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s e a f o r c e s – online
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Naval Forces
Technology, History & Information
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Guided Missile Cruiser
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CG 63 -
USS Cowpens
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USS Cowpens (CG 63)
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US Navy photo
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Type,
Class:
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Guided Missile Cruiser; Ticonderoga (Baseline 3) - class;
planned and built as CG 63; |
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Builder:
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STATUS:
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Awarded: January 8, 1986 Laid down: December 23, 1987 Launched: March 11, 1989 Commissioned:
March 9, 1991 ACTIVE in
Service / PACIFIC FLEET |
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Homeport:
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Forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan
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Namesake:
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named after and in honor of
the Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina – 1781 |
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Ship’s
Motto:
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> VICTORIA LIBERTATIS
VINDEX < (Victory
Vindicates Liberty) |
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Technical Data:
(Measures, Propulsion, Armament,
Aviation, etc.)
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see: INFO
>> Guided
Missile Cruiser / Ticonderoga – Class |
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Pictures,
photos & more ...
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USS Cowpens (CG 63) underway in the
western Pacific Ocean – February 15, 2005 |
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USS Cowpens (CG 63) at the completion of
its Ships Repair Force (SRF) dry dock period in Yokosuka, Japan – March 16,
2004 |
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Brigadier General Daniel Morgan (1736 – 1802) |
Sir Banastre Tarleton (1754–1833) |
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Photo credits: US Navy |
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Namesake
& History: |
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About the
Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina – 1781: |
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The Battle of Cowpens (1781)
was an overwhelming victory by American revolutionary forces under Brigadier
General Daniel Morgan. Prelude The Battle of Cowpens was one
of the many engagements between the Americans and the British during the
Southern campaign during the American Revolution. The commanders specifically
involved were American Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, commander of some 700
militia, including some Over Mountain Men and cavalry, and 300 Continentals,
and Englishman Colonel Banastre Tarleton, who headed a legion of 1,100
dragoons, regulars, Tory loyalists, and Highlanders. General Cornwallis instructed
Tarleton and his legion, who had been successful at battles such as Camden
and Waxhaws in the past, to destroy Morgan's command. Morgan called Americans
to gather at the cow pens (a grazing area), which were a familiar landmark.
Tarleton attacked without caution and regard for the fact Morgan had had much
more time than himself to prepare, and was consequently caught in a double
envelopment. Only about 160 British troops escaped, but the Americans
suffered only 73 casualties (12 dead and 61 wounded). Battle Tactical Deployment Daniel Morgan knew that he
should use the unique landscape of Cowpens and the time available before
Tarleton's arrival to his advantage. Furthermore, he knew his men and his
opponent, knew how they would react in certain situations, and used this
knowledge to his advantage. To begin with, the location of his forces were
contrary to any existing military doctrine, for he placed his army between
the Broad and Pacolet River, thus making escape impossible if the army were
routed. His reason for cutting off escape was obvious; to ensure that the
untrained militiamen would not, as they had been accustomed to do, turn in
flight at the first hint of battle and abandon the regulars. Selecting a hill
as the center of his position, he placed his Continental infantry on it,
deliberately leaving his flanks exposed to his opponent. Morgan reasoned that
Tarleton would attack him head on and he made his tactical preparations
accordingly. He set up three lines of soldiers: one of skirmishers
(sharpshooters), one of militia, and a main one. The 150 select skirmishers
were from North Carolina (Major McDowell) and Georgia (Major Cunningham).
Behind these men were 300 militiamen under the command of Andrew Pickens. Realizing that poorly trained
milita were unreliable in battle, especially when they were under attack from
cavalry, Morgan decided to ask the militia to fire two shots and then
retreat, so he could have them reform under cover of the reserve (cavalry
commanded by William Washington and James McCall) behind the third, more
experienced line of militia and continentals. The movement of the militia in
the second line would unmask the third line to the British. The third line,
composed of the remainder of the forces (about 550 men) was composed of Continentals
from Delaware and Maryland, and militiamen from Georgia and Virginia. Colonel
John Eager Howard commanded the Continentals and Colonels Tate and Triplett
the militia. The goal of this strategy was to weaken and disorganize
Tarleton's forces (which would be attacking the third line uphill), before in
turn attacking and defeating them. Howard’s men would not be unnerved by the
militia’s expected move, and unlike the militia they would be able to stand
and hold, especially since the first and second lines, Morgan felt, would
have inflicted both physical and psychological attrition on the advancing
British before the third line came into action. Furthermore, by placing his
men downhill from the advancing British lines, Morgan exploited the British
tendency to fire too high in battle. Furthermore, the downhill position of
his forces allowed the British forces to be silhouetted against the morning
sunlight, providing easy targets for Patriot troops. With a ravine on their
right flank and a creek on their left flank, Morgan's forces were protected
against British flanking maneuvers at the beginning of the battle. Morgan
insisted, "the whole idea is to lead Benny [Tarleton] into a trap so
we can beat his cavalry and infantry as they come up those slopes. When they've
been cut down to size by our fire, we'll attack them." In developing
his tactics at Cowpens, as historian John Buchanan wrote, Morgan may have
been "the only general in the American Revolution, on either side, to
produce a significant original tactical thought.” Events At 5:00 AM on January 17,
1781, Tarleton roused his troops and continued his forcemarch to the cow
pens. His Tory scouts had told him of the countryside Morgan was fighting on,
and he was certain of victory because Morgan's soldiers, mostly militiamen,
seemed to be caught between mostly experienced British troops and a flooding
river. As soon as he reached the spot, he formed a battle line, which
consisted of dragoons on his flanks, with his two grasshopper cannon in
between the British regulars and American loyalists. More cavalry and the
71st Highlanders composed his reserve. Sure of an easy victory, he sent his
unrested men into battle. Tarleton’s plan was simple and direct. Most of his
infantry (including that of the Legion) would be assembled in linear
formation and move directly upon Morgan. The right and left flanks of this
line would be protected by dragoon units. In reserve he would hold his
250-man battalion of Scottish Highlanders (71st Regiment of Foot), commanded
by Major Arthur MacArthur, a professional soldier of long experience who had
served in the Dutch Scotch Brigade. They would be used, if needed, to provide
the "coup de grace." Finally, Tarleton kept the 250-man cavalry
contingent of his Legion ready to be unleashed when the Americans broke and
ran. Morgan's strategy worked
perfectly. After killing fifteen dragoons, the skirmishers retreated. The
British pulled back temporarily, but attacked again, this time reaching the
militiamen, who (as ordered) poured two volleys into the British, who, with
40% of their casualties officers, were astonished and confused. They reformed
and continued to advance. Pickens's militia broke and apparently fled to the
rear and were eventually reorganized. Tarleton responded by ordering one of
his officers, Ogilvie, to charge with some dragoons into the
"defeated" Americans. His men moved forward in regular formation,
were momentarily checked by the militia rifles, but, continued to advance
sensing victory. The British drove in successive lines, anticipating victory
only to encounter another, stronger line after exerting themselves and
suffering casualties. The depth of the American lines gradually soaked up the
shock of the British advance. Taking the withdrawal of the first two lines as
a full blown retreat, and sensing victory, they broke ranks, rushing headlong
into the awaiting final line of disciplined regulars. Taking the withdrawal
of the first two lines as a full blown retreat, and sensing victory, the
British advanced headlong into the awaiting final line of disciplined
regulars which firmly held on the hill. Despite this, Tarleton sensed
he could still win with only one line of Americans left and sent his infantry
in for a frontal attack. In addition to this, the Highlanders were ordered to
flank the Americans. Under the direction of Howard, the Americans retreated.
Flushed with victory and now disorganized, the British ran after them.
Abruptly, Howard pulled an about-face, fired an extremely devestating volley
into his enemy, and then charged. Triplett's riflemen attacked, however,
severely damaging the British, and the cavalry of Washington and McCall
charged. Completely routed, the dragoons fled to their own rear. Having
dismantled Ogilvie's forces, Washington then also charged into the British.
When the British advanced was finally halted by the Continentals, the
American cavalry struck them on the right flank and rear, while the militia,
having re-formed, charged out from behind the hill to hit the British left. The shock of
the sudden charge, coupled with the reappearance of the American militiamen
on the flanks where Tarleton's exhausted men expected to see their own
cavalry, proved too much for the British. Caught in a clever double
envelopment, the British surrendered after suffering heavy losses. With
Tarleton's right flank and center line collapsed, there remained only the
71st Highlanders still fighting part of Howard's line. Tarleton, realizing
the desperate seriousness of what was occurring, rode back to his one remaining
unit, the Legion cavalry. Desperate to save something, Tarleton assembled a
group of cavalry and tried to save the two cannon he had brought with him,
but they had been taken, and so Tarleton decided to save himself. Tarleton
with a few remaining horsemen rode back into the fight, but after clashing
with Washington’s men, he too retreated from the field. He was temporarily
stopped by Colonel Washington, whose horse Tarleton shot out from under him
and thus made his escape. Aftermath Coming on the aftermath of the
American debacle at Camden, Cowpens, in its part in the Revolution, was a
surprising victory and a turning point that changed the psychology of the
entire war "spiriting up the people", not just those of the
backcountry Carolinas, but those in all the Southern colonies. As it was, the
Americans were encouraged to fight further and the loyalists and British were
demoralized. Its results—the destruction of an important part of the British
army in the south—were incalculable toward ending the war. Along with the
British defeat at Battle of King's Mountain, Cowpens was a decisive blow to
Cornwallis, who would have defeated much of the remaining American resistance
had Tarleton won Cowpens. As a result, the battle set in motion a series of
events leading to the pyrrhic victory at Guilford Court House and the
eventual Patriot victory at Yorktown. In the opinion of John Marshall, "Seldom
has a battle, in which greater numbers were not engaged, been so important in
its consequences as that of Cowpens." It gave General Nathanael
Greene his chance to conduct a campaign of "dazzling shiftiness"
that led Cornwallis by "an unbroken chain of consequences to the
catastrophe at Yorktown which finally separated America from the British
crown.". If the Battle of Cowpens had turned out differently,
Cornwallis probably would not have begun the Yorktown campaign, and the war
may have ended differently. Crest Motto: "Victoria Libertatis Vindex", Latin for
"Victory Vindicates Liberty". The phrase was originally inscribed
on a medal awarded to General Morgan by the French government for his
brilliant tactics and leadership at the Battle of Cowpens. |
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USS Cowpens (CG
63): |
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USS COWPENS deployed in 1996
for a six-month period to the Arabian Gulf as part of the KITTY HAWK Task
Group. |
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… and patches … |
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last update: 19-03-2008 |
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