USS Arkansas (CGN-41)

USS Arkansas (CGN-41)

The cruiser USS Arkansas (CGN-41) was a Virginia-class 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 the 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 antiship missiles, Tomahawk missiles, and two 5-inch naval guns, the USS Arkansas was also capable of attacking enemy surface ships, carrying out shore bombardments, and attacking land targets over 2,000 kilometers inland (with her Tomahawk cruise missiles in the latter case).

For her short-range self-defense, especially for defense against enemy antiship missiles, the Arkansas carried two automated Phalanx radar-directed 20-millimeter rapid-fire guns. Also, her two 5-inch rapid-fire naval guns had some capability for antiaircraft defense. Her six torpedo tubes, which fired Mk 46 lightweight torpedoes, was 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 the USS Arkansas was decommissioned and all of her weapons, computers, sensors, communication equipment, etc., 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.