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]

She was a beauty!

Ship's Motto: Dare to Excel

Did you know she's having a reunion of crew members in New Orleans, July 9-13, 2004? Says so on her official website, http://www.ddg18.dynu.com/

http://www.destroyersonline.com/usndd/ddg18/ has some of her history and contact info for crew members.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/01018.htm has a collection of photos of the ship, and relating to the ship, from various private collections.

[CGVet58]

thank you. if i'm not mistaken, those are the mounts; vice the VLS systems implemented in later ships?

In any case, the Tico I's are still very capable warships; their AEGIS and electronic suites can still serve as the nerve center for a potent TF.

I read a while back (and wish I would have kept the link) about how the drawdown in ship requisitions during the Clint(reas...)on years have really put us behind the eight ball in maintaining, much less improving upon the total number of combatant ships. It's not a question of combat power; when our ships are on scene, few others (and certainly, none of our likely near-future opponents' navies...) can match them. But it does effect readiness - increased deployments in number and duration adversely affect materiel and crew retention.

thanks again for the tech update - I live for this.

CGVet58

Long live the Freep!