USS California (CGN-36)

USS "California" (CGN-36), the lead ship of her class of nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser, was the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 31st state.

USS "California" and her sister ship USS|South Carolina|CGN-37|6 were equipped with two Mk-13 launchers, fore and aft, for the Standard Missile, one ASROC missile launcher, and two Mk-141 launchers for the RGM-84 Harpoon missiles. They were equipped with two 5"/54 caliber Mark 45 gun rapid-fire cannons, fore and aft. These two cruisers also had a unique arrangement aft of the superstructure, with a flight deck. There was also a full suite of anti-submarine warfare equipment. Thus, these ships were designed to face all threats, in the air, on the surface, and underwater.

History

The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 13 June 1968 and her keel was laid down on 23 January 1970. She was launched on 22 September 1971 sponsored with a "near miss" of the champagne bottle by First Lady of the United States Pat Nixon, and commissioned on 16 February 1974 by The Honorable James E. Johnson, Assistant Secretary, US Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), with Captain Floyd H. Miller, Jr., in command. She was commissioned as a frigate (DLGN); her designation was changed to cruiser (CGN) on 30 June 1975.

She represented the United States Navy in the 1977 Silver Jubilee naval review in Portsmouth, honoring Queen Elizabeth II. In 1980, she circumnavigated the globe, the first nuclear-powered warship to do so since the USS|Enterprise|CVN-65|6 and her task force in 1964.

Decommissioning

Decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 July 1999, "California" entered the Nuclear Powered Ship-Submarine recycling program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on 1 October 1998. Scrapping was completed on 12 May 2000.

In fiction

Author J. Lanier Yeates served aboard the USS "California" in 1974 and 1998. In 2005, he wrote "Bay of One Hundred Fires," an alternate history novel in which the "California" is overhauled and upgraded, and plays a key role in fighting Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, who has created a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.

References

External links

* [http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/CGN36.htm Naval Vessel Register - CGN-36]