Last Tuesday 27th August, 2024 the United States Navy Ticonderoga Class Guided Missile Cruiser USS COWPENS CG 63 was decommissioned after 33 years of service.
At Naval Station San Diego back to October, 1999.
She was launched on 11th March 1989 and commissioned on 9th March 1991 and is the second warship to be named after the Battle of Cowpens, a Revolutionary War battle in which colonial soldiers defeated British troops near Chesnee, S.C. Historians say the fight occurred close to pastures known as cow pens. In fact her nickname was known as the Mighty Moo and crews as the Thundering Herd.
Less than two years later she was commissioned, the ship fired 10 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Iraq, which had violated no-fly zone sanctions in the region as part of the USS Kitty Hawk battle group of which she was the first warship to launch Tomahawk missiles into Iraq, marking the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom — the campaign that brought down Saddam Hussein.
She is one of the last 13 Ticonderoga Class ships that the U.S. Navy plans to decommission in the coming years, marking the end of the operational life for these units, which were among the first in the fleet to operate the AEGIS combat management system with the last 2 units to be decommissioned during 2027.
On Friday 30th August at 0800 Pacific Daylight Time the Safeguard Class Rescue and Salvage Ship USNS GRASP T-ARS 51 together with Naval Base San Diego Tugs assisting towed her out to sea, enroute to Naval Station Pearl Harbor to serve as a Logistics Support Asset.
Archive photo of USS GRASP ARS 51 entering Grand Harbour, Malta back to April 1996.
