USS Port Royal (CG-73)

The USS Port Royal
Career
Ordered:	25 February 1988
Laid down:	18 October 1991
Launched:	20 November 1992
Commissioned:	9 July 1994
Decommissioned:
Fate:	Active in service
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	9,600 tons
Length:	567 ft
Beam:	55 ft
Draught:	33 ft
Propulsion:	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp
Speed:	30+ knots
Range:
Complement:	387 officers and enlisted
Armament:	2 x 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems, 122 x RIM-67 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-Asroc, 8 x AGM-84 Harpoon missiles 2 x 5 in, 2 x 25 mm, 2–4 x 12.7 mm guns, 2 x Phalanx CIWS 2 x Mk 46 triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft:	2 x SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters
Motto:

The USS Port Royal (CG-73) is a United States Navy guided missile cruiser, the last to be constructed in the 20th century, and the first cruiser to integrate women into the crew.

The ship was laid down 18 October 1991 by Ingalls Shipbuilding at Pascagoula, Mississippi, launched 20 November 1992, christened by Susan G. Baker (wife of James A. Baker III, chief of staff to President Bush), and formally commissioned 9 July 1994 at Savannah, Georgia.

The Port Royal deployed in 1996 as part of the Nimitz (CVN-68) battle group. The CVBG was participating in Operation Southern Watch, but was deployed to the South China Sea in March 1996 to act as a stablizing force the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.

Her second deployment, January 2000, was with the John C. Stennis (CVN-74) battle group, participating in Operation Southern Watch and returning in June for drydock repairs and upgrades.

Port Royal departed Pearl Harbor 17 November 2001 to rejoin the Stennis battle group.

The U.S.S. Port Royal was reported visiting Melbourne, Australia in February 2004.

See also

• USS Port Royal for other Navy ships of the same name.

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register.

External link

• Port Royal (CG-73) homepage (http://www.port-royal.navy.mil)