The guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay was decommissioned Thursday after 36 years of service during a ceremony at Naval Base San Diego.
“The sailors of USS Mobile Bay demonstrated time and time again the resolve and readiness the surface force provides around the clock in support of our nation’s interests,” said Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander of Naval Surface Forces.
“Everywhere this ship and crew deployed, Mobile Bay sailors served their nation well, and lived up to the valor enshrined in the Battle of Mobile Bay,” Kitchener said.
The Ticonderoga-class cruiser was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and commissioned Feb. 21, 1987.
The Navy has begun to decommission its aging guided-missile cruisers as it builds increasingly advanced versions of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, the latest of which are as large as the old cruisers.
Commanded by Capt. Brandon J. Burkett, the Mobile Bay maintained a crew of 30 officers and 300 enlisted members at its decommissioning.
“It’s been an honor to be Mobile Bay’s last commanding officer,” said Burkett. “It is now my solemn responsibility as the ships final captain to order hauling down the colors and disembarking the crew.”
The warship’s operational history includes the 1989 evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, launching 22 Tomahawk missiles in support of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and launching missiles in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
It was the first warship named in honor of the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. The ship’s motto, “Full speed ahead,” was based on Adm. David Farragut’s famous command during the battle that began with “Damn the torpedoes.” The engagement delivered the last major Confederate port to Union control.
The Mobile Bay will be towed to the Navy’s inactive ships facility in Bremerton, Washington .