USS Valley Forge (CG-50)

USS Valley Forge (CG-50) underway near San Diego, California.
History
United States
Name:	USS Valley Forge
Ordered:	28 August 1981
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down:	14 April 1983
Launched:	23 June 1984
Christened:	29 September 1984
Commissioned:	18 January 1986
Decommissioned:	30 August 2004
Struck:	30 August 2004
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:	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:	AN/SPY-1A/B multi-function radar AN/SPS-49 air search radar AN/SPG-62 fire control radar AN/SPS-73 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite AN/SQQ-89(V)1/3 - A(V)15 Sonar suite, consisting of: AN/SQS-53B/C/D active sonar AN/SQR-19 TACTAS, AN/SQR-19B ITASS, & MFTA passive sonar AN/SQQ-28 light airborne multi-purpose system
Armament:	2 × Mk 26 missile launchers 68 × RIM-66 SM-2, and 20 × RUR-5 ASROC 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon missiles 2 × Mark 45 5 in / 54 cal lightweight gun 2–4 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) gun 2 × Phalanx CIWS 2 × Mk 32 12.75 in (324 mm) triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:	2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

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. The ship was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi and was christened 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.

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The ship was decommissioned on 31 August 2004 at San Diego Naval Station, the first ship with the Aegis combat system withdrawn from service.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][3]

Commanding Officers

The following officers commanded the Valley Forge: ^[4]

• Captain Theodore C. Lockhart (18 January 1986 – 27 May 1988)
• Captain Philip Anthony Bozzelli (27 May 1988 – 12 May 1990)
• Captain Ernest Francis Tedeschi Jr. (12 May 1990 – 14 September 1991)
• Captain Billy Cornett II (14 September 1991 – 25 June 1993)
• Captain Robert James Abbott (25 June 1993 – 29 March 1996)
• Commander William James Kear (29 March 1996 – 7 November 1997)
• Commander William Patrick Hoker (7 November 1997 – 14 July 1999)
• Commander Thomas David Goodwin (14 July 1999 – 19 January 2001)
• Captain John Scott Arbter (19 January 2001 – 3 July 2002)
• Commander Patrick Coffier Rabun (3 July 2002 – 30 August 2004)

In popular culture

USS Valley Forge is featured in the 2005 naval thriller, Treason, by Don Brown.^[5]

References

1. "World Navies Today: US Navy Aircraft Carriers & Surface Combatants". Hazgray.org. Retrieved May 2012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
3. Cavas, Christopher (2006-11-17). "Aegis ship sunk on target range". Navy Times. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
4. "USS Valley Forge (CG-50)". NavSource.
5. Google Books reference to USS Valley Forge in novel Treason

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

External links

• Naval Vessel Register - CG50
• USS Valley Forge webpage