Guided Missile Cruiser

DLGN / CGN 37  -  USS South Carolina

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - patch crest insignia

USS South Carolina CGN 37 guided missile cruiser - US Navy

USS South Carolina (CGN 37)

Type, Class:

 

planned and built as Guided Missile Frigate (DLGN);

reclassified to Guided missile Cruiser (CGN) - California class;

Builder:

 

Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, USA

STATUS:

 

Awarded: June 13, 1968

Laid down: December 1, 1970

Launched: July 1, 1972

Commissioned: January 25, 1975

Reclassified CGN 37 - June 30, 1975

Decommissioned: July 30, 1999

Fate: nuclear-powered ship recycling program; scrapping completed in 2007

Namesake:

 

named after the state of South Carolina

Ship’s Motto :

 

PREPARED IN MIND AND RESOURCES

Technical Data:

(Measures, Propulsion,

Armament, Aviation, etc.)

 

see: INFO >> Guided Missile Cruiser / California-class

LINKS:

 

Official US Navy site

 

ship images

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - California class guided missile cruiser - US Navy

Atlantic Ocean - October 9, 1997

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - Norfolk Naval Station 1994

Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia - July 2, 1994

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - California class guided missile cruiser - Norfolk, Virginia 1994

Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia - July 2, 1994

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia 1991

Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia - March 28, 1991

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - guided missile cruiser - US Navy

November 4, 1984

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - California class guided missile cruiser

underway - November 1, 1984

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - guided missile cruiser - US Navy

November 1, 1984

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - guided missile cruiser - US Navy

November 1, 1984

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - California class guided missile cruiser

underway - January 1, 1982

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - California class guided missile cruiser

January 1, 1982

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - California class guided missile cruiser

January 1, 1982

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - California class guided missile cruiser

January 1, 1982

 

 

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN 69 and USS South Carolina CGN 37

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) with USS South Carolina (CGN 37) in the background - January 1982

 

 

USS South Carolina CGN 37 - Hampton Roads 1980

Hampton Roads - December 22, 1980

 

 

USS South Carolina (DLGN/CGN 37):

 

1970-1979

South Carolina was launched in 1 July 1972 and commissioned as DLGN-37 in 25 January 1975. She was redesignated CGN-37 six months later in the Navy's major type realignment of 30 June 1975. South Carolina was built at Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Virginia.

The cruiser's first North Atlantic deployment was to the USS Nimitz Battle Group. After South Carolina participated in Exercise Solid Shield in the Caribbean and completed her first Mediterranean deployment in February 1977. The South Carolina in company with her sister ship, California, and Nimitz commenced a second Mediterranean deployment in November 1977 and returned to Norfolk, Virginia in July 1978.

South Carolina deployed again to the Mediterranean in January 1979 with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Battle Group.


1980-1989

In 1980, South Carolina deployed as part of the first Atlantic battle group to spend an entire deployment in the Indian Ocean. After a cruise to the Virgin Islands in November 1981, she was deployed in January 1982 for a six month deployment with Eisenhower.

In 1985, South Carolina began a new year by conducting preparatory exercises in the Caribbean. It was deployed to the Mediterranean in March and completed the deployment seven months and 46,500 miles later. South Carolina spent the majority of the deployment on station off Lebanon, in the wake of the hijacking of TWA Flight 847. The cruiser underwent her second extended maintenance period from October 1985 to June 1986. She departed in July 1986 for a North Atlantic cruise, and made port visits to Wilhelmshaven, Germany and Oslo, Norway. Upon her return to Norfolk, she commenced preparations for overseas deployment and got underway on 30 December 1986 with the Nimitz Battle Group. During this deployment, South Carolina returned to her station off Lebanon when British peace emissary Terry Waite was kidnapped in Beirut. In June 1987, just months after the USS Stark (FFG-31) was struck by Iraqi missiles, South Carolina was involved in a tense standoff with Libyan jets in the Gulf of Sidra. A major incident was averted by the use of high powered electronic warfare equipment to jam the jet's radars and Libya fired back only with diplomatic protest.

She conducted joint exercises, entered the Arctic Circle where crew members became a member of the Order of the Blue Nose, and had a port visit to Wilhelmshaven, Germany. She returned home in October, 1988 to make final preparations for deployment.

South Carolina deployed to the Mediterranean in December 1988 with the Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group. During this deployment, helicopters from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron NINE (HS-9) teamed up to rescue the fifteen British crew members from four yachts disabled by heavy weather.[1] The crew members' rescue was broadcast on television in France, Italy and the United Kingdom, and reported worldwide in newspapers. It returned to Norfolk on 30 June 1989, and began a four month availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard following a one month Caribbean visit in support of operations with Forrestal.


1990-1998

South Carolina departed 5 January 1990 for Limited Team Training in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The cruiser again set sail for the Caribbean on 12 March 1990 for law enforcement operations returning on 13 April 1990 having acted as Coast Guard, COMCARIBRON flagship and making two drug interdictions. South Carolina returned to the Caribbean in July for counter narcotics operations, where she served as flagship for Commander, Joint Task Group 4 and COMCARIBRON.

South Carolina departed 1 October 1990 for operations with the Saratoga Battle Group. Following a solo trans-Atlantic crossing, she transited the Suez Canal for the first time in her history. During Operation Desert Shield, she served as flagship for COMDESRON 24, the Maritime Interdiction Force Commander in the northern Red Sea. South Carolina conducted twenty-seven boardings during Maritime Interdiction Force operations. Admiral Frank Kelso, Chief of Naval Operations, visited the South Carolina on station 7 November 1990.

Upon completion of Maritime Interdiction Force operations, South Carolina was selected as the first nuclear powered warship to visit the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In January 1991 the South Carolina participated in operations in the Central Mediterranean with the Theodore Roosevelt and America Battle Groups.

It sortied early from Taranto, in Italy 17 January 1991 at the start of Operation Desert Storm. South Carolina acted as an Anti-Air Warfare Commander for the Mediterranean, protecting operation Silver Cloud air corridors and the approaches to the Suez Canal. South Carolina acted as on-scene commander and supervised the recovery of four survivors and 29 bodies from the sinking merchant ship Continental Lotus. South Carolina returned to homeport on 28 March 1991. South Carolina entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a Combat System New Threat Upgrade and refueling of both reactors and left the shipyard 30 March 1994 with a new lease on life.

Following nuclear refueling, she participated in Operation Able Vigil Forces to assist in the rescue and transport of thousands of Cuban migrants; its crew members were awarded the Coast Guard Commendation Medal.

South Carolina's first post-refueling deployment was to the Straits of Florida during October and November 1994 to rescue Cuban refugees who were fleeing their homeland in hopes of reaching the United States. South Carolina commenced workups in the spring in preparations for her next major deployment.

In the fall of 1995, she started her eleventh deployment. This cruise saw service off the coast of the former republics of Yugoslavia in support of Operations Deny Flight, Sharp Guard, and Decisive Endeavor, which was part of the overall NATO Operation Joint Endeavor. South Carolina acted as "Red Crown" and Air Warfare Commander in the Adriatic Sea, earning the NATO Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, and Armed Forces Service Medals. South Carolina returned to homeport in the spring of 1996. South Carolina completed all unit work-up phases and began fleet operations with the George Washington Battle Group in the spring of 1997. From April to June 1997 South Carolina conducted a COMPTUEX with the George Washington Battle Group coordinating and acting as Air Warfare Commander for the largest and most successful surface-to-air missile exercise in the Atlantic fleet. In August 1997, South Carolina participated in Fleetex and completed all preparations for deployment.

In October 1997, the cruiser began its final Mediterranean cruise visiting thirteen ports of call from Haifa, Israel to Naples, Italy and Rota, Spain. She served as the Sixth Fleet Air Warfare Commander and participated in three major NATO exercises. The ship returned to homeport Norfolk in April 1998. Just weeks after returning from the Mediterranean, South Carolina returned to sea for six weeks of Counter Narcotics operations in the South Western Caribbean.

The ship conducted its final port visit in Charleston, South Carolina between 10 August and 14 August 1998. South Carolina was deactivated on 4 September 1998 The last of the crew left in July 1999, with the exception of a small contingent to escort her through the Panama Canal and to Bremerton, WA where she entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on 1 October 1999. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 July 1999, and on 28 March 2000 ceased to exist.

Presently she is drydocked at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard going through the process of being cut up. Her keel landed on the resting blocks in Drydock #3 in October 2007 to complete the process.

 

patches

 

 

USS South Carolina DLGN 37 - patch crest insignia

 

 

 

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