USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) underway |
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| Career (US) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Leyte Gulf |
| Namesake: | World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf |
| Operator: | United States Navy |
| Ordered: | 20 June 1983 |
| Builder: | Ingalls Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | 18 March 1985 |
| Launched: | 20 June 1986 |
| Commissioned: | 26 September 1987 |
| Homeport: | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Motto: | Arrayed For Victory |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2012[update] |
| Badge: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ticonderoga-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | Approx. 9,600 long tons (9,800 t) full load |
| Length: | 567 feet (173 m) She lost 2 feet after colliding with the TR |
| Beam: | 55 feet (16.8 meters) |
| Draft: | 34 feet (10.2 meters) |
| Propulsion: |
4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines, 80,000 shaft horsepower (60,000 kW) |
| Speed: | 32.5 knots (60 km/h) |
| Complement: | 33 officers, 27 Chief Petty Officers, and approx. 340 enlisted |
| Armament: | 2 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems 122 × Mix of RIM-66M-5 Standard SM-2MR Block IIIB, RIM-156A SM-2ER Block IV, RIM-161 SM-3, RIM-162A ESSM, RIM-174A Standard ERAM, BGM-109 Tomahawk, or RUM-139A VL-ASROC 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon missiles 2 × Mk 45 Mod 2 5 in / 54 cal lightweight gun 2 × 25 mm Mk 38 gun 2–4 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) gun 2 × Phalanx CIWS Block 1B 2 × Mk 32 12.75 in (324 mm) triple torpedo tubes for lightweight torpedoes |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters. |
USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was named in memory of the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific. She is powered by four large gas-turbine engines, and she has a large complement of guided missiles for air defense, attack of surface targets at sea and ashore, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). In addition, she carries two "Seahawk" LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, whose primary mission is ASW.
On 14 October 1996, Leyte Gulf collided with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt while conducting operations off the coast of North Carolina. The incident occurred as the carrier, without prior warning, reversed its engines while the Leyte Gulf was behind it and slammed into the cruiser's bow. There were no personnel casualties or injuries reported.[1]
In 2002, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.
On 15 September 2007, there was a fire aboard Leyte Gulf as she underwent an extensive modernization program in BAE Systems Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. Initially the fire received national attention due to the possibility that it was a terrorist incident, however, it was quickly revealed to be an industrial accident. Five shipyard workers were injured in the incident, one seriously, but no naval personnel were involved.[2]
In February 2011, the Leyte Gulf was involved in an incident with Somali pirates after they captured the United States flagged yacht named Quest.[3]
The cruiser returned to Norfolk on 15 July 2011. During its deployment, it had participated in operations which had captured 75 Somali pirates and had missile strikes by its carrier strike group against the Libyan government.[4]
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