Guided Missile Cruiser
CG 73 - USS Port Royal
		USS Port Royal (CG 73)
Type, Class:		Guided Missile Cruiser; Ticonderoga (Baseline 4) - class; planned and built as CG 73;
Builder:		Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA
STATUS:		Awarded: February 25, 1988 Laid down: October 18, 1991 Launched: November 20, 1992 Commissioned: July 9, 1994 - Savannah, Georgia ACTIVE in Service / PACIFIC FLEET
Homeport:		Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Namesake:		named after and in honor of the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina; American Civil War, 1861
Ship’s Motto:		THE WILL TO WIN
Technical Data: (Measures, Propulsion, Armament, Aviation, etc.)		see: INFO >> Guided Missile Cruiser / Ticonderoga – Class
LINKS:		Official US Navy site
ship images
in dry dock – Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – September 24, 2009
in dry dock – Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – September 24, 2009
in dry dock after grounding off Honolulu on February 5 – Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – February 19, 2009
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Hawaii – February 9, 2009
USS Port Royal ran aground about a half mile south of the Honolulu airport on February 5 – February 7, 2009
USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93), USS Port Royal (CG 73), USS Lake Erie (CG 70), JDS Setogiri (DD 156), USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60), HMCS Regina (FFG 334) and USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) underway during RIMPAC 2008 – Pacific Ocean – July 29, 2008
Pacific Ocean – July 13, 2008
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – May 2, 2008
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – May 2, 2008
Pacific Ocean – January 25, 2006
off San Diego, California – January 13, 2006
USS Port Royal (CG 73), USS Ogden (LPD 5) and USS Germantown (LSD 42) – Pacific Ocean – December 13, 2005
Northern Arabian Sea – December 5, 2003
North Arabian Gulf – November 11, 2003
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – September 3, 2003
Operation Enduring Freedom – January 2, 2002
artwork from the USS Port Royal website
in dry dock – Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – undated
The Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina 1861
Samuel F. DuPont			Thomas W. Sherman		Josiah Tattnall
Namesake & History:
About the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina; American Civil War – November 1861:
The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War, in which a United States Navy fleet and United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, on November 7, 1861. Early in the war, the U.S. Navy had the responsibility of blockading the Southern coastline, but found this task difficult when forced to rely on fueling and resupply ports in the North for its coal-fired steamships. The Navy needed a deepwater harbor on the Southern coast if it was to be expected to maintain a year-round blockade of busy ports such as Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah. Port Royal Sound was probably the finest natural harbor on the Southern coast and was ideally suited for the role. An expedition to capture Port Royal Sound was organized in great secrecy. Flag Officer Samuel F. du Pont led the expedition of 74 wooden vessels, including transports for a land force of 12,000 men in three brigades, the Port Royal Expeditionary Force, commanded by Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman. It was the largest fleet the United States had amassed up to that time. The fleet sailed under sealed orders on October 29, 1861, from Hampton Roads, taking great pains to conceal its destination. However, Confederate intelligence somehow learned the secret. Three days later, on November 1, the defenders of Port Royal received a specific telegram: "The enemy's expedition is intended for Port Royal." On that same day the fleet ran into a gale off Cape Hatteras, approaching hurricane strength. Two ships went down and the crew of a third had to heave her guns into the sea to keep from foundering. By the next morning, the fleet had been completely scattered. Flag Officer du Pont noted from his flagship, USS Wabash, that almost no other masts of the fleet could be seen. The fleet began arriving off the entrance to the Sound on November 3. The battle commenced when they entered the Sound at 9:30 a.m., November 7. Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Drayton, the Confederate commander at Port Royal, wrote that there was "not a ripple upon the broad expanse of water to disturb the accuracy of fire from the decks of that magnificent armada." Port Royal Sound was defended by Fort Beauregard to the north, on Bay Point on Eddings Island, with 13 guns, and by Fort Walker on Hilton Head to the south, mounting 23 guns (although only 16 were operational in the battle). The forts were less than 3 miles apart across the Broad River, strongly built, and manned by gunners who had been alerted for over a week of the impending attack. The Confederates also had a flotilla under Commodore Josiah Tattnall of three tugboats, mounting one gun each, and a converted river steamer. Flag Officer du Pont divided his fleet into a main squadron of nine of the heaviest frigates and sloops in line, and a flanking squadron of five gunboats. The plan was to enter the Sound in parallel columns, the lighter squadron to starboard, and pass midway between the forts, receiving and returning the fire of both. Two miles beyond the entrance, the main force was to swing around to the south and come back west moving slowly past Fort Walker, maintaining the heaviest possible fire from their 123 guns, then around to the north and head back east, slowing again as they passed Fort Beauregard. The flanking squadron was to peel off and engage the Confederate flotilla or whatever targets of opportunity they came across while the main force had both forts under fire, widening the elliptical attack so is to bring its guns in closer on every turn. At the first turn of the Union fleet inside the Sound, Tattnall brought his four gunboats down the sound and let go several broadsides at the Wabash when she was within range. When fire was promptly returned, he retreated in the face of 14 gunboats to his immediate front and took up shelter in Skull Creek, 3 miles northwest of Fort Walker. As the fleet began its run to the east, it began to bombard the northern end of Fort Walker. The Confederate return fire was generally ineffective. The ships on their elliptical course were undergoing constant changes in speed, range, and deflection, making them hard to hit. Also, many of the shells would not fit the guns, the powder was inferior, and some of the guns were disabled by severe recoil. (Due to shortages of ammunition, the Confederate gunners had not had the luxury of target practice before the attack.) The fort had been designed to defend against an attack coming in from the ocean, not from inside the sound. Now it was receiving approximately 24 rounds per minute. The flanking squadron added its fire. On the second pass of the ellipse they came within 600 yards of Fort Beauregard, which by this time had only three guns left in working order. While rounding to the south to begin the third ellipse, du Pont received a message that Fort Walker had been abandoned. At 2:20 p.m. a naval landing party raised the Union flag over the ramparts and the Army transports delivered troops by nightfall to occupy the works. On Bay Point across the way, Fort Beauregard lowered its flag at sunset and the Army occupied it early the next morning. It had been a relatively easy victory. The Union casualties were 8 men killed and 23 wounded during the four hours of firing. The Confederates suffered 11 killed, 48 wounded, and 7 missing. Within the next three days the Union force moved up the rivers and inlets and occupied the colonial towns of both Beaufort and Port Royal. The day after the capture of Port Royal, General Robert E. Lee arrived in Savannah as the newly appointed commander of the South Atlantic coastal defenses. He regarded this assignment as "another forlorn hope expedition - worse than West Virginia" (where his Confederate military career had gotten off to a slow start with a lackluster campaign). The Union now had a defensible deepwater port some 50 miles from Charleston, the birthplace of secession. It would use the port for its intended purpose, resupplying the blockading fleet, but also as a jumping off point for land operations in South Carolina during the war.
USS Port Royal (CG 73):
The life of USS PORT ROYAL as an AEGIS cruiser began at Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Litton Industries in Pascagoula, MS, with the start of fabrication work on November 9, 1990. CG 73's keel was laid on October 18, 1991. CG 73 was launched on November 20, 1992, and was christened on December 5, 1992, by Mrs. Susan G. Baker, wife of then Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to the President, James A. Baker III. On December 6, 1993, PORT ROYAL sailed into the Gulf of Mexico for her first predelivery sea trials. The ship was delivered to the U.S. Navy by Ingalls on April 25, 1994, in preparation for formal commissioning ceremonies on July 9, 1994, in Savannah, GA. USS PORT ROYAL was one of the two US Navy ships to first receive TBMD system modifications and SM2 Block IV-A missiles, as part of the US Navy Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD). It was scheduled to conduct at-sea testing, develop core doctrine and tactics, and serve as focal points for developing the very latest theater ballistic defense technology. USS PORT ROYAL, along with USS LAKE ERIE (CG 70), has served as an operational unit for the development of doctrine and training, in addition to performance validation of the Navy Area TBMD Program. PORT ROYAL deployed in March 1996 as part of a battle group centered on the aircraft carrier USS NIMITZ to the waters near Taiwan. The NIMITZ battle group was the second carrier task force deployed to the area where tension were building over Chinese military exercises and missile tests just off Taiwan. In 1997, PORT ROYAL departed on its second deployment. She conducted surface and air defense operations for the USS NIMITZ battle group as it was operating in the Persian Gulf in support of the U.S. and coalition enforcement of the no-fly-zone over Southern Iraq. USS PORT ROYAL completed this second deployment in 1998. She supported Operation Southern Watch in the Arabian Gulf and participated in United Nations Maritime Interception Operations. USS PORT ROYAL enjoyed an historic port visit to Durban, South Africa, the first U.S. Navy ship to visit in over 25 years. While in Durban, more than 10,000 visitors toured the ship. USS PORT ROYAL underwent successful LINEBACKER sea trials at the Pacific Missile Range, Kauai, Hawaii, in the fall of 1998. PORT ROYAL was next scheduled to participate in at-sea TBM target tracking events that same fall. USS PORT ROYAL took part in the Northern Edge '99 Exercise. During Northern Edge '99, the Navy's Modeling and Simulation Center and the Army's Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab ran simulations which assessed the effectiveness of planned defenses against the missile threat. USS PORT ROYAL was connected to the TMD cell and shared warning information. In January 2000, PORT ROYAL left Pearl Harbor, HI, on its third WESTPAC deployment. During the deployment, the cruiser was part of the JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74) Battle Group and again operated in support of Operation Southern Watch. PORT ROYAL returned to Pearl Harbor, HI, in late June 2000. Following her return, USS PORT ROYAL entered dry dock on August 18, 2000, marking PORT ROYAL's first dry-docking since new construction in 1994. Repair of voyage casualties to the port hub and sonar dome were the hottest items for the dry dock period. Also accomplished during the dry-docking were numerous combat systems and quality of life upgrades. USS PORT ROYAL undocked from Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Dry Dock One on the evening of October 24, 2000, before conducting sea trials during a two-day underway at the end of the month. PORT ROYAL was afterwards scheduled to make a shakedown cruise to Tahiti, French Polynesia in November. USS PORT ROYAL conducted a Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS) FIREX I exercise off the southeast coast of San Clemente Island on the morning of May 9, 2001. The first series of missions were spotter service exercises which were primarily conducted to train new Marine Corps spotters. Upon completion of the spotter services, the FIREX I began. The ship's forward gun mount (MT51) fired 72 rounds before a gun-loading casualty rendered it inoperative. The following day, the aft gun mount (MT52) suffered a minor casualty to the lower hoist assembly. PORT ROYAL nevertheless executed the remaining five missions of the FIREX I which included a coordinated illumination mission. Following the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., USS PORT ROYAL departed Pearl Harbor, HI, on its fourth WESTPAC deployment on November 17, 2001. The cruiser was again assigned to the JOHN C. STENNIS Battle Group which deployed two months earlier than previously scheduled to provide support of Operation Enduring Freedom. After successfully completing COMPTUEX and JTFEX, PORT ROYAL deployed on September 03, 2003 with PELELIU Expeditionary Strike Group-One (ESG-1) in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). Following a highly successful deployment, PORT ROYAL returned to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on March 11, 2004.
patches
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