USS Texas CGN 39 – History of the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Guided Missile Cruiser & Navy Decals

USS Texas CGN 39 – History, Service Record & Navy Decals

The USS Texas (CGN-39) was the second ship of the Virginia class of nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers — sister ship to the lead vessel USS Virginia (CGN-38) and one of four nuclear cruisers of the most advanced class of American nuclear surface combatants ever built. Named for the State of Texas — the Lone Star State, the only state in the Union that was an independent republic before joining the United States, a state forged in revolution and sacrifice at the Alamo and San Jacinto, and a name that evokes the largest, boldest, most self-reliant spirit in the American national character — USS Texas carried a name synonymous with courage, independence, and indomitable fighting spirit through every year of her Cold War and Gulf War career.

Texas – The Lone Star Republic

The story of Texas is unlike the story of any other American state. Texas did not simply break from colonial rule — Texas fought a revolution, established itself as a fully independent nation, and then chose to join the United States on its own terms. The path to that independence was written in sacrifice and fury at some of the most legendary engagements in North American military history.

In February–March 1836, a Mexican army of several thousand troops under General Antonio López de Santa Anna besieged a small garrison of Texian and Tejano defenders at a former Spanish mission in San Antonio known as the Alamo. For 13 days, approximately 189 defenders — including the legendary frontiersman Davy Crockett, the knife-fighter and land speculator Jim Bowie, and the garrison's commander William Barret Travis, who drew a line in the dirt with his sword and invited any man willing to die for Texas to step across it — held the Alamo against Santa Anna's vastly superior force. On March 6, 1836, the final assault overwhelmed the garrison. Every defender was killed. The fall of the Alamo became the defining moment of the Texas Revolution — not a defeat, but a rallying cry that echoed across the Texas frontier: “Remember the Alamo!”

Six weeks later, on April 21, 1836, Sam Houston's Texian Army caught Santa Anna's force encamped at San Jacinto during their afternoon siesta and attacked with complete surprise. The Battle of San Jacinto lasted approximately 18 minutes — the Texians charging with the battle cry “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” and routing an army twice their size, killing 630 Mexican soldiers, wounding 208, and capturing 730 — including Santa Anna himself, who was found hiding in the grass disguised as a common soldier. Sam Houston's army suffered 9 killed and 30 wounded. The Republic of Texas was born. It existed as an independent nation for nearly a decade — with its own president, army, navy, and foreign policy — before joining the United States in 1845. No other state came to the Union as a republic. USS Texas carried that extraordinary legacy of revolutionary courage, lightning-strike decisiveness, and unyielding independence throughout her nuclear cruiser career.

Virginia Class – Design & Capability

USS Texas shared the Virginia-class design, powered by two D2G pressurized water reactors driving twin propeller shafts, with virtually unlimited range at sustained high speed. At approximately 11,300 tons full load and 585 feet in length, she was armed with the Standard Missile (SM-2MR) for area air defense, Tomahawk cruise missiles for long-range strike, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, ASROC for anti-submarine warfare, and torpedo tubes — a fully capable multi-mission nuclear surface combatant with the Tomahawk offensive strike capability that made the Virginia class more versatile than any preceding nuclear cruiser design.

Keel, Launch & Commissioning

Texas's keel was laid down on August 18, 1973, at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on August 9, 1975, and commissioned into the U.S. Navy on September 10, 1977, under hull designation CGN-39 as the second ship of the Virginia class.

Cold War & Gulf War Career – Atlantic Fleet Nuclear Carrier Escort

Commissioned in September 1977, USS Texas was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, homeported at Norfolk, Virginia, and deployed extensively throughout her career as a nuclear carrier escort for Atlantic Fleet strike groups. She operated across the full range of Cold War Atlantic Fleet deployments — Mediterranean Sixth Fleet rotations, North Atlantic operations in support of NATO's maritime strategy, and Indian Ocean deployments during the periods of heightened tension following the Iranian Revolution and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

USS Texas participated in the Cold War's Reagan-era Maritime Strategy operations of the 1980s — the aggressive forward naval operations into the Norwegian Sea and North Pacific that challenged Soviet naval dominance in waters the Soviets had claimed as strategic preserves, demonstrating American willingness to take the naval competition directly to the Soviet Union's maritime doorstep. Her nuclear endurance made her an ideal participant in these demanding, sustained forward deployments far from friendly support.

In one of the most significant operational highlights of her career, USS Texas participated in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 — the Gulf War coalition campaign that expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Operating in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, Texas contributed her Tomahawk cruise missiles to the Coalition's opening precision strike campaign, firing Tomahawks against Iraqi targets in the opening hours of the air war that began on January 17, 1991. The Tomahawk firings added Gulf War combat distinction to a career that had been defined by Cold War deterrence, and demonstrated the Virginia class's offensive strike capability in actual combat for the first time. The 18-minute victory at San Jacinto had its Cold War echo in the precision Tomahawk strikes that Texas delivered against Iraqi targets in the opening hours of Desert Storm.

Decommissioning

USS Texas was decommissioned on July 31, 1993, after nearly 16 years of commissioned service — retired in the early post-Cold War drawdown as the Navy concluded that the nuclear surface combatant fleet's maintenance costs could not be justified in the dramatically changed strategic environment following the Soviet Union's collapse. Her Desert Storm combat service made her one of the most operationally distinguished of the Virginia-class cruisers, a ship that had served in both the Cold War deterrence mission and in actual Gulf War combat before being retired.

Legacy

For the sailors and nuclear-qualified officers who served aboard Texas — the reactor operators, engineering watch-standers, Tomahawk strike planners, weapons systems operators, and surface warfare professionals who kept this nuclear cruiser ready and lethal through 16 years of Cold War and Gulf War service — she represents a career of exceptional distinction. Named for the Lone Star Republic that was born at the Alamo and won at San Jacinto in 18 minutes — courage, sacrifice, lightning decisiveness, independent spirit — USS Texas matched that legacy with Cold War nuclear deterrence and Gulf War Tomahawk combat fires that demonstrated the Virginia class's full offensive potential in the crucible of actual war.

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