USS San Jacinto (CG-56)

For other ships with the same name, see USS San Jacinto.
USS San Jacinto (CG-56)
History
United States
Name: USS San Jacinto
Namesake: Battle of San Jacinto
Ordered: 20 June 1983
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down: 24 July 1985
Launched: 14 November 1986
Commissioned: 23 January 1988
Homeport: Norfolk, Virginia
Identification: CG-56
Motto: Victory is Certain
Nickname(s): San Jac
Status: in active service
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:
  • 4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines, 80,000 shaft horsepower (60,000 kW)
  • 2 × controllable-reversible pitch propellers
  • 2 × rudders
Speed: 32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Complement: 33 officers, 27 Chief Petty Officers, and approx. 340 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

USS San Jacinto (CG-56) is 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.

The "San Jac" was built at Pascagoula, Mississippi and commissioned 23 January 1988 by then vice-president George H. W. Bush in Houston, Texas. 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 sortie 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.[1] While stationed in a search area at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in the Red Sea, her Visit/Boarding/Search/Seizure teams inspected several dozen ships for contraband being smuggled for the Iraqi government. The crew came to call that duty station 'San-Jacircles' or 'San-Jac in the Box'.

San Jacinto was assigned to Carrier Group Two.[2]

During the 2000–2001 deployment of Carrier Group Two, San Jacinto had aboard Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light 42 (HSL-42) Det 8 with two SH-60B Seahawks.[3]

On 26 May 2010 San Jacinto's VBSS (Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure) team rescued 5 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.[4]

On 13 October 2012, San Jacinto was involved in a collision with the US nuclear submarine Montpelier off the coast of northeastern Florida.[5] The cruiser suffered damage to its sonar dome.[6] San Jacinto would have been unable to join Carrier Strike Group Ten and the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman to the Persian Gulf, had they deployed on schedule, due to the emergency dry docking.[7] The cruiser has undergone approximately $11 million in repairs since the accident.[8]

Notes

  1. Meisner, Arnold (1991). Desert Storm: Sea War. Motorbooks International. p. 49. ISBN 0-87938-562-6.
  2. Toppan, Andrew (10 March 2003). "World Navies Today: US Navy Aircraft Carriers & Surface Combatants". Hazegray.org. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  3. 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. Retrieved 22 August 2010. LAMPS MK III Major Ship Deployments, 2001
  4. "US Ship Rescues Yemeni Mariners From Pirates". navy.mil. 30 May 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  5. "Navy Says Submarine, Aegis Cruiser Collide". The New York Times. Associated Press. 13 October 2012.
  6. Martinez, Luis (13 October 2012). "Navy Sub, Cruiser Collide Off Florida". ABC News. Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012.
  7. American Forces Press Service (6 February 2013). "USS Truman, USS Gettysburg Deployment Delayed". American Forces Press Service. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  8. Reilly, Corinne (17 June 2014). "'Sub, dead ahead!' New Navy report dissects collision at sea". The Virginian-Pilot. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
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