USS Ticonderoga to Make Final Deployment Before Decommissioning

Navy NewsStand ^ | 3/10/2004 | Stacey Byington, Naval Station Pascagoula Public Affairs

[BykrBayb]

Story Number: NNS040310-04 Release Date: 3/10/2004 8:58:00 AM

By Stacey Byington, Naval Station Pascagoula Public Affairs

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (NNS) -- USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) will depart its homeport at Naval Station Pascagoula for its final deployment March 10. The ship is scheduled to be decommissioned Sept. 30.

While deployed, the ship will initially conduct counter-drug operations in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and then participate in UNITAS operations off the coast of South America.

UNITAS is an annual series of multinational training exercises and operations conducted by the Navy, Marine Corps, Special Operations and U.S. Coast Guard forces with their counterparts from South and Central American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Although Ticonderoga will not be joining the carrier strike groups currently operating in the Middle East, the ship will be supporting homeland defense, working hand-in-hand with the U.S. Coast Guard. It will be patrolling coastal waters and airspace, standing watch over critical infrastructure, collecting intelligence and intercepting threats to U.S. national security.

Ticonderoga is an Aegis guided-missile cruiser, one of three assigned to Destroyer Squadron 6, homeported at Pascagoula. It is a multi-mission surface combatant capable of supporting carrier strike groups, amphibious forces, operating as a flagship of a surface strike group, or operating independently.

It has a crew of more than 350 men and women, and has the ability to carry out multi-dimensional, multi-threat combat missions. As part of its Aegis weapons arsenal, Ticonderoga is equipped with sophisticated displays and computer systems, and advanced surface-to-air missiles, and is ideally suited to perform duties as "Shield of the Fleet” against a complex and fast-moving air attack of any kind.

Ticonderoga was built in Pascagoula and commissioned in January 1983. It was the world's first surface combatant equipped with the AEGIS combat system, the most sophisticated air defense in the world. During the ship's lifetime, its crews have been involved in major national and international events and several historic NATO exercises.

Ticonderoga is commanded by Cmdr. Glenn W. Zeiders III.

For related news, visit the Naval Station Pascagoula Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/nspascagoula.

001212-N-1012K-501 Pascagoula, Miss. (Dec. 12, 2000) - The guided missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) gets underway from Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., for a scheduled deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class J.B. Keefer. (RELEASED)

[BykrBayb]

020118-N-6153P-001 Atlantic Ocean (Jan. 18, 2002) -- (From lead, in foreground) USS Underwood (FFG 36), USS Ticonderoga (CG 47), USS Carney (DDG 64), USS Sir Winston Churchill (DDG 81), and USS Taylor (FFG 50) steam in a "Ships Parade" formation during Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) 2002. U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Phil Pruitt (RELEASED)

[Blueflag]

HArd to believe the Ticonderoga is old enough to be decomissioned - guess I am too! :-(

[1L]

Moe (on phone): You say there's a dead horse on Ticonderoga street? How do you spell it? Oh, you don't know either. Well, drag it over to First Street.

[Cboldt]

Ticonderoga *bump*

[UB355]

I was at Fort Ticonderoga once. While waiting out a storm to cross the river a stoke of lightning hit the ground 2 feet from my car. A memorable day.

[68skylark]

I thought they just launched that ship! Seems like only yesterday I was reading about it. Gosh, maybe I'm getting older.

[capydick]

My kids had a ball there one rainy while vacationing at Lake George.

[Ronin]

By my reckoning she is only 21 years old. Hard to believe she is ready for mothballs already!

[BykrBayb]

I found several ships named Lawrence. Is this one yours?

USS Lawrence (DDG-4), 1962-1999

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-l/ddg4.htm

[CGVet58]

They "just" did launch the Tico! 20 years is nothing for a warship, almost like asking a 35 year old athlete if his life's over. Ships, notably carriers, have entered SLEPs (service life extension programs) to get more use out of them.

I think this is a disturbing indication that our fleet is shrinking, as it is projected to go from the approx 330 combatants we have today down to 295 or so in the next 15 years - not a good sign.

CGVet58

[BykrBayb]

AG-24 USS Semmes (ex DD-189)?

[nobody_knows]

I was assigned to that ship when I was in the reserves here in Idaho. Pretty good deal really.. Fly out to Florida for the weekend!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I was at Fort Ticonderoga once.

Me, too. I was on the USS Ticonderoga once as well, as a vistor. Me and a group from a major defense contractor north of Boston got a tour when she was in port at the Black Falcon Pier. Pretty kewl.

[OXENinFLA]

I'm sure there will be another vessel that carries this name.

[Lockbar]

[Poohbah]

They "just" did launch the Tico! 20 years is nothing for a warship, almost like asking a 35 year old athlete if his life's over. Ships, notably carriers, have entered SLEPs (service life extension programs) to get more use out of them.

The first flight Ticos (CG 47 through CG 51) have the Mark 26 missile launchers, and are the last ships in the fleet carrying them. These are getting O-L-D (they stopped manufacturing spares in the 1980s), and keeping up the hardware for such a small number of ships is expensive. Unfortunately, they can't be upgraded to the Mk 41 VLS because of weight/moment issues.

[hchutch]

Gee, didn't we recently decomm four (4) vessels with the Mk 26? The Virginia-class CGNs? And who's bright idea was it to NOT make enough spares when making them was cheap?

[Poohbah]

Gee, didn't we recently decomm four (4) vessels with the Mk 26? The Virginia-class CGNs? And who's bright idea was it to NOT make enough spares when making them was cheap?

Not "recently." Those launchers were cannibalized for spares, and those spares have been used up.

As for not making enough spares: blame Congress. The Navy asked for the money in the 1970s and 1980s, and Congress kept deleting the funds.