NORFOLK, Va. — The guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) returned to Naval Station Norfolk on Friday, completing its final deployment before it is scheduled to be decommissioned later this year.
More than 40 officers and about 350 enlisted sailors aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser departed in January to perform maritime interdiction and theater security operations in the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations.
USS Leyte Gulf hosted the "Valkyries" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 50 and Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 404.
The crews worked to prevent illegal drugs from reaching the U.S. and regional partner nations. The Navy said the Leyte Gulf disrupted the transportation of 4,100 kilograms of cocaine, and detected and seized a self-propelled semi-submersible containing 2,370 kilograms of illicit drugs. The semi-submersible was later destroyed during a sinking exercise.
It's a bittersweet homecoming for the Leyte Gulf, as the Navy said this deployment would be its last. The Leyte Gulf, which was commissioned in 1987, will be decommissioned in late September. The plans were first announced back in 2022 and were criticized at the time by U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman (R, VA-01).
"You cannot have the Navy that you need by retiring ships early and then having no replacement for them," Wittman told 13News Now at the time.
