USS Anzio (CG-68)

USS Anzio (CG-68) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy, named for the site of a beachhead invasion of Italy by Allied troops from 22 January to 23 May 1944. Her keel was laid down by the Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation at Pascagoula, Mississippi on 21 August 1989. The ship was launched on 2 November 1990, and commissioned on 2 May 1992, under Captain H. Wyman Howard. Anzio operates out of Norfolk, Virginia.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Anzio.

USS Anzio underway
History
United States
Name: Anzio
Namesake: Battle of Anzio
Ordered: 16 April 1987
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down: 21 August 1989
Launched: 2 November 1990
Acquired: 10 February 1992
Commissioned: 2 May 1992
Homeport: Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
Identification:
Motto: "Stand and Fight" "God's Cruiser"
Status: SLEP (Service Life Extension Program)
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Ticonderoga-class cruiser
Displacement: Approx. 9,600 long tons (9,800 t) full load
Length: 567 feet (173 m)
Beam: 55 feet (16.8 meters)
Draft: 34 feet (10.2 meters)
Propulsion:
Speed: 32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Complement: 30 officers and 300 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

Etymology

The ship is named for the battle that took place at Anzio, Italy, the site of an Allied amphibious assault during Operation Shingle as part of the Italian Campaign of World War II. One other ship, Anzio, an escort carrier decommissioned after World War II, shares her name.

History
U.S. Navy sailors in flash gear man the helm during a general quarters drill aboard Anzio, June 2002.
Anzio anchored at Boothbay Harbor, Maine in June 2008.

2000s

On 6 April 2000, Anzio, along with another cruiser and the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, was participating in an exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, about 250 miles (400 km) off the coast of Israel. In an unannounced missile test, the Israel Defense Forces fired a Jericho-1 medium-range ballistic missile from a test facility in Yavne, which landed 40 miles (64 km) from the ship. The missile was detected by the ship's radar, and the crew briefly thought that they were under attack.[1][2]

On 9 January 2003, Anzio was pre-deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Ordered first to the eastern Mediterranean Sea for the initial phase of President George W. Bush's Shock and Awe strategy (during which the U.S. Navy deployed to defeat the Iraq military before ground forces were sent in). Once Anzio completed her mission in the eastern Mediterranean, she forward-deployed to the Persian Gulf. Once Anzio arrived in the Persian Gulf, she had marked her 45th straight day at sea. In the Persian Gulf, Anzio continued carrier-flight support operations and coastal surveillance. After President Bush announced major combat had concluded in the Iraq War, on 1 May 2003, Anzio was relieved of her duties, returning home on 3 July 2003, after 175 days at sea. In March 2003, she was assigned to Cruiser-Destroyer Group Eight.[3]

In 2004, Anzio participated at the annual Fleet Week in New York City. In January 2007, the warship was sent to the coast of Somalia to conduct anti-terrorist operations as part of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower task force.

While in the Arabian Sea on 22 November 2006 - the Japanese fast combat support ship Mashu (left) conducts a replenishment at sea with USS Anzio

On 16 February 2007, Anzio was awarded the 2006 Battle "E" award.[4]

Anzio was anchored and a participant for 'Windjammer Days' in Boothbay Harbor, Maine from 25 to 26 June 2008.

Anzio has served as the flagship of the Horn of Africa international anti-piracy Combined Task Force 151.[5] On 15 October 2009 a team from the cruiser working with United States Coast Guard personnel from Maritime Safety and Security Team 91104 seized a skiff carrying an estimated 4 tons of hashish worth an estimated $28 million about 170 nautical miles (310 km) southwest of Salalah, Oman.[6][7] The boarding team destroyed the drugs by dumping them into the ocean and released the skiff's crew.[8]

2010s

Anzio embarked Detachment 2 of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 46 (HSM-46) for operations in 2012.

Anzio was tentatively scheduled to be decommissioned and designated for disposal on 31 March 2013.[9] However, Anzio was retained under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.[10][11]

On 13 January 2016, ten U.S. Navy sailors were picked up by Anzio for transport and medical evaluations after being held in Iranian custody. The sailors were captured by Iran on 12 January 2016 after their two naval boats entered Iranian waters. "The evidence suggests that they unintentionally entered the Iranian waters because of the failure of their navigational system," Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Ramazan Sharif said on Press TV.[12] Anzio was also involved in a replenishment at sea operation with HMS Defender, USS Harry S. Truman, USS Ramage, USNS Pecos, and USNS Medgar Evers.[13]

2020s

In December 2020 the U.S. Navy's Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels stated that the ship was planned to be placed Out of Commission in Reserve in 2022.[14]

References
  1. Ricks, Thomas E. (2 May 2000). "Pentagon Questions Israeli Missile Test Near Navy". The Washington Post. p. 19. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2015 – via Federation of American Scientists.
  2. Toppan, Andrew (10 March 2003). "World Navies Today: US Navy Aircraft Carriers & Surface Combatants". Haze Gray & Underway. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  3. Ludwick, Paula M. (19 February 2007). "Surface Force Ships, Crews Earn Battle "E"". U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  4. Jones, Iain (13 August 2009). "U.S. Assumes Command of Counter-piracy Task Force". United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 14 August 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  5. Jones, Iain (21 October 2009). "USS Anzio Seizes 4 Tons of Narcotics". Military Daily News. Archived from the original on 25 February 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  6. "MSST 91104 stops drugs in Gulf of Aden". U.S. Coast Guard. 15 October 2009. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  7. "Navy seizes 4 tons of narcotics at sea". Stars and Stripes. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  8. "FY13 Projected Ship Inactivation Schedule". Bureau of Naval Personnel. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  9. "US Navy to retain four Ticonderoga-class cruisers in service". Naval Technology. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  10. "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013" (PDF). U.S. Government Publishing Office. p. 5. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  11. Brown, George (13 January 2016). "10 American sailors detained by Iran freed". WREG-TV. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  12. "Defender refuels for counter-Daesh operations". Royal Navy. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  13. "Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels" (PDF). Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. 9 December 2020. p. 16. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
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