USS Valley Forge (CG-50)

USS Valley Forge (CG-50) was a Ticonderoga-class cruiser in the United States Navy. She was named for Valley Forge, where the Continental Army camped during one winter in the American Revolution.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Valley Forge.
USS Valley Forge (CG-50) underway near San Diego, California.
History
United States
Name: Valley Forge
Namesake: Valley Forge
Ordered: 28 August 1981
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down: 14 April 1983
Launched: 23 June 1984
Christened: 29 September 1984
Commissioned: 18 January 1986
Decommissioned: 30 August 2004
Stricken: 30 August 2004
Identification:
Motto: "First In War - First In Peace"
Fate: Sunk as target, 2 November 2006
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)
Beam: 55 feet (16.8 meters)
Draft: 34 feet (10.2 meters)
Propulsion:
Speed: 32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Complement: 30 officers and 300 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

Construction and commissioning

The ship was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and was launched on 29 September 1984, by her sponsor Julia Vadala Taft, wife of Deputy Secretary of Defense William H. Taft IV.

Service history

During the 1986 RIMPAC naval exercise, she acted as the plane guard for the aircraft carrier USS Ranger.

She saw action during Desert Storm in the USS Ranger battle group and served as the overall Anti-Air warfare commander for the gulf (Bravo Zulu AAWC).

In March 2003, Valley Forge was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 21.[1]

The ship was decommissioned on 31 August 2004, at San Diego Naval Station, the first ship with the Aegis combat system withdrawn from service. Valley Forge was sunk on 2 November 2006, as part of a target practice on a test range near Kauai, Hawaii.[2]

Awards

References
  1. Toppan, Andrew (10 March 2003). "World Navies Today: US Navy Aircraft Carriers & Surface Combatants". Hazegray.org. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  2. Cavas, Christopher P. (17 November 2006). "Aegis ship sunk on target range". Navy Times. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2017.

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


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