Ex - USS South Carolina (CGN-37)

The USS South Carolina was the second member of the California Class of Nuclear Powered Guided Missile Cruisers, and commissioned into active US Navy service on January 25, 1975 as a member of the US Atlantic Fleet.

Serving out of Norfolk for her entire service life, the South Carolina would serve with distinction and see action in the Gulf of Sidra Incident, Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm and served as part of a NATO peacekeeping force during the Yugoslavian civil wars.

As she approached her 30th year in active service, the South Carolina and her sisterships were in need of nuclear refueling and refit in order to continue to operate, and the US Navy deemed that the ships were too old and outdated to undergo the complex and expensive refueling process. The South Carolina was deacitvated on August 28th, 1998, and was formally decommissioned on July 30th, 1999.

Following her decommissioning, the South Carolina was towed from Norfolk to Bremerton and entered the Nuclear Ship Scrapping and Recycling Program (NSSRP) and had all of her superstructure above the deck removed and scrapped. As of October 2007, she had entered drydock #3 to have her nuclear reactors removed and her hull broken up.

www.navsource.org/archives/04/1137/040137.htm

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