_2002.jpg) USSYorktown on 24 February 2002 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Yorktown |
| Namesake | Battle of Yorktown |
| Ordered | 28 April 1980 |
| Builder | Ingalls Shipbuilding |
| Laid down | 19 October 1981 |
| Launched | 17 January 1983 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. Mary Mathews |
| Commissioned | 4 July 1984 |
| Decommissioned | 10 December 2004 |
| Stricken | 10 December 2004 |
| Identification |
|
| Motto | Victory is our tradition |
| Fate | Scrapped |
| Badge |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Ticonderoga-classcruiser |
| 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 & processing systems |
|
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | 2 ×MH-60R SeahawkLAMPS Mk III helicopters. |
USSYorktown (DDG-48/CG-48) was aTiconderoga-classcruiser in theUnited States Navy from 1984 to 2004, named for theAmerican Revolutionary WarBattle of Yorktown.
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Yorktown was launched 17 January 1983 and wassponsored by Mrs. Mary Matthews, widow of Nick Matthews, a prominent citizen ofYorktown, Virginia.[1]Yorktown was commissioned on 4 July 1984 atYorktown, Virginia, and was designed to take advantage of the AmericanAegis technology. Among her various weapon systems weresurface to air missiles (SAMs), anti-ship/anti-submarine missiles,torpedo launchers, and a mountedcannon.Yorktown's first deployment was from August 1985 to April 1986 and, among other things, involved theAchille Lauro hijacker intercept, twoBlack Sea excursions (in1986 and1988), and a trio of operations off theLibyan coast includingOperation El Dorado Canyon andOperation Attain Document andPrairie Fire.
Yorktown received the Atlantic Fleet's "Top Gun" award for outstandingnaval gunfire support in 1987. During the second deployment from September 1987 to March 1988,Yorktown participated in numerous U.S. andNATO exercises, as well as multi-national exercises withMorocco, France,West Germany, Tunisia, andTurkey. It was on this Mediterranean deployment thatYorktown gained worldwide publicity from operations conducted in the Black Sea as part ofFreedom of Navigation program.[2] On 12 February 1988, whileYorktown was exercising the "right ofinnocent passage" through Soviet territorial waters, the SovietBurevestnik-classfrigateBezzavetnyy (Russian:Беззаветный) intentionallycollided withYorktown with the intention of pushing her out of Soviet territorial waters.[3] TheAssistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs at the time,Richard L. Armitage, acknowledged that the transit was not operationally necessary, but asserted that it was still a valid innocent passage under international law.[4]
In 1991,Yorktown was awarded the coveted "Old Crow's" award forelectronic warfare excellence.[citation needed] In 1992Yorktown was honored with theMarjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for superb, sustained combat readiness.[citation needed]
Yorktown conducted her third and fourth Mediterranean deployments as the world watched the end of the Cold War and the coalition victory inOperation Desert Storm. During the latter of these two deploymentsYorktown participated in the first U.S. military exercises with theRomanian andBulgarian navies, and played a key role inOperation Provide Comfort, which provided humanitarian relief and security for the Kurdish refugees in northernIraq. In the summer of 1992,Yorktown participated inBALTOPS '92. During this cruise,Yorktown made a highly acclaimed port visit toSeveromorsk, Russia, becoming the first U.S. ship to visit that port since the end of World War II.
In 1993,Yorktown was awarded the Commander, Naval Surface Forces, Atlantic Ship Safety Award for a superior safety record.Yorktown has also been awarded twoNavy Unit Commendations and aMeritorious Unit Commendation, and is a four-time winner of the coveted Battle Efficiency "E".
Yorktown served asFlagship for Commander, Task Group 4.1, during counter-drug operations in the Caribbean in May–July 1993. In August 1993,Yorktown participated in the joint military exercise Solid Stance in theNorth Atlantic.Yorktown's operations through the end of 1993 included an October–November excursion to the Caribbean to support theUnited Nations embargo ofHaiti. In April–May 1994,Yorktown returned to the Caribbean as Force Air Warfare Commander during joint Exercise Agile Provider. While in the Caribbean,Yorktown served as flagship for Commander, Destroyer Squadron Six, coordinating a six-ship, twenty-sixmissile exercise. In the summer of 1994,Yorktown achieved a resounding score of 101 during naval gunfire support qualification.
In August 1994Yorktown set sail for theAdriatic Sea as flagship for Commander,Standing Naval Force Atlantic, in support of the United Nations embargo of theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia. During this six-month deployment,Yorktown served as the Air Warfare Commander for the Adriatic Sea, participating in a joint task force of ships from the United States and eight European nations. In May–June 1995,Yorktown proceeded south to serve as Air Warfare Commander for the Caribbean Sea in support of counter-narcotics operations.
In May 1997Yorktown (with a reduced crew aboard) completed a five-month counter-narcotic deployment in the Caribbean followed by tests withGeorge Washington and her accompanyingCruiser-Destroyer Group 2. During these periods Navy Manpower and Analysis Center (NAVMAC) conducted a detailed review of manpower requirements, and theOperational Test and Evaluation Force verified the ship's ability to meet all required operational capabilities in the projected operating environment doctrine forTiconderoga-class cruisers.
On 21 September 1997, adivision by zero error on board theYorktownRemote Data Base Manager brought down all the machines on the network, causing the ship's propulsion system to fail.[5][6]
On 25 September 1999Yorktown departed Pascagoula for a four-month counter-narcotic deployment in the Caribbean. Before beginning patrolling efforts,Yorktown embarked staff members from Commander,Second Fleet. Supported by the helicopter detachment, the Second Fleet staff surveyed and photographed another island being considered as a potential replacement for training exercises if the Navy was unable to continue atVieques Island,Puerto Rico. The ship made port calls inJamaica,Aruba,Cartagena,Rodman,Manta andCozumel. During this deployment,Yorktown was the last U.S. warship to transit the Panama Canal prior to it being turned over to Panama.
Yorktown wasdecommissioned and struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 10 December 2004. As of 2008, she was scheduled to be dismantled in the next five years along with her sistershipsVincennes andThomas S. Gates.[7] Since her decommissioning,Yorktown has been berthed at theNaval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.[1][8]
On 16 September 2022,Yorktown was removed from the Philadelphia NIMSF and began her journey toBrownsville, Texas, where she will be scrapped.[9] She arrived in Brownsville on 29 November 2022.[10]
From 1996Yorktown was used as the testbed for the Navy's Smart Ship program. The ship was equipped with a network of 27 dual 200 MHzPentium Pro-based machines runningWindows NT 4.0 communicating over fiber-optic cable with a Pentium Pro-based server. This network was responsible for running the integrated control center on the bridge, monitoring condition assessment, damage control, machinery control and fuel control, monitoring the engines and navigating the ship. This system was predicted to save $2.8 million per year by reducing the ship's complement by 10%.
On 21 September 1997, while on maneuvers off the coast ofCape Charles, Virginia, a crew member entered a zero into a database field causing an attempteddivision by zero in the ship's Remote Data Base Manager, resulting in abuffer overflow which brought down all the machines on the network, causing the ship's propulsion system to fail.[5]
Anthony DiGiorgio, a civilian contractor with a 26-year history of working on Navy control systems, reported in 1998 thatYorktown had to be towed back toNorfolk Naval Station. Ron Redman, a deputy technical director with the Aegis Program Executive Office, backed up this claim, suggesting that such system failures had requiredYorktown to be towed back to port several times.[11]
In the 3 August 1998 issue ofGovernment Computer News, a retraction by DiGiorgio was published. He claims the reporter altered his statements, and insists that he did not claim theYorktown was towed into Norfolk.GCN stands by its story.[12]
Atlantic Fleet officials also denied the towing, reporting thatYorktown was "dead in the water" for just 2 hours and 45 minutes.[11] Captain Richard Rushton, commanding officer ofYorktown at the time of the incident, also denied that the ship had to be towed back to port, stating that the ship returned under its own power.[13]
Atlantic Fleet officials acknowledged that the Yorktown experienced what they termed "an engineering local area network casualty".[11] "We are putting equipment in the engine room that we cannot maintain and, when it fails, results in a critical failure," DiGiorgio said.[11]
Criticism of operating system choice ensued. Ron Redman, deputy technical director of the Fleet Introduction Division of the Aegis Program Executive Office, said that there have been numerous software failures associated with NT aboard the Yorktown.[11]
Because of politics, some things are being forced on us that without political pressure we might not do, like Windows NT. If it were up to me I probably would not have used Windows NT in this particular application ... Refining that is an ongoing process ...Unix is a better system for control of equipment and machinery, whereas NT is a better system for the transfer of information and data. NT has never been fully refined and there are times when we have had shutdowns that resulted from NT.
— Ron Redman[11]
  |   |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromYorktown (CG-48) at theNaval Vessel Register.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1986 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1988 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
