Name USS Gettysburg Ordered January 8, 1986 Commissioned June 22, 1991 Construction started 17 August 1988 Length 173 m Beam 17 m | Laid down August 17, 1988 Homeport Mayport, Florida Launched 2 July 1989 Draft 10 m Builder Bath Iron Works | |
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USS Gettysburg (CG-64) is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She is named for the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. She was laid down at the Bath Iron Works in Maine.
Her guided missiles and five-inch mounted guns render her capable of facing and defeating threats in air, on and in the sea, and ashore as well. She can carry up to two Seahawk LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters.
She is homeported in Mayport, Florida.
Operation history
On November 30, 1994, Gettysburg — along with USS Halyburton — was dispatched to assist the cruise ship Achille Lauro, which was on fire in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. Achille Lauro eventually sank but the passengers were rescued and transported to Mombasa, Kenya.
In March 2003 the ship was assigned to Cruiser-Destroyer Group Twelve.
On May 13, 2009, a team of sailors from the ship apprehended 17 pirates off the coast of Yemen as the pirates were attempting to hijack the Egyptian ship Motor Vessel Amira. The ship was filmed in her counter-piracy role and featured on the Spike TV network special U.S. Navy: Pirate Hunters.
Gettysburg completed her Composite Unit Training Exercise as part of Carrier Strike Group Two on February 10, 2011. Gettysburg deployed with an embarked Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 70 (HSM-70) detachment as part of Carrier Strike Group Two, departing Naval Station Mayport on May 10, 2011. Gettysburg subsequently participated in NATO naval exercise Exercise Saxon Warrior off the coast of England under the operational control of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST). During this exercise, Gettysburg operated with the new British guided-missile destroyer Dauntless.