USS Cape St. George (CG-71)

USS Cape St. George (CG-71) is a laid down by the Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation at Pascagoula, Mississippi on 19 November 1990, launched on 10 January 1992 and commissioned on 12 June 1993. Cape St. George operates out of San Diego, California, and administratively reports to Commander, Naval Surface Forces Pacific.

Cape St. George is named for the World War II Battle of Cape St. George near New Ireland in Papua New Guinea where a US Navy destroyer force led by Captain Arleigh Burke defeated a Japanese destroyer force on 25 November 1943.

In March 2003 she was assigned to Cruiser-Destroyer Group Eight, and was operating with the US Atlantic Fleet.

In May 2005, Cape St. George became the first surface warship certified to use only digital nautical charts (DNC), instead of paper charts using the Voyage Management System (VMS). About 12,000 paper charts have been replaced by 29 computer discs. VMS is part of the Smart Ship Integrated Bridge System, which has been under development since 1990.

On 18 March 2006, she was involved in a firefight with suspected pirates, along with USS Gonzalez (DDG-66). The two US warships exchanged fire with the suspected pirates about 25 nmi off the coast of Somalia. Initial reports indicated that one suspected pirate was killed and five others wounded while Cape St. George took superficial damage from small arms fire during the action.

In March 2007, Seaman Richard Mott slashed the throat of Seaman Jose Garcia from behind as the 18-year-old ate breakfast on the berthing barge nested aside the ship while she was pierside at BAE Shipyards Norfolk, VA for repairs. Garcia was seriously injured but survived. On 7 November 2008, Mott was found guilty of attempted murder and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

In July 2007, Cape St. George departed Norfolk, VA in transit to her new homeport of San Diego, CA to support the realignment of naval forces following the 2006 Quadrennial Defense R eview.

On 17 October 2010, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and Cape St. George arrived off the coast of Pakistan to support the coalition troop surge in landlocked Afghanistan.

On 31 January 2011, Cape St. George responded to a distress call from a sinking Iranian dhow by dispatching a rescue team via a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB). The rescue team attempted to repair the dhow's dewatering pumps, but they were unable to stop the flooding. The Iranian fishermen were brought aboard Cape St. George where they were examined by the medical staff before being transferred to an Iranian customs vessel.