USS Wainwright CG 28 – History of the U.S. Navy's Guided Missile Cruiser & Navy Decals

USS Wainwright CG 28 – History, Service Record & Navy Decals

The USS Wainwright (CG-28) was the third ship of the Belknap class of guided missile cruisers, serving the Atlantic Fleet through nearly three decades of Cold War service — and participating in one of the most dramatic and consequential naval incidents of the Cold War's final decade. Named for General of the Army Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, USA — one of the most heroic and tragic figures of American military history, the commanding general who held Bataan and Corregidor against overwhelming Japanese forces after MacArthur's departure, surrendered only when further resistance was literally impossible, endured three and a half years of brutal Japanese captivity, and emerged to receive the Medal of Honor and the nation's gratitude as a symbol of American courage and endurance in the darkest hours of the Pacific War.

When General Douglas MacArthur was ordered to leave the Philippines in March 1942, he left General Wainwright in command of the hopeless defense of Bataan and Corregidor — a defense against overwhelming Japanese forces, with no prospect of relief or resupply, fighting with starving, disease-ridden troops who had been abandoned by the strategic priorities that had sent resources elsewhere. Wainwright held Bataan until April 9, 1942, when the exhausted, starving defenders could fight no more and were forced to surrender in the largest surrender of American forces since the Civil War — beginning the Bataan Death March that claimed the lives of thousands of American and Filipino prisoners. Wainwright himself continued to hold Corregidor until May 6, 1942, when the fortress island finally fell.

Wainwright spent the next three and a half years as a Japanese prisoner of war — subjected to brutal treatment, near-starvation, and the psychological torment of a proud soldier in captivity, believing throughout that he would be court-martialed for the surrender he had been compelled to make. Instead, when he was liberated in August 1945, emaciated and aged beyond his years, he learned that the American people had made him a hero. General MacArthur invited him to stand on the deck of USS Missouri for the Japanese surrender ceremony on September 2, 1945 — the moment of vindication for everything Wainwright and his men had suffered. President Truman awarded him the Medal of Honor, and he was promoted to General of the Army — five stars — one of only five officers to hold that rank. USS Wainwright carried that extraordinary legacy of courage, endurance, and ultimate vindication throughout her Cold War career.

Keel, Launch & Commissioning

Wainwright's keel was laid down on July 2, 1962, at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. She was launched on April 25, 1964, and commissioned into the U.S. Navy on January 8, 1966, as the third ship of the Belknap class under hull designation CG-28 (originally designated DLG-28, reclassified as CG-28 in 1975).

Class & Design

USS Wainwright was one of nine Belknap-class guided missile cruisers — the second generation of American purpose-built guided missile cruisers, combining a single-arm Standard Missile launcher forward with a 5-inch/54 caliber gun aft. At approximately 547 feet in length and displacing approximately 8,200 tons fully loaded, she carried the ASROC anti-submarine rocket system, torpedo tubes, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and the Phalanx close-in weapon system — a well-rounded multi-mission surface combatant equally capable in air defense, anti-submarine warfare, and surface warfare.

Cold War Atlantic Fleet Service & the Gulf of Sidra

Commissioned in January 1966, USS Wainwright was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, where she served as an escort for carrier battle groups and conducted Cold War operations throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean over nearly three decades of service.

USS Wainwright's most historically significant operational moment came on August 19, 1981, during the Gulf of Sidra incident — one of the most dramatic naval confrontations of the Cold War. Operating in the Gulf of Sidra as part of a Sixth Fleet exercise deliberately conducted within the waters that Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi had claimed as Libyan territorial waters — a claim the United States rejected as contrary to international law — USS Wainwright was operating alongside the carrier USS Nimitz when Libyan Su-22 fighters launched an unprovoked missile attack on American F-14 Tomcats from VF-41 flying combat air patrol. The F-14s, flown by the now-legendary crew of Commander Hank Kleemann and Lieutenant Dave Venlet, evaded the Libyan missiles and shot down both Su-22s with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles in one of the first aerial engagements between American and Soviet-built combat aircraft since the Korean War. USS Wainwright was at the center of the action — tracking the engagement, coordinating the response, and representing the surface warfare component of the force that the Reagan administration had deliberately deployed to challenge Gaddafi's illegal maritime claims. The Gulf of Sidra incident was a defining moment of the Reagan administration's early assertiveness against state-sponsored aggression and a vivid demonstration of American naval power and will.

Throughout her broader Atlantic Fleet career, Wainwright participated in carrier battle group escorts across the Atlantic and Mediterranean, NATO exercises, and the full range of Cold War naval operations that characterized Belknap-class service through the most consequential decades of the Cold War.

Decommissioning

USS Wainwright was decommissioned on June 29, 1993, after more than 27 years of commissioned service — a career that included some of the Cold War's most dramatic naval confrontations and the full arc of Atlantic Fleet Cold War operations from the Johnson era to the Cold War's end.

Legacy

For the sailors who served aboard Wainwright — the missile technicians, sonar operators, electronics warfare specialists, and surface warfare professionals who kept this Atlantic Fleet guided missile cruiser operational and ready through more than 27 years of Cold War service — she represents a career of exceptional dedication to American naval power. Named for the general who held Bataan and Corregidor when all hope was gone and endured three and a half years of captivity with unbroken dignity, USS Wainwright embodied that same refusal to yield — through the Gulf of Sidra's tense confrontations, through three decades of Cold War forward presence, through every challenge of her distinguished career.

Shop USS Wainwright CG 28 Navy Gifts & Decals

Honor your service or give a meaningful gift to a USS Wainwright veteran with our full line of USS Wainwright CG 28 products:

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