page_title: Ticonderoga-class cruiser
section_title: Vertical Launching System
hierarchical_section_title: Ticonderoga-class cruiser / Design / Vertical Launching System
caption_attribution_description: English: Pacific Ocean (Nov. 9, 2003) -- Guided missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) steams in the Southern California operating area. Lake Champlain is operating with the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) Carrier Strike Group, conducting Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) in preparation for an upcoming deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Jayme Pastoric. (RELEASED)
context_page_description: The Ticonderoga class of guided-missile cruisers is a class of warships in the United States Navy, first ordered and authorized in the 1978 fiscal year. The class uses passive phased-array radar and was originally planned as a class of destroyers. However, the increased combat capability offered by the Aegis Combat System and the AN/SPY-1 radar system, together with the capability of operating as a flagship, were used to justify the change of the classification from DDG to CG shortly before the keels were laid down for Ticonderoga and Yorktown.
  Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers are multi-role warships. Their Mk 41 VLS can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles to strike strategic or tactical targets, or fire long-range antiaircraft Standard Missiles for defense against aircraft or anti-ship missiles. Their LAMPS III helicopters and sonar systems allow them to perform antisubmarine missions. Ticonderoga-class ships are designed to be elements of carrier battle groups or amphibious ready groups, as well as performing missions such as interdiction or escort.
context_section_description: In addition to the added radar capability, the Ticonderoga-class ships built after USS Thomas S. Gates included two Mark 41 Vertical Launching Systems (VLS). The two VLS allow the ship to have 122 missile storage and launching tubes that can carry a wide variety of missiles, including the Tomahawk cruise missile, Standard surface-to-air missile, Evolved Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile, and ASROC antisubmarine warfare (ASW) guided rockets. More importantly, the VLS enables all missiles to be on full standby at any given time, shortening the warship's response time before firing. The original five ships (Ticonderoga, Yorktown, Vincennes, Valley Forge, and Thomas S. Gates) had Mark 26 twin-arm launchers that limited their missile capacity to a total of 88 missiles, and that could not fire the Tomahawk missile. After the end of the Cold War, the lower capabilities of the original five warships limited them to duties close to the home waters of the United States. 
  A standard missile loadout for a Ticonderoga cruiser is 80 SM-2 SAMs, 16 ASROC anti-submarine rockets, and 26 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
caption: An overhead view of the Ticonderoga class Lake Champlain, with VLS visible fore and aft as the gray boxes near the bow and stern of the ship.
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