USS Mississippi (CGN-40)
.JPG)
USS Mississippi (CGN-40)
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Mississippi |
| Namesake: | State of Mississippi |
| Ordered: | 21 January 1972 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company |
| Laid down: | 22 February 1975 |
| Launched: | 31 July 1976 |
| Sponsored by: | Janet Finch |
| Acquired: | 14 July 1978 |
| Commissioned: | 5 August 1978 |
| Decommissioned: | 28 July 1997 |
| Struck: | 28 July 1997 |
| Motto: | Virtute et armis (By valor and arms) |
| Fate: | Recycling completed |
| Status: | Berthed at NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance Office, Bremerton, WA |
| Badge: |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Virginia-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | approx. 11,300 tons full load |
| Length: | 585 ft (178 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft (19 m) |
| Draft: | 31.5 ft (9.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | Twin D2G General Electric nuclear reactors |
| Speed: | 30+ knots |
| Range: | Nuclear |
| Complement: | 39 Officers, 539 Enlisted |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: |
As built: Helicopter pad (Afterdeck) with hangar / elevator – until later retrofit to Tomahawk launchers. |
As built: Helicopter pad (Afterdeck)
USS Mississippi (CGN-40), a Virginia-class nuclear powered guided-missile cruiser, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 20th state admitted to the Union. Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia, on 22 February 1975. She was launched on 31 July 1976. The ship was commissioned on 5 August 1978 by president Jimmy Carter, then serving as the 39th President of the United States. Early deployment included escorting the carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68). She also was deployed in 1989 as a response to the capture and subsequent murder of U.S. Marine Corps Colonel William R. Higgins by terrorists.
Mississippi (DLGN 40) was laid down on 22 February 1975 at Newport News, Va., by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; reclassified as a guided missile cruiser and designated CGN 40 on 30 June 1975; launched on 31 July 1976; sponsored by Miss. Janet H. Finch, daughter of Governor Charles C. Finch of Mississippi; and, in ceremonies attended by President James E. [Jimmy] Carter, Jr., Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, and Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi, was commissioned at Norfolk, Va., on 5 August 1978, Capt. Peter M. Hekman, Jr., in command.
Mississippi conducted her shakedown cruise to Caribbean and South American waters (8 January–13 February 1979), then made her first deployment—to the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean -- (3 August 1981 – 12 February 1982) during a confrontation between the United States and Libya. She operated as part of the screen for aircraft carriers Nimitz and Forrestal when two Libyan Sukhoi Su‑22 Fitter-Js threatened the task force (19 August 1981). Cmdr. Henry M. Kleeman and Lt. David J. Venlet, and Lieutenants Lawrence M. Muczynski and James Anderson, of Fighter Squadron (VF) 41, manned a pair of Grumman F‑14A Tomcats on a reconnaissance mission from Nimitz for a missile-firing exercise during freedom of navigation operations over international waters. The Libyans opened fire at the Tomcats and the F-14As shot down the Fitter-Js with AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. Mississippi fired three RIM-66B Standard SM-1 surface-to-air missiles during the exercise.
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Wikipedia