USS ''Leyte Gulf'' (CG-55) is a guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was named in memory of the World War II

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fou ...

in the Pacific. She is powered by four large gas-turbine engines, and she has a large complement of guided missiles for

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

, attack of surface targets at sea and

ashore This list of ship directions provides succinct definitions for terms applying to spatial orientation in a marine environment or location on a vessel, such as ''fore'', ''aft'', ''astern'', ''aboard'', or ''topside''. Terms * Abaft (preposition ...

, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). In addition, she carries two "Seahawk" LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, whose primary mission is ASW. On 14 October 1996, ''Leyte Gulf'' collided with the , while conducting operations off the coast of North Carolina. The incident occurred as the carrier, without prior warning, reversed her engines while ''Leyte Gulf'' was behind her and slammed into the cruiser's bow. There were no personnel casualties or injuries reported, and damage to the Leyte was only $2 million. In 2002, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet. In late 1992 ''Leyte Gulf'' was assigned to

Carrier Group 2 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many c ...

. In March 2003 ''Leyte Gulf'' was assigned to Carrier Group Eight. On 15 September 2007, there was a fire aboard ''Leyte Gulf'' as she underwent an extensive modernization program in BAE Systems Shipyard in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

. Initially the fire received national attention due to the possibility that it was a terrorist incident, however, it was quickly revealed to be an industrial accident. Five shipyard workers were injured in the incident, one seriously, but no naval personnel were involved. In February 2011, ''Leyte Gulf'' was involved in an

incident Incident may refer to: * A property of a graph in graph theory * ''Incident'' (film), a 1948 film noir * Incident (festival), a cultural festival of The National Institute of Technology in Surathkal, Karnataka, India * Incident (Scientology), a ...

with Somali pirates after they captured the United States flagged yacht ''Quest''. US Navy 040501-N-7586B-122

The cruiser returned to Norfolk on 15 July 2011. During her deployment, she had participated in operations which had captured 75 Somali pirates and had missile strikes by her carrier strike group against the Libyan government. In January 2015, ''Leyte Gulf'' returned from a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. The ship served as flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 for much of the deployment. In August 2022 ''Leyte Gulf'' was again deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. She returned to Norfolk on 09 June 2023.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leyte Gulf (CG-55) Ticonderoga-class cruisers Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi 1986 ships Cold War cruisers of the United States Cruisers of the United States

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