of her class to be deployed with a full load of 122 missiles.[2] While stationed in a search area at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in the Red Sea, her Visit, Boarding, Search & Seizure (VBSS) teams inspected several dozen ships for contraband being smuggled for the Iraqi government.

During her 2000-2001 deployment with Carrier Group Two, she deployed with Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light 42 (HSL-42) Det 8 with two SH-60B Seahawks.[3][4]

On 26 May 2010, San Jacinto's VBSS team rescued five Yemenis hostages from 13 suspected pirates. The master stated his dhow had been under pirate control for one day only. The VBSS team detained the pirates on the dhow without conflict.[5]

On 13 October 2012, San Jacinto was involved in a collision with U.S. nuclear submarine Montpelier off the coast of northeastern Florida.[6] The cruiser suffered damage to her sonar dome.[7] Due to the emergency dry docking, San Jacinto was unable to join Carrier Strike Group Ten and aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman deployment to the Persian Gulf.[8] The cruiser has undergone approximately $11 million in repairs since the accident.[9]

In 2020, San Jacinto and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), while on deployment together, became the first U.S. Navy ships to exceed 160 consecutive days at sea.[10] Later in 2020, San Jacinto was deployed to Cape Verde as a deterrent to any attempts to aid Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab in fleeing the island prior to being extradicted to the U.S. on money-laundering charges.[11]

In December 2020 the U.S. Navy's Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels stated their intention to decommission the ship in Fiscal Year 2022.[12] The Navy formally asked Congress for permission to decommission the ship in the FY2022 budget in July 2021 along with six other cruisers,[13] but Congress only allowed the Navy to retire five cruisers,[14] and the Navy chose to retain San Jacinto. The Navy again asked Congress for permission to retire the ship in the 2023 budget request,[15] and as of June 2022 the budget is still being debated.

On 6 May 2022, San Jacinto conducted an underway replenishment (UNREP) with USNS Supply (T-AOE-6). San Jacinto was a part of Carrier Strike Group 8 led by the USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean Sea.[16]

San Jacinto was decommissioned on 15 September 2023 in a ceremony at her homeport Naval Station Norfolk.[17]

Awards

Notes

  1. Yarnall, Paul R. (12 October 2020). "USS SAN JACINTO (CG 56)". Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  2. Meisner, Arnold (1991). Desert Storm: Sea War. Motorbooks International. pp. 49. ISBN 0-87938-562-6.
  3. Toppan, Andrew (10 March 2003). "World Navies Today: US Navy Aircraft Carriers & Surface Combatants". Hazegray.org. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  4. Curtis A. Utz and Mark L. Evans (July–August 2002). "The Year in Review 2003, Part 2" (PDF). Naval Aviation News. Washington, DC: U.S. Navy. p. 43. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2004. Retrieved 22 August 2010. LAMPS MK III Major Ship Deployments, 2001
  5. "US Ship Rescues Yemeni Mariners From Pirates". navy.mil. 30 May 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  6. "Navy Says Submarine, Aegis Cruiser Collide". The New York Times. Associated Press. 13 October 2012.
  7. Martinez, Luis (13 October 2012). "Navy Sub, Cruiser Collide Off Florida". ABC News. Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012.
  8. American Forces Press Service (6 February 2013). "USS Truman, USS Gettysburg Deployment Delayed". American Forces Press Service. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  9. Reilly, Corinne (17 June 2014). "'Sub, dead ahead!' New Navy report dissects collision at sea". The Virginian-Pilot. Stars and Stripes. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  10. Keating, Chris (3 July 2020). "navy sailor from lycoming county makes history". WNEP-TV. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  11. "Navy Warship's Secret Mission Off West Africa Aims to Help Punish Venezuela". The New York Times. 22 December 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  12. "Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels" (PDF). Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. 9 December 2020. p. 16. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  13. LaGrone, Sam (28 May 2021). "$715B FY22 Defense Budget Cuts $2.8B in 'Legacy' Systems, Reduces Troop Strength". USNI News. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  14. Shelbourne, Mallory (7 December 2021). "New Defense Bill Saves 2 Cruisers, Approves 13 Battle Force Ships; Adds 12 Super Hornets". USNI News. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  15. "Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels for Fiscal Year 2023" (PDF). Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. April 2022. p. 21. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  16. "USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: May 23, 2022". usni.org. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  17. "USS San Jacinto (CG-56) Decommissions, Honoring 35 Years of Service" (Press release). United States Navy. 16 September 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.