USS Thomas S. Gates (CG-51) was a flight-I that was used by the United States Navy. The warship was named after Thomas S. Gates, Secretary of Defense in the last years of the Eisenhower Administration (1959–1961).
In a break from normal naming conventions for the Ticonderoga-class cruisers, Thomas S. Gates was originally the only vessel of the class to be named after a person; all of the other cruisers are named after notable events in American military history until 2023, when USS Chancellorsville was renamed .
Construction Thomas S. Gates was laid down 31 August 1984, at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, and sponsored by Anne Gates, widow of the ship's namesake. She was launched on 14 December 1985, purchased on 22 June 1987, and commissioned on 22 August 1987, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
This ship's maiden deployment took place from 31 May 1989 to 10 November 1989. After transiting to the Mediterranean Sea as part of the battle group formed around the aircraft carrier , Thomas S. Gates in-chopped to the Sixth Fleet on 10 June 1989; she participated in Operation National Week (10–19 June 1989), conducting turnover with the guided missile cruiser at Augusta Bay, Sicily (15 June).
After visiting Palma, Majorca (20–27 June) and Toulon, France (30 June – 15 July), where she underwent an Intermediate Maintenance Availability (IMAV), Thomas S. Gates transited to the eastern Mediterranean (15–21 July); following a port visit to İzmir, Turkey (21–23 July), Thomas S. Gates participated in Exercise Demon Jazz 89 (24–29 July). She then visited Istanbul, Turkey (31 July – 2 August), where she embarked VADM Paul Ilg, Deputy Commander in Chief U.S. Naval Forces, Europe, and then stood into the Black Sea (3–4 August). Accompanied by the guided missile frigate , Thomas S. Gates visited Sevastopol, USSR, from 4–8 August, and then returned to Istanbul, where she disembarked VADM Ilg (9–10 August).
Owing to the crisis in Lebanon, which had dictated that the fleet flagship, guided missile cruiser , not carry out her scheduled visit to Sevastopol, Thomas S. Gates subsequently operated in support of Coral Sea and battle groups off Beirut.
Returning to Toulon, Thomas S. Gates there underwent a period of maintenance (7–13 September). After taking part in NATO Exercise Display Determination 89 (14 September- 3 October) in concert with units of the French and Turkish Navies, she conducted a period of escort operations (3–11 October) as she transited to the western Mediterranean. She then underwent a period of maintenance in Marseille, France (11–22 October) before she participated in Exercise National Week (24–31 October), during which she conducted turnover with her relief, the cruiser at Pollensa Bay, Majorca (29 October). Out-chopping to Commander, 2d Fleet, on 31 October 1989, Thomas S. Gates then conducted her return transit to Norfolk (31 October-10 November 1989).
Desert Shield and Desert Storm From 15 August 1990 to 28 March 1991, Thomas S. Gates deployed in support of Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
With only five days of intensive preparations, she deployed as an element of the battle group under RADM Riley D. Mixson, formed around the aircraft carrier to participate in Operation Desert Shield. The group exercised at sea from 16–21 August, then began its voyage toward the Mediterranean Sea (22 August), transiting the Strait of Gibraltar on 30 August to become Task Force (TF) 60. On 1 September, the ship experienced a gas turbine casualty while transiting the western Mediterranean that compelled her to put into Augusta Bay, Sicily, for an engine changeout (3–11 September), after which time she rejoined TF-60 (13 September) off Port Said, Egypt.
Thomas S. Gates began her maiden transit of the Suez Canal (14 September), leading the battle group on its passage through that historic waterway. Becoming part of Task Group (TG) 150.5 (15 September) upon entering the Red Sea, the guided missile cruiser rode "shotgun" for John F. Kennedy and operated as anti-air warfare commander (16 September – 14 October) before being detached from the carrier on 15 October. With a USCG detachment embarked, Thomas S. Gates transited the Straits of Tiran, at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, and conducted maritime interdiction operations to enforce United Nations-enforced sanctions against the ingress of Iraqi goods (15–19 October); the boarding operations conducted during this time "putting to good use skills developed in February in the Caribbean Sea…"
Thomas S. Gates then visited Hurghada, Egypt (20–23 October 1990), after which time she served as "Gate Guard" in the Gulf of Suez, screening all shipping traffic. TG 150.5 became TF-60 on 26 October, and on the 27th transited the Suez Canal.
Between 28 October and 11 December, Thomas S. Gates operated in the central and eastern Mediterranean, evolutions punctuated by port visits to Naples (31 October – 2 November), İzmir, Turkey (7–13 November), and Haifa, Israel (16–17 November), and an IMAV alongside destroyer tender at Souda Bay, Crete (29 November – 5 December 1990). Transiting the Suez Canal on 9 December, the guided missile cruiser returned to the Red Sea, in-chopping to CTG 150.5 the following day.
Thomas S. Gates then conducted maritime interdiction operations in the Strait of Tiran (10–14 December), completing her 37th boarding of the deployment on the latter date (14 December). Between 15 and 28 December, the ship rode shotgun for John F. Kennedy and served as anti-air warfare commander, participating in three exercises with Royal Air Force units (20, 23, and 26 December) during that time. She put into Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 29 December in company with John F. Kennedy, where Vice President Dan Quayle addressed the crews of both ships on New Year's Day 1991. Between 3 and 16 January 1991, Thomas S. Gates conducted Desert Shield operations in the Red Sea, punctuating that period exercising the Royal Saudi Navy in an antisubmarine warfare exercise, Operation Camelot 91 (3–7 January 1991).
Iraq's ignoring the UN-imposed deadline (16 January) for withdrawing from Kuwait changed the complexion of events in the region; however, and Operation Desert Storm soon got underway early the following day (17 January). Over the ensuing weeks (17 January – 13 February), Thomas S. Gates, as Red Crown (Inter Anti-Aircraft Warfare Defense Zone Coordinator) coordinated the departures and returns of air strikes from the aircraft carriers John F. Kennedy, and America, "ensuring that all friendly aircraft returned safely through the air defense net while preventing any possible raid-following Iraqi aircraft getting through."
Following a visit to Hurghada (14–18 February), Thomas S. Gates operated once more in the Red Sea (19 February – 1 March), during which time (24 February) the ground war began in Iraq and Kuwait. Following the cease-fire (28 February), the ship conducted a brief period of maritime interdiction operations in the Gulf of Aqaba. Following an in-port period at Jeddah (2–10 March), where she underwent an IMAV alongside the destroyer tender , Thomas S. Gates transited the Suez Canal (12 March). She then conducted anti-submarine warfare exercises in the central Mediterranean (15–17 March), after which she transited the Strait of Gibraltar (18 March), headed for Norfolk, returning to her homeport on 28 March.
1990s after the Gulf War This ship's fourth major deployment was from 6 May to 6 Nov 1992. Thomas S. Gates, with HSL-44 Detachment 9 embarked, deployed (Med 2-92) in company with guided missile cruiser and destroyer on 6 May 1992, and joined the battle group formed around the carrier Saratoga three days later. Transiting the Strait of Gibraltar on 18 May, the guided missile cruiser operated from one end of the Mediterranean to the other for almost two months, pausing at Augusta Bay (23–24 May), Naples (26–30 May), and Gaeta, Italy (4–7 June), participating in Exercise Dasix Lafayette 92-1 (9–11 June), and visiting Ibiza, Spain (13–19 June), a call enlivened by an emergency sortie from her anchorage (14 June) because of heavy seas.
Following her participation in joint-service exercise Eclipse Bravo (21–28 June), Thomas S. Gates then visited Villefranche-sur-Mer, France (30 June – 10 July 1992, during which time she received an IMAV alongside the destroyer tender Yellowstone. She then operated in the Gulf of Lyon (11–12 July), after which she paused at Monaco (13–17 July). The guided missile cruiser participated in ASW exercises in the Strait of Bonifacio (19–20 July), before she was diverted to the Adriatic to serve as anti-air warfare commander for Commander TF 61 in support of Operation Provide Promise (23 July-2 September), monitoring the safety of relief flights into beleaguered Sarajevo. During that time, she took part in missile-firing exercises in the Ionian Sea (27 August).
At the conclusion of those operations, she employed her embarked SH-60B Seahawk helicopters in search and rescue efforts in the wake of the crash of an Italian relief aircraft in the former region of Yugoslavia (3 September). Following a visit to Trieste, Italy (4–13 September), Thomas S. Gates then operated in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas (14–24 September), before pausing briefly for a port visit to Aksaz Karagac, Turkey on 25 September 1992.
The guided missile cruiser then took part in a multi-phase NATO exercise, Display Determination 92. The exercise was marred by tragedy when live missiles hit the Turkish destroyer , formerly the light minelayer , on 2 October 1992. Thomas S. Gates provided a damage control boarding team, communications assistance, and directed her fire hoses on the flames on board the Turkish warship from 20 yards away; ten of the guided missile cruiser's crew received decorations for the valor they displayed during the incident. The exercises began anew the next day at the request of the Turkish government.
Thomas S. Gates hosted dignitaries (Lieutenant General Mihov, Bulgarian Chief of Staff, on 4 October, and His Royal Highness Prince Philippe of Belgium on 6 October). Detached from Display Determination 92, the guided missile cruiser proceeded to Naples for a three-day port visit (8–11 October), then participated in Exercise Dasix Lafayette 92-2 (14–15 October), after which time she returned to the Adriatic and Ionian Seas (16–17 October), reprised her visit to Trieste (18–20 October), and operated once more in the Adriatic, turning over her duty as AAW commander to the cruiser in those waters on 22 October, in John F. Kennedy battle group, and then headed for home. Transiting the Strait of Gibraltar on 25 October and detached from the Saratoga battle group on 4 November, Thomas S. Gates stood in to Norfolk on 6 November.
This ship's sixth major deployment took place from 20 May 1994 to 17 Nov 1994. Underway in company with the Battle Group, Thomas S. Gates with HSL-44 Detachment 9 (Magnum 453) embarked, sailed to Great Britain to take part in ceremonies for the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. On 5 June 1994, she anchored off Pointe du Hoc along with a dozen other NATO warships as a backdrop for the ceremonies and put into Le Havre on the 6th to allow veterans to tour the ship.
Underway on 9 June, the cruiser sailed south to the Adriatic Sea (arriving there on the 20th via Gibraltar) for duty as "Red Crown" (AAW defense warship) in support of Operations Sharp Guard, Deny Flight and Provide Promise. An engine failure on the 24th sent the cruiser to Augusta Bay for repairs, where she remained until 5 July 1994. The warship then sailed east to Haifa, Israel, for a port visit (10–12 July) before returning to the Adriatic on the 16th.