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USS Bainbridge (CGN-25)
Encyclopedia
USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25/CGN-25) was the only ship of her class
. Initially a guided missile
destroyer leader in the United States Navy
, she was re-designated as a guided missile cruiser in 1975. This ship was nuclear-powered
.
at Fore River Shipyard
at Quincy, Massachusetts
. Commissioned in October 1962, she shook down off the East Coast and in the Caribbean
area until February 1963, when she began her first Mediterranean deployment. This included demonstrations of her long-range high-speed dash capabilities and operations with the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier . Bainbridge returned to the Mediterranean Sea
in May 1964, this time joining Enterprise and the guided missile cruiser to form the all-nuclear-powered Task Force 1. At the end of July the three ships began Operation "Sea Orbit"
, a two-month unrefueled cruise around the world.
In October 1965 Bainbridge again rounded Cape Agulhas
, en route to the Western Pacific for the first of eleven Seventh Fleet cruises. Operating for much of this deployment off strife-torn Vietnam
, she screened aircraft carriers, served as a radar-picket ship, and performed search and rescue missions. In June the frigate crossed the Pacific to her new home port, Long Beach, California
. Her next five Far Eastern tours, in 1966–67, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972–73, also involved Vietnam War
combat operations, as well as voyages to Australia
and, beginning in 1970, the Indian Ocean
. In 1967–1968 Bainbridge underwent shipyard overhaul and her first nuclear refueling
. The ship's seventh trip to the Far East
, beginning in November 1973, included a lengthy visit to the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea
, a locale that would become very familiar in the coming decades.
The Bainbridge received an extensive modernization and refueling between June 1974 and September 1976, with post-overhaul work lasting until April 1977. While in the shipyard, at the end of June 1975, she was reclassified from frigate (destroyer leader) to cruiser, receiving the new designation CGN-25. Her next Seventh Fleet deployment ran from January to August 1978 and included visits throughout the region, from Japan
and Korea
to Thailand
and Singapore
, with her homeward-bound voyage taking her to Australia
and through the South Pacific
. Bainbridge made three more WestPac tours, in 1979–80, 1981 and 1982–83. Each of them involved extensive operations in the Indian Ocean
and Arabian Sea.
In 1982 she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award
.
After receiving her final nuclear refueling overhaul in 1983–85, Bainbridge left the Pacific after two decades, transited the Panama Canal
and rejoined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet
. Her operations thereafter included counter-drug smuggling patrols in the Caribbean
, several deployments to northern European waters and four Mediterranean cruises (1986–87, 1988–89—including combat operations off Libya
, 1991–92—with a Red Sea
and Persian Gulf
tour, and 1994 as Standing Naval Force Atlantic
(STANAVFORLANT).
The 1994 deployment supported United Nations
resolutions that became part of Operation Sharp Guard
, which enforced sanctions against the Former Republic of Yugoslavia
. During these operations, she safely conducted over 100 boardings of merchant vessels to inspect for illegal cargo shipments. Bainbridge also supported Operation Deny Flight
, where she acted as "REDCROWN" coordinating the air warfare environment over Bosnia. Bainbridge's AAW
suite could provide almost complete radar coverage of the airspace over Bosnia and the Adriatic. With her SM-2
ER missiles, she could engage over 16 aircraft or cruise missiles simultaneously at ranges in excess of 75 nautical miles (138.9 km).
in mid-1997, and in October of that year entered dry dock to begin "recycling," the process by which nuclear-powered warships are scrapped.
Bainbridge class cruiser
' was a nuclear-powered version of the double-ended guided missile frigate. Originally a guided missile destroyer leader, the class was re-designated guided missile cruiser in 1975...
. Initially a guided missile
Guided Missile
Guided Missile is a London based independent record label set up by Paul Kearney in 1994.Guided Missile has always focused on 'the underground', preferring to put out a steady flow of releases and developing the numerous GM events around London and beyond....
destroyer leader in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, she was re-designated as a guided missile cruiser in 1975. This ship was nuclear-powered
Nuclear marine propulsion
Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship by a nuclear reactor. Naval nuclear propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval warships...
.
Construction
Bainbridge was designed and built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding CorporationBethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when Bethlehem Steel Corporation acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works in 1905...
at Fore River Shipyard
Fore River Shipyard
The Fore River Shipyard of Quincy, Massachusetts, more formally known as the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, was a shipyard in the United States from 1883 until 1986. Located on the Weymouth Fore River, the yard began operations in 1883 in Braintree, Massachusetts before being moved...
at Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
. Commissioned in October 1962, she shook down off the East Coast and in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
area until February 1963, when she began her first Mediterranean deployment. This included demonstrations of her long-range high-speed dash capabilities and operations with the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier . Bainbridge returned to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
in May 1964, this time joining Enterprise and the guided missile cruiser to form the all-nuclear-powered Task Force 1. At the end of July the three ships began Operation "Sea Orbit"
Operation Sea Orbit
Operation Sea Orbit was the 1964 around-the-world cruise of the United States Navy's Task Force One, consisting of USS Enterprise , USS Long Beach , and USS Bainbridge . This all-nuclear-powered unit steamed 30,565 miles unrefuelled around the world for sixty-five days.The cruise began on July 31...
, a two-month unrefueled cruise around the world.
History
Cape Agulhas
Cape Agulhas is a rocky headland in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the official dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, en route to the Western Pacific for the first of eleven Seventh Fleet cruises. Operating for much of this deployment off strife-torn Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, she screened aircraft carriers, served as a radar-picket ship, and performed search and rescue missions. In June the frigate crossed the Pacific to her new home port, Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
. Her next five Far Eastern tours, in 1966–67, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972–73, also involved Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
combat operations, as well as voyages to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and, beginning in 1970, the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. In 1967–1968 Bainbridge underwent shipyard overhaul and her first nuclear refueling
Refueling and Overhaul
In the United States Navy, Refueling and Overhaul refers to a lengthy process or procedure performed on nuclear-powered Naval ships, which involves replacement of expended nuclear fuel with new fuel and a general maintenance fix-up, renovation, and often modernization of the entire ship...
. The ship's seventh trip to the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
, beginning in November 1973, included a lengthy visit to the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
, a locale that would become very familiar in the coming decades.
The Bainbridge received an extensive modernization and refueling between June 1974 and September 1976, with post-overhaul work lasting until April 1977. While in the shipyard, at the end of June 1975, she was reclassified from frigate (destroyer leader) to cruiser, receiving the new designation CGN-25. Her next Seventh Fleet deployment ran from January to August 1978 and included visits throughout the region, from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
to Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, with her homeward-bound voyage taking her to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and through the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
. Bainbridge made three more WestPac tours, in 1979–80, 1981 and 1982–83. Each of them involved extensive operations in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
and Arabian Sea.
1980s-1990s
Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award
The Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award is presented annually by the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Operations to one ship in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and one in the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
.
After receiving her final nuclear refueling overhaul in 1983–85, Bainbridge left the Pacific after two decades, transited the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and rejoined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet
U.S. Atlantic Fleet
The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...
. Her operations thereafter included counter-drug smuggling patrols in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, several deployments to northern European waters and four Mediterranean cruises (1986–87, 1988–89—including combat operations off Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, 1991–92—with a Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
tour, and 1994 as Standing Naval Force Atlantic
Standing NRF Maritime Group 1
Standing NATO Maritime Group One is one of NATO's standing maritime Immediate Reaction Forces. Prior to 1 January 2005 it was known as Standing Naval Force Atlantic...
(STANAVFORLANT).
The 1994 deployment supported United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
resolutions that became part of Operation Sharp Guard
Operation Sharp Guard
Operation Sharp Guard was a multi-year joint naval blockade in the Adriatic Sea by NATO and the Western European Union on shipments to the former Yugoslavia. Warships and maritime patrol aircraft from 14 countries were involved in searching for and stopping blockade runners.The operation began on...
, which enforced sanctions against the Former Republic of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. During these operations, she safely conducted over 100 boardings of merchant vessels to inspect for illegal cargo shipments. Bainbridge also supported Operation Deny Flight
Operation Deny Flight
Operation Deny Flight was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization operation that began on April 12, 1993 as the enforcement of a United Nations no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina...
, where she acted as "REDCROWN" coordinating the air warfare environment over Bosnia. Bainbridge's AAW
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
suite could provide almost complete radar coverage of the airspace over Bosnia and the Adriatic. With her SM-2
RIM-67 Standard
The RIM-67 Standard ER is an extended range surface-to-air missile and anti ship missile originally developed for the United States Navy...
ER missiles, she could engage over 16 aircraft or cruise missiles simultaneously at ranges in excess of 75 nautical miles (138.9 km).
Decommissioning
Deactivated in October 1995, Bainbridge decommissioned in September 1996. She was towed to Bremerton, WashingtonBremerton, Washington
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...
in mid-1997, and in October of that year entered dry dock to begin "recycling," the process by which nuclear-powered warships are scrapped.