USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) guided-missile cruiser was decommissioned in 2004 and the recycling contract has now been awarded to International Shipbreaking Limited, LLC., one of the world’s largest green ship recycling companies (part of EMR Metal Recycling).
The USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) concluded her final voyage to the Port of Brownsville, Texas on Wednesday 23 September, where full dismantling will commence with 98% of all removed materials being recycled.
In February 1980 the US Navy announced that the lead ship of a new class of Guided Missile Cruisers would be named Ticonderoga. This marked the fifth time in US Navy history that a ship would bear this historic name. USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) was built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, in Pascagoula Mississippi and delivered to the Navy on December 13, 1982.
She has an impressive service history and provided naval gunfire support off the coast of Lebanon on her maiden voyage in 1984. In 1986, she served as the lead ship crossing the ‘Line of Death’ off the coast of Libya and removed Surface to Air Missile batteries that had launched a SA-5 missile against an F-14 from USS America (CV 66). She was assigned to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) Battle Group and participated in; Operation Desert Shield in 1990, Operation Southern Watch (the enforcement of the no-fly zone over Iraq) and Operation Deny Flight, (the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone over Bosnia) in 1995. From 2001 to 2004, USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) participated in security and counter-narcotics operations out of homeport Pascagoula, Mississippi. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11 in 2001, she got underway the next day at 0800hrs to support Operation Noble Eagle (protecting airspace along the Gulf Coast).
International Shipbreaking Ltd, one of the world’s largest green ship recycling companies, has three specialist facilities located in Brownsville, Texas; New Orleans and Amelia, Louisiana. These specialised facilities have safely recycled over 400 ships and marine structures including: USS Tripoli (LPH 10), USS Constellation (CV-64), USS Ranger (CV-61) and USS Independence (CV 62). The USS Cape Florida (AK 5071) is currently being recycled.
Chris Green, Senior Manager at International Shipbreaking Ltd, said: “We take great pride in having been awarded the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) contract to recycle this historic vessel. The USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) has significant sentimental meaning to the men and women who served our country and spent a part of their lives with her. She will be recycled in a safe, respectful and environmentally responsible manner.”
The recycling contract, which requires complete demilitarization of the entire ship, is set for completion in 2021.
