USS Leyte Gulf

USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) is a Ticonderoga-class cruiser guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was named in memory of the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific. She is powered by four large gas-turbine engines, and she has a large complement of guided missiles for air defense, attack of surface targets at sea and ashore, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). In addition, she carries two "Seahawk" LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, whose primary mission is ASW.

Leyte Gulf was laid down by the Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation at Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 18 March 1985, launched on 20 June 1986, and commissioned on 26 September 1987 at Port Everglades, Florida.

History
On 14 October 1996, Leyte Gulf collided with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) while conducting operations off the coast of North Carolina. The incident occurred as the carrier, without prior warning, reversed her engines while Leyte Gulf was behind her and slammed into the cruiser's bow. There were no personnel casualties or injuries reported, and damage to the Leyte was only $2 million.

In 2002, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.

In late 1992 Leyte Gulf was assigned to Carrier Group 2. In March 2003 Leyte Gulf was assigned to Carrier Group Eight.

On 15 September 2007, there was a fire aboard Leyte Gulf as she underwent an extensive modernization program in BAE Systems Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. Initially the fire received national attention due to the possibility that it was a terrorist incident, however, it was quickly revealed to be an industrial accident. Five shipyard workers were injured in the incident, one seriously, but no naval personnel were involved.

In February 2011, Leyte Gulf was involved in an incident with Somali pirates after they captured the United States flagged yacht Quest. The cruiser returned to Norfolk on 15 July 2011. During her deployment, she had participated in operations which had captured 75 Somali pirates and had missile strikes by her carrier strike group against the Libyan government.

In January 2015, Leyte Gulf returned from a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. The ship served as flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 for much of the deployment.

In August 2022 Leyte Gulf was again deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. She returned to Norfolk on 09 June 2023.

On 29 January 2024, Leyte Gulf deployed Sunday from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., to the 4th Fleet area of operations, which includes the Caribbean and Central and South America. It will host HSM-50, Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50 and Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 404 and is expected to conduct passing exercises with regional partners and make port visits to counter threats such as illegal drug trafficking. She returned to Naval Station Norfolk on 17 May 2024. This will be her final deployment before decommissioning.

In March 2024, the Navy announced plans to inactivate Leyte Gulf on 27 September 2024.

On March 21, 2024 the Leyte Gulf and the US Coast Guard captured a narco-submarine 150 miles off the coast of Guyana carrying 5,225 pounds of cocaine.