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.

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.

The ship was decommissioned on 31 August 2004 at San Diego Naval Station, the first ship with the Aegis combat system withdrawn from service.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

The following officers commanded the Valley Forge:

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

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