The guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) participates in a group sail during an exercise off the coast of Hawaii in 2018. (U.S. Navy/TNS)
SAN DIEGO (Tribune News Service) — The Navy confirmed Monday that Lake Champlain, an aging guided-missile cruiser that played a role in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, returned to San Diego on Friday for a final time ahead of decommissioning.
The warship, which has operated out of San Diego for decades, had been slated to go out of service in March. The decommissioning could occur later this year.
Lake Champlain is a 567-foot Ticonderoga-class cruiser, a once widely used type of ship that is being phased out by the Navy.
The “ticos,” as they’re known, were introduced in the 1980s to give the Navy more power and reach during the Cold War. Their array of missiles and advanced combat system made them ideal for surface and air warfare, and for protecting carrier and amphibious assault groups.
But they became very expensive to maintain and upgrade. And their role has largely been subsumed by the modern Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.
The Navy is getting rid of the cruisers as part of its larger “divest to invest” program, a move to weed out older vessels to help pay for new ones.
In the next year or so, the decommissionings could include the Ashland, an amphibious dock landing ship that switched its home port to San Diego in April, as well as possibly two littoral combat ships ported locally, the Jackson and the Montgomery.
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