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The Battle of Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781
effectively ended the American Revolution. Although the peace Treaty of Paris
was not formally signed for two more years, the surrender of Cornwallis's
army at Yorktown “turned the world upside down.”
The campaign was the culmination of cooperation between France and the young
United States, without which the outcome of the revolution would certainly
have been jeopardized. In the summer of 1781 Washington hoped to employ the
French army under the Comte de Rochambeau, which had landed at Newport in
1780, in a joint expedition against New York City. Washington hoped to use
the French West Indian fleet under the Comte de Grasse in the campaign as
well. Meanwhile British troops in Virginia under Lord Cornwallis and Benedict
Arnold, which had been gathered into a strength of about 7000, established a
base at Yorktown where Cornwallis could maintain open communications with the
British army in New York under General Clinton.
When Washington was informed that the French fleet would be available for
operations in the Chesapeake area, and that Cornwallis was in Yorktown, he
changed his objective from new York to Virginia. Washington began to march
his army and Rochambeau's troops to Virginia, but at first he deployed his
army in a manner that seemed to threaten New York to disguise his true
intentions. While he was marching southward de Grasse's fleet arrived off
Yorktown and fought a sharp battle with the royal navy under Admiral Thomas
Graves, causing Graves to retreat toward New York.
Washington and Rochambeau's armies, which in combination heavily outnumbered
the British, began the siege of Yorktown in late September, 1781. As
Cornwallis shortened his lines, Washington's forces dug their way in closer
and began pounding Cornwallis's Yorktown defenses with heavy artillery. After
an assault led by Colonel Alexander Hamilton had captured two strong points
on the British line, and with the French rather than the Royal Navy off the
coast, Cornwallis found himself in a hopeless position, and he opened
negotiations with Washington. The formal terms of the surrender were signed,
and on October 19, 1781 the British army laid down its arms. A week later
General Clinton arrived with reinforcements for Cornwallis, but it was too
late.
With the British having lost an entire army as well as having suffered
defeats at sea to the French navy, Parliament decided not to prosecute the
war any further and authorized the British government to begin to negotiate a
settlement with the Americans. Lord North resigned, and peace talks began in
Paris in April, 1782. American negotiators led by John Jay, Benjamin Franklin
and John Adams negotiated a settlement that eventually led to the formal
recognition of American independence with the Treaty of Paris. The victory at
Yorktown had sealed the revolution once and for all and ended British rule in
North America.
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Yorktown was commissioned on 4 July 1984 at
Yorktown, Virginia, and was designed to take advantage of the American Aegis
technology. She proceeded immediately to work ups for a major series of shock
trials. Among its various weapon systems are surface to air missiles (SAMs),
anti-ship/anti-submarine missiles, torpedo launchers, and a mounted cannon.
Yorktown's first deployment was from August 1985 to April 1986 and, among
other things, involved the Achille Lauro hijacker intercept, two Black Sea
excursions, and a trio of operations off the Libyan coast.
Yorktown received the Atlantic Fleet's "Top Gun" award for
outstanding Naval Gun Fire Support (NGFS) in 1987. During the second
deployment from September 1987 to March 1988, Yorktown participated in
numerous U.S. and NATO exercises, as well as multi- national exercises with
Morocco, France, West Germany, Tunisia, and Turkey. It was on this
Mediterranean deployment that Yorktown gained worldwide publicity from
operations conducted in the Black Sea as part of Freedom of Navigation
program. On 12 February 1988, while exercising the "right of innocent
passage" through Soviet territorial waters (a transit which, from an
operational standpoint, was not necessary), a Soviet warship
"Bezzavetniy" (Russian: "Беззаветный",
project 1135) intentionally collided with Yorktown and pushed it out of
Soviet territorial waters in what some observers have called "the last
incident of the Cold War.
In 1991, Yorktown was awarded the coveted "Old Crow's" award for
Electronic Warfare excellence. In 1992 Yorktown was honored with the Marjorie
Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for superb, sustained combat readiness.
Yorktown served as a stabilizing force during her third and fourth
Mediterranean deployments as the world watched the end of the Cold War and
the tremendous coalition victory in Operation Desert Storm. During the latter
of these two deployments Yorktown participated in the first U.S. military
exercises with the Romanian and Bulgarian navies, and played a key role in
Operation Provide Comfort, which provided humanitarian relief and security
for the Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq. In the summer of 1992, Yorktown
participated in BALTOPS '92. During this cruise, Yorktown made a highly
acclaimed port visit to Severomorsk, Russia, becoming the first U.S. ship to
visit that port since the end of World War II.
In 1993, Yorktown was awarded the Commander, Naval Surface Forces, Atlantic
Ship Safety Award for a superior safety record. Yorktown has also been
awarded two Navy Unit Commendations and a Meritorious Unit Commendation, and
is a four-time winner of the coveted Battle Efficiency "E".
Yorktown served as Flagship for Commander, Task Group 4.1, during
Counter-Drug Operations in the Caribbean in May - July 1993. In August 1993,
Yorktown participated in the joint military Exercise Solid Stance in the
North Atlantic. Yorktown's operations through the end of 1993 included an
October - November excursion to the Caribbean to support the United Nations
embargo of Haiti. In April - May 1994, Yorktown returned to the Caribbean as
Force Air Warfare Commander during joint Exercise Agile Provider. While in
the Caribbean, Yorktown served as Flagship for Commander, Destroyer Squadron
Six, coordinating a six ship, twenty-six missile exercise. In the Summer of
1994, Yorktown achieved a resounding score of 101 during Naval Gun Fire
Support (NGFS) qualification.
In August 1994, Yorktown set sail for the Adriatic Sea as Flagship for
Commander, Standing Naval Forces Atlantic in support of United Nations
embargo of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During this six month
deployment, Yorktown served as the Air Warfare Commander for the Adriatic
Sea, participating in a joint task force of ships from the United States and
eight European nations. In May - June 1995, Yorktown proceeded south to serve
as Air Warfare Commander for the Caribbean Sea in support of Counter-Drug
Operations.
In December 1995, the Smart Ship Project Office was created and USS Yorktown
was chosen as the prototype Smart Ship. The Smart Ship Program aims at
reducing manning while maintaining readiness through technological
installations and philosophy changes. The core technologies installed in
Yorktown are a 16 workstation fiber optic Local Area Network (LAN),
Integrated Bridge System (IBS), Voyage Management System (VMS), Damage
Control System (DCS), Integrated Conditioning and Assessment System (ICAS),
HYDRA wireless communication system, and Standard Machinery Control System
(SMCS).
In September 1996, Yorktown changed home ports from Norfolk, Virginia, to
Pascagoula, Mississippi, after being tasked primarily with supporting
operations in the Caribbean and South America.
In May 1997, Yorktown (with a reduced crew aboard) completed a five month
Counter Narcotic deployment in the Caribbean followed by test operations with
George Washington and her carrier battle group. During these periods Navy
Manpower and Analysis Center (NAVMAC) conducted a detailed review of manpower
requirements, and Operational Test and Evaluation Force (OPTEVFOR) verified
the ship's ability to meet all Required Operational Capabilities in the
Projected Operating Environment (ROC/POE) doctrine for Ticonderoga-class
cruisers.
On 25 September 1999 Yorktown departed Pascagoula for a four month Counter
Narcotics Deployment in the Caribbean. Before beginning patrolling efforts,
Yorktown embarked staff members from COMSECONDFLT. Supported by the helicopter
detachment, the Second Fleet staff surveyed and photographed another island
slated as a potential replacement for training exercises if the Navy is
unable to continue at Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. The ship made port calls
in Jamaica; Aruba; Cartagena, Colombia; Rodman, Panama; Manta, Ecuador; and
Cozumel, Mexico.
In 2000, the ship underwent a dry dock maintenance overhaul in Mobile,
Alabama.
As of late 2001, and since commissioning, USS Yorktown had completed five
Mediterranean deployments. The cruiser was last homeported in Pascagoula,
Mississippi. Yorktown was decommissioned on 3 December 2004. As of 2008,
Yorktown was scheduled to be dismantled in the next five years along with her
sisters Vincennes and Thomas S. Gates. Since her decommissioning Yorktown has
been berthed at the Naval Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility, Philadelphia,
Penn.
Smart ship testbed
From 1996 Yorktown was used as the test bed for the Navy's Smart Ship
program. The ship was equipped with a network of 27 dual 200 MHz Pentium Pro
based machines running Windows NT 4.0 communicating over fiber-optic cable
with a Pentium Pro based server. This network was responsible for running the
integrated control center on the bridge, monitoring condition assessment,
damage control, machinery control and fuel control, monitoring the engines
and navigating the ship. This system was estimated to save $2.8 million per
year by reducing the ship's complement by 10%.
In 21 September 1997 while on maneuvers off the coast of Cape Charles, Virginia,
a crew member entered a zero into a database field causing a divide by zero
error in the ship's Remote Data Base Manager which brought down all the
machines on the network, causing the ship's propulsion system to fail.
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