USS Yorktown CG 48 – History of the Ticonderoga-Class Cruiser & Navy Gifts
USS Yorktown (CG 48): The Aegis Cruiser That Made History
USS Yorktown (CG 48) carries one of the most storied names in U.S. Navy history — a name that has graced American warships since the Revolutionary War era. But this Yorktown made her own mark as a cutting-edge Aegis guided missile cruiser.
Ship History
USS Yorktown was a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser commissioned on July 4, 1984 — a fitting Independence Day commissioning for a ship bearing such a patriotic name. Built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, she was armed with the revolutionary Aegis Combat System, capable of tracking and engaging hundreds of targets simultaneously.
Yorktown served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, participating in operations during the Cold War's final years. She is perhaps best remembered for a 1988 incident in the Black Sea, where she and USS Caron were “bumped” by Soviet warships in a dispute over innocent passage — a tense Cold War confrontation that made international headlines.
She was decommissioned on December 9, 2004, after 20 years of service.
Hull Number Explained
CG 48 designates:
- CG — Guided missile cruiser
- 48 — Her hull number in the cruiser sequence
The Ticonderoga class (CG 47–73) represented the pinnacle of Cold War surface combatant technology.
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