USS South Carolina (CGN-37)

The USS South Carolina ( DLGN-37/CGN-37 ) was a nuclear cruiser of the California Class

History

The keel laying of South Carolina took place in 1972 at Newport News Shipbuilding in the United States Navy, the ship was put into service in 1975.

Her first patrol car drove South Carolina to the USS Nimitz (CVN -68) in the Mediterranean. From 1979, the cruiser was the battle group of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN -69) used in the Indian Ocean and in the Caribbean. In 1983 the ship in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard has undergone its first overhaul which lasted until May 1984. In the same year led the ship exercises in the Caribbean and by 1985 moved into the Mediterranean. Most of the time spent there, after the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 off the coast of Lebanon. 1986 the ship sailed the North Atlantic and visited, among other Wilhelmshaven. The rest of the 1980s, the South Carolina spent with the fight against drug trafficking in the Caribbean.

In October 1990, the South Carolina left her home port with the carrier battle group led by the USS Saratoga (CV -60) and crossed the Atlantic and then the Suez Canal to participate in Operation Desert Shield. During the actual Gulf War the ship in the air surveillance and control systems of air corridors over the Mediterranean served. As of 1991, the ship lay for overhaul in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, this lasted until the end of 1994. Starting in autumn 1995, the ship served in the Mediterranean, in turn, as a Green Crown during NATO's Operation Deny Flight. For this application the crew with the NATO Medal, the Meritorious Unit Commendation and the Armed Forces Service Medal was awarded.

After recent trips in the Mediterranean, the South Carolina was decommissioned in 1998 and is to be supplied to the Ship - Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.