USS Leyte Gulf

USS Leyte Gulf on 22 February 2004
History
United States
Name	Leyte Gulf
Namesake	Battle of Leyte Gulf
Ordered	20 June 1983
Builder	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down	18 March 1985
Launched	20 June 1986
Commissioned	26 September 1987
Homeport	Norfolk
Identification	MMSI number: 368846000 Call sign: NLEG Hull number: CG-55
Motto	Arrayed For Victory
Status	in active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Ticonderoga-class cruiser
Displacement	Approx. 9,600 long tons (9,800 t) full load
Length	565 feet (172 meters) She lost 2 feet after colliding with USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
Beam	55 feet (16.8 meters)
Draft	34 feet (10.2 meters)
Propulsion	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines 2 × controllable-reversible pitch propellers 2 × rudders
Speed	32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Complement	30 officers and 300 enlisted
Armament	2 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems containing 122 × mix of: RIM-66M-5 Standard SM-2MR Block IIIB RIM-156A SM-2ER Block IV RIM-161 SM-3 RIM-162A ESSM RIM-174A Standard ERAM BGM-109 Tomahawk RUM-139A VL-ASROC 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon missiles 2 × 5 in (127 mm)/62 caliber Mark 45 Mod 4 lightweight gun 2 × Mk 38 25 mm Machine Gun Systems 2–4 × .50 in (12.7 mm) cal. machine gun 2 × Phalanx CIWS Block 1B 2 × Mk 32 12.75 in (324 mm) triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried	2 × MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS Mk III helicopters.

USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was named in memory of the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific. She is powered by four large gas-turbine engines, and she has a large complement of guided missiles for air defense, attack of surface targets at sea and ashore, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). In addition, she carries two "Seahawk" LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, whose primary mission is ASW.

Leyte Gulf was laid down by the Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation at Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 18 March 1985, launched on 20 June 1986, and commissioned on 26 September 1987 at Port Everglades, Florida.^[1][2]