UNDERWAY! 2025 Wall Calendar / W.W. II SPECIAL EDITION NOW AVAILABLE - CLICK HERE |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For RATING SHIRTS - Click on your Rating Abbreviation below: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
U.S.S. ARKANSAS
(CGN-41)DEFENDER OF OPPORTUNITY
Click to view crew list
The USS ARKANSAS (CGN-41), a Virginia class cruiser, was commissioned on 18 OCT 1980. Built in Newport News, Virginia at Newport News Shipbuilding, USS ARKANSAS underwent extensive fit out and shakedown training in Hampton Roads and the VACAPES operating area. In early 1981 ARKANSAS sailed to Puerto Rico and returned for final fit out prior to underway qualifications and certifications. In April 1981, USS ARKANSAS stood out of Norfolk for the Caribbean and South Atlantic. Upon her return in June 1981, USS ARKANSAS spent the remainder of the year undergoing maintenance pier side. The first nine months of 1982 were spent in training, maintenance and exercises in the Caribbean, before she departed on her first and only "Med" in October. In May 1984 USS VIRGINA changed her homeport to Alameda, California. The final fourteen years of her career was spent attached to the Pacific fleet, deploying to the Western Pacific and on to the Indian Ocean / Persian Gulf when called upon. USS ARKANSAS served her country for 17 years, 8 months and 19 days, until decommissioned on 7 JUL 1998. USS ARKANSAS was disposed of by 1999 at the Nuclear-Powered Ships Recycling Program at Puget sound NSY, Bremerton, Washington.
The USS ARKANSAS (CGN-41) deployment history and significant events of her service career follow:
CGN-41 Deployments - Major Events
Add a CGN-41 Shellback Initiation | Add a CGN-41 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
JAN | 1977 | - | Keel Date: 17 JAN 1977 at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Newport News VA | ||
OCT | 1978 | - | Launch Date: 21 OCT 1978 | ||
OCT | 1980 | - | Commissioned: 18 OCT 1980 | ||
MAY | 1981 | - | Shellback Initiation - 25 MAY 1981 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
MAY | 1981 | - | Shellback Initiation - 5 MAY 1981 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
NOV | 1982 | - | MAY | 1983 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
JUN | 1984 | - | DEC | 1984 | Circumnavigation |
JAN | 1986 | - | AUG | 1986 | Mediterranean-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf |
JUL | 1986 | - | Shellback Initiation - 3 JUL 1986 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
JAN | 1989 | - | JAN | 1989 | Desert Shield |
MAY | 1991 | - | NOV | 1991 | Desert Storm |
NOV | 1991 | - | Shellback Initiation - 11 NOV 1991 - Pacific Ocean | ||
NOV | 1991 | - | Shellback Initiation - 7 NOV 1991 - Pacific Ocean | ||
JUN | 1994 | - | NOV | 1994 | Mediterranean-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf |
JUL | 1994 | - | Shellback Initiation - 31 JUL 1994 - Pacific Ocean | ||
MAY | 1996 | - | NOV | 1996 | Operation Deep Freeze |
MAY | 1996 | - | NOV | 1996 | West Pac-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf |
JUL | 1998 | - | Decommissioned: 7 JUL 1998 |
CGN-41 General Specifications
Class: Virginia class cruiser
Named for: State of Arkansas
Complement: 473 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 9473 tons
Length: 585 feet
Beam: 63 feet
Flank Speed: 30+ knots
Range: Unlimited distance
Final Disposition:Disposed of by Recycling 1 November 1999
USS ARKANSAS (CGN-41)
The fourth Arkansas
(CGN-41l) was laid down on 17 January 1977 at Newport News, Va., by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.; launched on 21 October 1978; sponsored
by Mrs. Dale Bumpers, the wife of United
States Senator Dale Bumpers, of
Arkansas; and commissioned on 18 October 1980, Capt. Dennis S. Read in command.
The guided-missile cruiser spent the
four months following her commissioning in
the vicinity of Hampton Roads, Va., clearing up details associated with her acceptance by the Navy and preparing for her shakdown cruise. Late in
February 1981, she made a brief
round-trip voyage to Puerto Rico and back and then resumed preparations for shakedown training. In
March, she completed contract trials
and conducted a public relations call at Port Everglades, Fla. April brought a series of underway qualifications and certifications. On 28 April, Arkansas
departed Norfolk to carry out
shakedown training in the West Indies. That cruise included more tests
and trials, port visits to several Caribbean
Islands and a swing south to call at Rio de Janeiro and Recife in Brazil. The
warship returned to Norfolk on 25 June and began post-shakdown availability at the Newport News Shipbuilding
Co. six days later. Arkansas completed repairs on 15 December and put to sea for three days of trials
before returning to port where
holiday routine occupied what little remained of 1981.
The warship did not
get underway again until three weeks into 1982. She put to sea on 22 January and shaped a course south to Key West, Fla., where she underwent explosive
shock tests. In the intervals between the
several tests, Arkansas visited Mayport
and Port Everglades for work on some of her equipment.
Returning north at the beginning of March, she entered the yard at the Newport News Shipbuilding Co. for two months of post-shakedown repairs. The
guided-missile cruiser conducted trials at sea on 3 and 4 May and then
returned to Newport News for another 11
days to correct minor deficiencies. She arrived back in Norfolk on 20 May and,
the next day, commenced local
operations out of her home port. Over the ensuing four months, Arkansas carried out a
schedule of training operations
conducted mostly off the Virginia capes. Two missions, however, took her south to the West Indies. From
23 June to 16 July she voyaged to
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for refresher training.
Between 24 September and 16 October, the warship served as escort for Nimitz (CVN-68) during an operational readiness exercise executed in the vicinity of Puerto
Rico.
Upon her return
to Norfolk in mid-October, Arkansas began preparations for her first tour of duty with the 6th
Fleet in the Mediterranean
Sea. The guided-missile cruiser embarked upon that assignment on 10 November 1982. She completed the
transatlantic voyage on 30 November, then
set out across the Mediterranean bound for the coast of troubled Lebanon. She
arrived on station near Beirut on 6 December.
Though Arkansas spent most of her
time supporting the multinational force ashore in its efforts to keep peace in
Lebanon, she left the eastern Mediterranean
occassionally for port calls and to participate in some of the 6th
Fleet's freedom-of-navigation maneuvers into the Gulf of Sidra off the coast of
Libya. The warship completed her final tour
on station near Lebanon on 4 May 1983 and laid in a course for Gibraltar. After a two-day visit to the
"Rock," Arkansas got underway
for Norfolk on 10 May.
The
guided-missile cruiser stood into her home port again at the end of the third
week in May. Norfolk, however, remained her home port only for the duration of
her post-deployment standdown period. On 8 July, Arkansas began the long
voyage to her new base of operations at
Alameda, Calif. Steaming by way of Port
Everglades in Florida and Charlotte Amalie in the Virgin Islands, she arrived in the Canal Zone on
21 July and transited the Panama Canal on the 22d. From there, the warship headed north to Alameda, reaching her destination
on 31 July. Arkansas spent the next five weeks at her new home port clearing
up incidentals attendant to the shift of bases and carried out nuclear
propulsion safety training.
Normal operations
at sea began again during the second week in September and occupied the guided-missile cruiser for the remainder
of 1983 and the first six weeks of 1984. Between 12 and 14 February 1984, Arkansas
made the passage from Alameda to Bremerton, Wash., where she entered the
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a three-month repair period. The warship returned to Alameda in mid-May and readied herself for a
deployment that became a circumnavigation of
the globe. On 1 June, Arkansas put to sea on the first leg of her long
voyage. En route to Hawaii, she participarted in the multinational exercise
Operation "RIMPAC 84." She spent the latter half of June conducting
exercises in the Hawaiian islands then resumed the voyage west on
2 July. Arkansas arrived at Subic Bay on 20 July and remained in the Philippines until the beginning of
August. At that time, she set out
for Hong Kong where she visited during the period 6 to 10 August.
From there, Arkansas
headed for the Indian Ocean. The guided-missile cruiser served almost three months in the Indian Ocean, primarily in that portion known as the Arabian Sea
where the protracted war between Iraq and revolutionary Iran
threatened to engulf their neighbors and
perhaps involve the superpowers as well. On 1 November, Arkansas entered
the Red Sea on her way to the Suez Canal. She passed through the canal on the 3d and, after an expeditious passage, stopped
at Toulon,France, from the 7th to the 12th.
Returning to sea on the 12th, the warship shaped a course through the Strait of
Gibraltar and across the
Atlantic. She rounded out her circumnavigation with calls at the Azores, Barbados, and St. Thomas. Arkansas
transited the Panama
Canal on 9 December and reached Alameda on the 17th.
Post-deployment
standdown kept her in port at Alameda through the end of 1984 and into February of 1985. Between 17 and
19 February, Arkansas sailed north to Bremerton for a four-month restricted availability during which
she was armed with Tomahawk cruise
missiles and the Phalanx close-in air defense system. Back at Alameda on 25 June, the guided-missile cruiser resumed training operations out of her
home port soon thereafter. The usual exercises, inspections and examinations kept her busy through the summer and fall of 1985.
On 7 December, the warship began
preparations for overseas movement.
The usual
year-end holiday leave and upkeep period interrupted
her efforts to get ready for the upcoming deployment, but the guided-missile cruiser put to sea as scheduled on 15 January
1986. Again she participated in exercises during the passage, stopped at Pearl Harbor, and spent only a brief period of
time in the western Pacific. By mid-March, after visits to Subic Bay and Singapore, she made her way across
the Indian Ocean to Karachi,
Pakistan. The guided-missile cruiser called at Karachi between 15 and 20 March then resumed her voyage to the
Arabian Sea. Once more, Arkansas patrolled the waters of the troubled
Middle East.
Her sojourn in the
Arabian Sea, however, lasted only until late April. On the 29th and the 30th, she transited the Suez Canal and headed for another hot spot. During the month
of May and June, Arkansas
served with Enterprise (CVN-65) and Truxtun (CGN-35) off the coast of Libya in the wake of the air strikes launched
on that country by the United States in reprisal for terrorist activity against
Americans. Arkansas left the Mediterranean at the end of June and shaped a course for Australia. She stopped at Fremantle between 18 and 22 July and then headed for Subic Bay where she laid over for two days at
the end of the month.
From there, the warship headed for Pearl Harbor where she paused overnight on 8 and 9 August. She
arrived back in her home port
on 13 August. Arkansas remained at Alameda until late September for the leave and upkeep period
that usually follows an
extended tour of duty overseas. Early in October the warship resumed local operations along the west
coast. She remained so occupied for the rest of 1986
[Note: The above USS ARKANSAS (CGN-41) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS ARKANSAS (CGN-41), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]