US Navy’s cruisers transit Taiwan Strait

Operations

Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam (CG 54) and USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on 28 August.

US Navy

These ships transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state.

Photo: US Navy

“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the navy officials stated.

Recently, the US Navy decommissioned USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, after 29 years of service.

The ceremony marked the first of five cruisers set to be decommissioned this year. 

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After decommissioning, the ship is slated to be towed to the US Navy’s Inactive Ship’s facility in Philadelphia in October. There, it will be in a Logistical Support Asset status.

In July this year, American shipbuilding company Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) was awarded a contract for engineering and design from the US Navy for the next-generation guided-missile destroyer (DDG(X)) program. The class of next-generation guided-missile destroyers will replace the navy’s Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruisers and older Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class Aegis destroyers.

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