USS Texas (CGN-39)
The Texas 1988 before the Carl Vinson |
|
Overview | |
---|---|
Order | December 21, 1971 |
Keel laying | 18th August 1973 |
Launch | August 9, 1975 |
1. Period of service | |
Commissioning | September 10, 1977 |
Decommissioning | July 16, 1993 |
Whereabouts | Canceled |
Technical specifications | |
displacement |
approx. 12,000 tn.l. fully loaded |
length |
178.60 meters |
width |
19.20 meters |
Draft |
9.8 meters |
crew |
39 officers, 539 sailors |
drive |
2 propellers, driven by a nuclear reactor; 60,000 wave horsepower |
speed |
30+ knots |
Armament |
2 starter anti-aircraft missiles |
The USS Texas (CGN-39) was a nuclear cruiser of the United States Navy and belonged Virginia class at.
history
The Texas was commissioned from Newport News Shipbuilding in late 1971 and was laid down in Newport News , Virginia in 1973 . After two years of construction, the Texas was launched and the ship was christened by the wife of the then governor of Texas, Dolph Briscoe . Construction costs were $ 213.8 million. In 1977 the cruiser entered service with the United States Navy .
The remainder of 1977 the ship spent with initial tests from the naval base in Guantánamo Bay . In 1978 further test drives were carried out off Virginia and in the Caribbean, later the ship spent four months in the shipyard for the so-called post shakedown availability . The last test drives off Puerto Rico were carried out in August .
The first mission journey began in 1979, together with the carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and USS California (CGN-36) of the California class . There she was involved in Operation Eagle Claw , a short time later, in May 1980, the group returned to the USA. From June 1983 the Texas was assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
In 1986 and 87 the ship underwent an overhaul and renewal of the weapon systems. Among other things, two armored box launchers for four BGM-109 Tomahawk each were brought on board.
The fourth mission of the Texas began in 1988 as an escort for USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and took the ship to Japan, the United States Naval Base Subic Bay , Oman and Kenya. The next big mission followed in 1991, where she provided air defense for the Nimitz during Operation Desert Storm .
In 1993 the reactor was supposed to be refilled for the first time, but instead the Texas was decommissioned in July 1993. In 1999 the Texas began to go through the Ship-Submarine Recycling Program in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard , during which it was freed from all radioactive parts and the hull was then dismantled.
literature
- Wilhelm M. Donko: The nuclear cruisers of the US Navy . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1987, ISBN 3-7637-5836-4 .