USS Princeton
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History | |
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United States | |
Name: | USS Princeton |
Namesake: | Battle of Princeton |
Ordered: | 16 December 1983 |
Builder: | Ingalls Shipbuilding |
Laid down: | 15 October 1986 |
Launched: | 2 October 1987 |
Commissioned: | 11 February 1989 |
Homeport: | San Diego, California |
Motto: | Honor and Glory |
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: |
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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: |
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Armament: |
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Aircraft carried: | 2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters. |
USS Princeton (CG-59) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser serving in the United States Navy. Armed with naval guns and anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine missiles, plus other weapons, she is equipped for surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, and anti-submarine warfare. She was previously home to two SH-60B LAMPS Mk III Seahawk helicopters and now carries a pair of the MH-60R version of the Seahawk. This warship is named for the Revolutionary War victories over the British by George Washington in and around the town of Princeton, New Jersey.
Princeton was the first Ticonderoga-class cruiser to carry the upgraded AN/SPY-1B radar system.
The ship's first commander was Captain Edward "Ted" Hontz, who took command at the commissioning ceremony on 11 February 1989 in the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. After traveling through the Panama Canal, Princeton was home-ported at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, California.
In 1990, Princeton served as the flagship for the first US Navy visit to the Soviet Union's Pacific port of Vladivostok since before World War II. She sailed with USS Reuben James. Before the visit was completed, the crew received word that their Pacific cruise was canceled. They returned to Long Beach and joined the USS Ranger Battle Group preparing to deploy to the Persian Gulf.