Navy decommissions cruiser Leyte Gulf after nearly 40 years of service 

The Navy decommissioned the 37-year-old cruiser Leyte Gulf this month at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, months after the ship concluded its final deployment.

The ship’s decommissioning comes amid tension in recent years between the Navy and Congress regarding how fast to phase cruisers out of the fleet. While the Navy looks to decommission more cruisers to secure funds for new ships and maintenance, lawmakers have pushed to keep them in service longer to cover any capability gaps.

Retired Vice Adm. Eugene Black III, who served as the commanding officer of the Leyte Gulf in 2010 and 2011, spoke at the decommissioning ceremony on Sept. 20, along with the ship’s final skipper, Cmdr. Brian Harrington.

“What a great opportunity to celebrate the Sailors who brought this ship to life, kept her operating at the highest level and ready for a fight throughout her long and illustrious career of service to our nation,” Black said, according to a Navy news release.

Commissioned in 1987, Leyte Gulf will head to the Navy’s Inactive Ship’s facility in Philadelphia in October, and be placed in a Logistical Support Asset status.

The ship is named after the 1944 World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Sea, the largest naval battle in history.

The ship returned from its last deployment in May, after months underway in the Caribbean Sea and South Atlantic in the U.S. 4th Fleet’s area of operations. While deployed, the ship conducted drug interdiction missions with the Coast Guard.

Altogether, the Leyte Gulf team seized 4,100 kilograms of cocaine during the deployment – including more than 2,000 kilograms of “illicit drugs” from a drug smuggling submarine that the Navy later sunk in an exercise.