USS Ticonderoga ( CG - 47 ) USS " Ticonderoga " ( DDG / CG - 47 ) , the fifth to bear the name , was a guided - missile cruiser of the United States Navy . Homeported in Pascagoula , Mississippi , the " Tico " was the lead ship of her class . The " Ticonderoga " was the first combatant ship to feature the Aegis combat system ( a limited version of the system had been tested in ) . This allows the ship to track and engage multiple targets ( aircraft ) much more effectively than any ship previously . Etymology . CG - 47 is the fifth United States Navy vessel to carry on the name Ticonderoga . The ship was named for the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 . It was also named after the USS Ticonderoga that was nearly sunk during World War II . Most of the ships in the Ticonderoga class are similarly named for significant battles in U . S . history . The name " Ticonderoga " comes from an Iroquois word " tekontaró : ken " , meaning " it is at the junction of two waterways " . History . The United States Navy built the first Aegis cruiser s using the hull and machinery designs of " Spruance " - class destroyer s . " Ticonderoga " was ordered as a guided missile destroyer , but redesignated as a cruiser before she was laid down . The contract to build DDG - 47 " Ticonderoga " was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding on 22 September 1978 . On 1 January 1980 , she was redesignated as a guided missile cruiser , CG - 47 . Her keel was laid down on 21 January 1980 , the 35th anniversary of the devastating kamikaze attack on the " Essex " - class carrier " Ticonderoga " ( CV - 14 ) . CG - 47 was launched on 25 April 1981 and was delivered on 13 December 1982 . She was commissioned on 22 January 1983 with First Lady Nancy Reagan , the ship ' s main sponsor , having the honor of christening the ship on 16 May 1981 . For a time in the late 1990s she was based at Pascagoula , Mississippi , as part of Commander , Naval Surface Forces Atlantic ' s Westerns Hemisphere Group . She served in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Earnest Will while under the command of Captain James M . Arrison III , USN . On May 4 , 2004 , she completed transit of the Panama Canal and then moved to cross the equator . Her ship crew engaged in the rites and rituals of the crossing , inducting the Captain of the ship as well as many of the crew in to ' Shell - Backs ' . She completed her final deployment on 3 August 2004 , and was decommissioned on 30 September of that year . After her decommissioning , she was towed to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia . Recently , however , she was put up for museum donation by the Navy and there is a strong effort to bring " Ticonderoga " to Pascagoula , Mississippi , where she was built , to serve as a museum ship . In popular culture . The " Ticonderoga " was featured in the 1986 Tom Clancy novel " Red Storm Rising " , where she is part of a surface fleet built around the carrier . During a surprise Soviet air raid , " Ticonderoga " unleashes her missiles at the incoming Soviet anti - ship missiles , and succeeded in eliminating just over 60 % of the number of " vampires " she had targeted . Despite her best efforts and the efforts of the other ships " Ticonderoga " , " Nimitz " , , and several other ships receive heavy damage from the attack , while , the French carrier " Foch " and a handful of other vessels are destroyed .