| The third Texas (DLGN-39) was laid down as a guided missile
frigate on 18 August 1973, at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News
Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; reclassified as a guided missile cruiser and
redesignated CGN-39 on 30 June 1975; launched on 9 August 1975; sponsored
by Mrs. Dolph Briscoe, wife of the Governor of Texas; and commissioned on
10 September 1977, Capt. Peter B. Fiedler in command.
Following a nine-week test of the ship's combat systems, Texas
loaded out weapons at the Yorktown Naval Weapons station in October and underwent
refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in November. Texas
spent the first three months of 1978 conducting at-sea evaluation of her
propulsion and weapons systems off the Virginia capes and in the Caribbean.
On 28 March, she transited to her building yard at Newport News to commence
a Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) which was completed on 31 July. The remainder
of 1978 was spent in individual ship exercises off the east coast and Roosevelt
Roads, Puerto Rico, interspersed with periods in Texas' home port
of Norfolk.
Displacement, 11,000; Length, 585'; Beam, 63'; Draft, 31'; Speed
30+ knots; Complement, 476; Armament, two 5"; two Phalanx, ASROC, Harpoon,
Standard, six Mk. 32 torpedo tubes |
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