Ticonderoga Class

**Here is some info from the wikipedia page because I am too lazy to write a huge page on them**

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 (guided missile destroyer) to CG (guided-missile cruiser) 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. With upgrades to their AN/SPY-1 phased radar systems and their associated missile payloads as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, members of this class have, in successive tests, repeatedly demonstrated their proficiency as mobile anti-ballistic missile and anti-satellite weaponry platforms.

Of the 27 completed vessels, 19 were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding and eight by Bath Iron Works (BIW). All but one (Thomas S. Gates) of the ships in the class are named for noteworthy events in U.S. military history, and at least twelve share their names with World War II-era aircraft carriers. As of 2031, 14 ships are still active and expected to serve for 35 years since commissioning.

The *Ticonderoga*-class was originally ordered as guided missile destroyers, with the designation DDG-47. These ships were intended to be lower cost platforms for the new Aegis combat system by mounting the system on a hull based on that of the *Spruance*-class destroyer. They would complement the much larger and more capable *Strike Cruiser* (CSGN) design. With the Merging of the *Strike Cruiser* with the scaled down CGN-42 (*Virginia*-class cruiser hull) Program, some of the requirements were transferred to the DDG-47, and the class was eventually re-designated as guided missile cruisers, CG-47, to reflect the additional flagship capabilities. Ships of the class from CG-52 onwards were equipped with the Mk. 41 vertical launch system.

As the Aegis combat system and the additional cruiser roles added substantial weight to the *Spruance*-derived hull, the design had limited growth potential in terms of weight and power margin. In the 1980s, a design study known as *Cruiser Baseline* (CGBL) was created to accommodate the capabilities of CG-52 (Mk. 41-equipped ships of the *Ticonderoga* class) on a hull with design and construction techniques matching the DDG-51 (*Arleigh Burke*-class destroyer) for improved survivability and weight allowances. This was also Merged with the CGN-42 Program to create the Richmond Class.

The Ticonderoga-class cruiser's design was based on that of the Spruance-class destroyer. The Ticonderoga class introduced a new generation of guided missile warships based on the Aegis phased array radar that is capable of simultaneously scanning for threats, tracking targets, and guiding missiles to interception. When they were designed, they had the most powerful electronic warfare equipment in the U.S. Navy, as well as the most advanced underwater surveillance system. These ships were one of the first classes of warships to be built in modules, rather than being assembled from the bottom up.

The greater size and equipment on the CG-47–class warships increased displacement from 6,900 tons of the DD-963–class destroyers to 9,600 tons of displacement for the heavier cruisers. Aegis cruisers can steam in any ocean and conduct multi-warfare operations anywhere. Some cruisers reported some structural problems in early service after extended periods in extremely heavy seas; they were generally corrected from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. Several ships had superstructure cracks, which were repaired.

These ships' superstructures were a modification of that on the Spruance-class destroyers and were required to support two deck-houses (one forward for antennas forward and starboard), and the aft deck-house housed the aft and port antenna arrays. The later Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyers are designed from the keel up to carry the SPY-1D radars and have them all clustered together on the forward deck-house, saving space and weight and simplifying cooling requirements. Radar support equipment is closer together, minimizing cable runs and concentrating support equipment.

Operations research was used to study manpower requirements on the Ticonderoga class. It was found that four officers and 44 enlisted sailors could be removed from the ship's complement by removing traditional posts that had been made obsolete. However, manpower savings achieved by eliminating the very manpower-intensive Mk 26 guided missile system and replacing it with the far more capable and versatile MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) were harder to emulate with the Mk 45 127 mm (5") gun systems.

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.

Originally, the U.S. Navy had intended to replace its fleet of *Ticonderoga*-class guided-missile cruisers with cruisers produced as part of the CG(X) missile cruiser program; however, severe budget cuts from the 21st century surface combatant program resulted in the CG(X) program being canceled. The *Ticonderoga*-class cruisers were instead to be replaced by Flight III *Arleigh Burke*-class guided-missile destroyers and San Francisco Class Cruisers.

All five of the twin-arm (Mk-26) cruisers have been decommissioned. In 2003, the newer 22 of the 27 ships (CG-52 to CG-73) in the class were upgraded to keep them combat-relevant, giving the ships a service life of 35 years. In the years leading up to their decommissioning, the five twin-arm ships had been assigned primarily home-waters duties, acting as command ships for destroyer squadrons assigned to the eastern Pacific and western Atlantic areas.

As of July 2013 11 cruisers have completed hull, mechanical, and electrical (HM&E) upgrades and 8 cruisers have had combat systems upgrades. These include an upgrade of the AEGIS computational system with new computers and equipment cabinets, the SPQ-9B radar system upgrade introducing an increased capability over just gunfire control, some optical fiber data communications and software upgrades, and modifications to the vertical launch system allowing two 8 cell modules to fire the RIM-162 ESSM. The most recent upgrade packages will include SM-6 and Naval Integrated Fire Control – Counter Air (NIFC-CA) capability. Another upgrade is improving the SQQ-89A(V)15 sonar with a multi-function towed array. Hull, sonar, radar, electrical, computer, and weapons systems upgrades can cost up to $250 million per ship.

On 14 February 2008, the United States Department of Defense announced that *Lake Erie* would attempt to hit the dead satellite USA-193 over the North Pacific Ocean just before it would burn up on reentry. On 20 February 2008, at approximately 22:30 EST (21 February, 03:30 UTC), an SM-3 missile was fired from *Lake Erie* and struck the satellite. The military intended that the missile's kinetic energy would rupture the hydrazine fuel tank allowing the toxic fuel to be consumed during re-entry. The Department of Defense confirmed that the fuel tank had been directly hit by the missile.