USS Arkansas (CGN-41) was a nuclear-propelled guided-missile cruiser of the U.S. Navy. She was in commission (in active service) from October 1980 through July 1998. Her primary missions were in defending aircraft carrier task forces in air defense (AAW) and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) by using her guided missiles, radar systems, and sonar systems. Since Arkansas had the high speed and unlimited range provided by her nuclear reactors, she usually escorted the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy.
With her Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Tomahawk missiles, and two naval guns, USS Arkansas was also capable of attacking enemy surface ships, carrying out shore bombardments, and attacking land targets over inland (with her Tomahawk cruise missiles in the latter case).
For her short-range self-defense, especially for defense against enemy anti-ship missiles, Arkansas carried two automated Phalanx radar-directed rapid-fire guns. Also, her two 5-inch rapid-fire naval guns had some capability for anti-aircraft defense. Her six torpedo tubes, which fired Mk 46 lightweight torpedoes, were for close-in, last-ditch defense against enemy submarines that had evaded her outer defense line of ASROC missiles, and the long-range ASW aircraft of her task force.
After USS Arkansas was decommissioned and all of her weapons, computers, sensors, communication equipment and other complex components, removed, her hulk was sent into the Navy's nuclear ship recycling program for the removal, recycling, and disposal of all of her fuel and other radioactive equipment, and this task was completed in Washington state on 1 November 1999, with the rest of her hulk sold as scrap metal.
Construction
The keel of Arkansas was laid on 17 January 1977 at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company in Newport News, Virginia. This warship was launched on 21 October 1978, sponsored by Betty Bumpers, the wife of U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas). She was commissioned into the U.S. Navy on 18 October 1980, with Captain Dennis S. Read as her first commanding officer.
History
USS Arkansas spent the first months following her commissioning in the area of Hampton Roads, Virginia, while detailed, minor shortcomings in her construction were corrected. Late in February 1981, she made a voyage from Virginia to Puerto Rico and back, and then preparations were resumed for her shakedown training. In March, she completed contractor's sea trials, and she carried out a public relations visit to Port Everglades, Florida.
April brought a series of underway qualifications and certifications. On 28 April, Arkansas steamed out from Norfolk to carry out shakedown training in the West Indies. This training cruise included more tests and trials, port visits at several Caribbean Islands, and her first voyage south of the Equator to visit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Recife, Brazil. Arkansas returned to the port of Norfolk on 25 June, and then she began a period of postshakedown availability at the Newport News Shipbuilding Co. Arkansas completed her maintenance and performance upgrades on 15 December, and then she steamed out for three more days of sea trials. She returned to her seaport for shore leave for her crew for the rest of 1981.
The warship did not get underway again until three weeks into 1982. She put to sea on 22 January and then steamed south to Key West, Florida, where she underwent explosive shock tests. In the intervals between the several tests, Arkansas visited Mayport, Florida, and Port Everglades for work on some of her equipment. Returning north at the beginning of March, she entered the yard at the Newport News Shipbuilding Co. for two months of post-shakedown repairs. Arkansas carried out sea trials on 3 and 4 May, and then she returned to Newport News, for another eleven days to correct minor malfunctions. She arrived back in Norfolk on 20 May, and on the next day, she began local operations from her home port. Over the ensuing four months, Arkansas carried out a schedule of training operations conducted mostly off the Virginia Capes. Two missions, however, took her south to the West Indies. From 23 June to 16 July, the vessel steamed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for refresher training. Between 24 September and 16 October, Arkansas escorted the nuclear aircraft carrier during an operational readiness exercise that was carried out around Puerto Rico.