USS Antietam (CG-54)

USS Antietam (CG-54) is a Ticonderoga-class cruiser guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy. Antietam was named for the site of the 1862 Battle of Antietam, Maryland, between Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee and Union forces under Major General George McClellan, during the American Civil War. She was built by the Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation at Pascagoula, Mississippi and commissioned on 6 June 1987. USS Antietam earned the 2007 and 2008 Battle Efficiency awards, also known as the Battle E award, for the USS John C. Stennis Strike Group.

Construction
The USS Antietam was laid down by the Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation at Pascagoula, Mississippi on 15 November 1984, launched on 14 February 1986, and commissioned on 6 June 1987 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Capability
With her guided missiles and rapid-fire guns, she is capable of facing and defeating threats in the air, on the sea, on the shore, and beneath the sea. She also carries two Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS helicopters, capable of multiple missions, but primarily equipped for anti-submarine warfare [ASW].

Tours
From 1988 to 1991 the ship was assigned to Naval Surface Group, Long Beach, which was part of Commander, Naval Surface Forces Pacific.

In March 2003 Antietam was assigned to Carrier Group Three.

The USS Antietam operates out of her home port of San Diego, Calif. She recently completed a six month deployment, leaving San Diego in January 2009, and returning home in July 2009. Stops along the way included Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Guam, and Hawaii.

From January to August 2007 the USS Antietam deployed to the Persian Gulf. During that seven month deployment she visited Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Pearl Harbor before returning to home port.

From February to August 2005 USS Antietam completed a circumnavigation of the Earth, leaving San Diego to the west and returning home by way of the east. During the deployment she had an extended stay in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. On the return to home port she disembarked nearly a third of her active personnel in Florida to make room for family and friends of the remaining crew who embarked in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to take part in a Tiger Cruise back to San Diego.

In February 05, 2013, she completed a "hull swap" with USS Cowpens, and is now homeported in Yokosuka, Japan.