| The contract to build California was awarded to the Newport
News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. on 13 June 1968; Kell laid 23 January
1970; Launched 22 September 1971; Delivered to the USN 7 February 1974 and
commissioned 16 February. was |
| Built as the first of a new class nuclear-powered guided missile
frigates, she was also the first ship named under the new policy of assigning
names of states of the union to major nuclear-powered surface combatants.
|
| A fast, highly maneuverable destroyer, whose mission is to operate
as an element of a fast carrier task force, or independently to detect and
destroy any threats by hostile forces, her twin reactors give the ship
essentially unlimited endurance, she can sustain high speeds for long periods
of time and is capable of conducting extended extended operations in combat
areas far from supply bases. |
| Although California was designed, built, and commissioned
as a Guided Missile Frigate (DLGN), International Standards condsidered her
to be too large and too well armed to be part of the Destroyer Class. Therefore,
on June 30, 1975, she was re-classified as a Guided Missile Cruiser
(CGN). |
| For ten years, USS California, the sixth ship to bear the
name, steamed the Atlantic and Indian Oceans as well as the Mediterranean
Sea from this homeport, serving three times with the Sixth Fleet and twice
with the Seventh Fleet. Her first Mediterranean Cruise was from July 1976
to February 1977. |
| In the summer of 1977, California represented the United
States Surface Fleet at the Silver Jubilee Review in Portsmouth, England.
More than 150 warships from 18 nations participated in this commemoration
of the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. |
| Two years later, reactionary Moslems intensified their revolt
against the Shah of Iran. Following seizure of the U. S. Embassy in Iran,
California, along with USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and USS
Texas (CGN 39),
interrupted a routine Mediterranean cruise to steam from Livorno, Italy,
to the southern coast of Iran in the North Arabian Sea. The all-nuclear task
group completed the 12,000-mile transit in only eighteen days, remained on
station in the Indian Ocean for the next five months, and eventually returned
to Norfolk from the 80,000-mile, nine-month deployment in May of 1980. |
| The following year, California completed its second Indian
Ocean cruise. Upon returning to Norfolk via the Panama Canal, the cruiser
became the first nuclear-powered surface ship to circumnavigate the globe
since the USS Enterprise task force completed Operation Sea Orbit
in 1964. |
| In September 1983, the "Golden Grizzly" left Norfolk for the
last time, steaming through the Panama Canal to its new homeport, Naval Air
Station, Alameda, California. The ship embarked on its first Western Pacific
and Indian Ocean cruise in February 1985 as a member of the USS Constellation
(CV 64) battle group. During the spring of 1986, California conducted
several weeks of Bering Sea operations and became the first cruiser to visit
Adak, Alaska, since World War II. She again deployed to the Western Pacific
and completed a second "Around-the-World" cruise in 1987. |
| The year 1988 brought continued high-tempo operations as
California cruised the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans for a third
time. The ship served as battle group Anti-Surface Warfare Commander during
the RIMPAC 88 exercise as well as for Olympic Presence Operations off the
Korean Peninsula. Subsequently, during her 1988-1989 deployment,
California assumed duties as Anti-Air Warfare Commander for operations
in the North Arabian Sea and Arabian Gulf. While assigned patrol duties in
the Strait of Hormuz in December 1988, California conducted the last
USN Earnest Will convoy mission through the strait. |
| The summer of 1989 saw California tasked with Northern
Pacific operations as part of a CNO project to study the effects of Near-Land
Operating Areas on carrier battle group operations. In September and October
of 1989, the "Golden Grizzly" participated as an anti-air-warfare picket
ship in PACEX 89, the largest combined sailing of U. S. and allied naval
units since World War II. |
| In April 1990, California entered the Puget Sound Naval
Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington for a three-year refueling complex overhaul,
including two new D2G high endurance reactor cores in her engineering plant
with adequate fuel capacity to power the ship for more than 20 years of normal
operations, and the New Treat Upgrade Combat Systems Suite. Upon completion
of the overhaul in January 1993, California began a series of exercises
and evaluations in preparation for deployment. These included independent
training in all aspects of its mission as well as coordinated battle group
exercises. |
| In June 1994, California joined the USS Kitty Hawk
battle group in the Western Pacific for the ship's first deployment in five
years. California exchanged personnel with the Republic of Korea Navy
for a combined exercise and with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force
for ANNUALEX 06G and KEEN EDGE 95. The cruiser also took part in a LINKEX
exercise with United States forces in and near Korea, establishing the most
extensive tactical data link ever in this region. The deployment wrapped
up with participation in TANDEM THRUST 95, a joint exercise with the armed
forces of the United States, Australia, and several allied nations.
California then returned to her home at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
just before Christmas 1994. |
| In 1995, California completed a four-month maintenance
availability, improving the reliability of her propulsion plant and updating
her combat systems. In September 1995, the "Golden Brizzly" sailed in a parade
of ships through Pearl Harbor as part of the ceremony commemorating the end
of World War II. |
| In May 1996, California left for the Western Pacific and
Indian Oceans and the Arabian Gulf on a routine six-month deployment with
the USS Carl Vinson Battle Group. California received the
Meritorious Unit Commendation for operations SOUTHERN WATCH and DESERT STRIKE
for shared duties as Air Warfare Commander for the Carl Vinson Battle
Group. |
| Having completed a short but intense maintenance period in the
spring of 1997, California conducted a series of training operations
and evaluations including a live-fire missile exercise, and Operational Reactor
Safeguards Examination, and a Final Evaluation Period. California
was awarded the Battle Efficiency Award for outstanding operational readiness
throughout 1997. |
| In January 1998, California deployed to the Eastern Pacific
and the Caribbean Sea in support of Counterdrug Operations as the Air Warfare
Commander for the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force (JIATF) East. In July, she
gave her last "GRIZZLY ROAR" by participating in RIMPAC 98 as a member of
the Bilateral force. |
| California's Deactivation Ceremony was held on 28 August
1998 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. Decommissioned
and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 July 1999, California
is berthed at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (NAVSHIPYD), Bremerton, Washington,
and is scheduled to be scrapped. |
Displacement, 10,643; Length, 596'; Beam, 61'; Draft
23'; Complement, 59 officers and 524 enlisted; Armament, two TARTAR "D" guided
missile batteries, two 5" 54 caliber light weight guns, one anti-submarine
rocket (ASROC) launcher; Equipment, AN/SQS-26CX long range sonar |
