Service
The ship is named for the battle of Anzio in Italy, the site of an Allied amphibious assault during Operation Shingle as part of the Italian Campaign of World War II. One other ship, an escort aircraft carrier, had been named USS Anzio.
On 6 April 2000, the Anzio, along with another cruiser and the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was participating in an exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean, about 250 miles off the coast of Israel. In an unannouced missile test, the Israel Defense Forces fired a Jericho-1 medium-range ballistic missile from a test facility in Yavne, which landed 40 miles from the ship. The missile was detected by the ship's radar, and the crew briefly thought that they were under attack.
On 9 January 2003 Anzio was pre-deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Ordered first to the eastern Mediterranean Sea for the initial phase of President George W. Bush's Shock and Awe strategy, during which the US Navy deployed to obliterate and defeat the Iraq military before ground forces were sent in. Once the Anzio completed her mission in the eastern Mediterranean, she forward-deployed to the Persian Gulf. Once the Anzio arrived in the Gulf, she had marked her 45th straight day at sea. In the Gulf, the Anzio continued carrier-flight support operations and coastal surveillance. After President Bush announced major combat had concluded in the Iraq War, on 1 May 2003, the Anzio was relieved of her duties, returning home on 3 July 2003 after 175 days at sea. In March 2003 she was assigned to Cruiser-Destroyer Group Eight.
In 2004, Anzio participated at the annual Fleet Week in New York City. In January 2007, the warship was sent to the coast of Somalia to conduct antiterrorist operations as part of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower task force.
On 16 February 2007, Anzio was awarded the 2006 Battle "E" award.
The Anzio was anchored and a participant for 'Windjammer Days' in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 25–26 June 2008.
Anzio has served as the flagship of the horn of Africa international anti-piracy Combined Task Force 151. On 15 October 2009 a team from the cruiser working with U.S. Coast Guard personnel from Maritime Safety and Security Team 91104 seized a skiff carrying an estimated 4 tons of hashish worth an estimated $28 million about 170 nautical miles (310 km) southwest of Salalah, Oman. The boarding team destroyed the drugs by dumping them into the ocean and released the skiff's crew.
Anzio is tentatively scheduled to be decommissioned and designated for disposal on 31 March 2013. However, Anzio may be retained under the FY 2012 U.S. Defense of Defense authorization bill.
Read more about this topic: USS Anzio (CG-68)
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