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General Characteristics Crew List Memorabilia About the Ship's Coat of Arms History Homeports of USS Shiloh Accidents aboard USS Shiloh About the Ship's Name Patch Gallery Image Gallery to end of page |  |  |
USS SHILOH is the 21st cruiser in the TICONDEROGA - class and the seventh ship in that class built by Bath Iron Works in Maine.
| General Characteristics: | Keel Laid: August 1, 1989 |
| Christened: September 8, 1990 | |
| Launched: September 8, 1990 | |
| Commissioned: July 18, 1992 | |
| Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine | |
| Propulsion system: four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines | |
| Propellers: two | |
| Blades on each Propeller: five | |
| Length: 567 feet (173 meters) | |
| Beam: 55 feet (16.8 meters) | |
| Draft: 34 feet (10.2 meters) | |
| Displacement: approx. 9,600 tons full load | |
| Speed: 30+ knots | |
| Cost: about $1 billion | |
| Aircraft: two | |
| Armament: | |
| Homeport: Yokosuka, Japan | |
| Crew: 33 Officers, 27 Chief Petty Officers and approx. 340 Enlisted |
back to top go to the end of the pageback to top go to the end of the pageCrew List:
This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS SHILOH. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.
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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:
The Shield:
The ship's shield shows Blue and Gold which are the traditional Navy's colors. Red denotes courage, sacrifice, and the blood shed at the epic battle of Shiloh. White represents high ideals and optimism. The anchor symbolizes sea power, while the cross on the stock refers to Shiloh Church and the Civil War battle for which the ship is named. The red compass rose, simulating a burst, symbolizes the concentration and the intense fighting in the "Hornet's Nest" at Shiloh. The compass rose also represent the multi-faceted mission of SHILOH. The red and white wavy bars commemorate "Bloody Pond" and the valor displayed during the battle and also refer to the sea and SHILOH's three mission areas: anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
The Crest:
The crest's arrowhead, divided into blue and gray, together with the Union and Confederate flags, recalls the Civil War. The arrowhead also suggests the vertical launch capabilities of the Aegis Cruiser. The splintered peach tree symbolizes the aftermath of the Battle of Shiloh. The peach trees, in bloom at Shiloh during the battle, stood stark contrast to the destruction and violence of the fight which pitted brother against brother. The supporters show Civil War weapons, the musket and the cannon, and reflect the close conflict on the field of Shiloh. It was the greatest battle ever fought on the American continent, up to that date.
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History of USS SHILOH:
USS SHILOH was commissioned on July 18, 1992, at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, then transited to the Pacific to join the U.S. Third Fleet. After post-delivery trials and shakedown in the western Atlantic and a Panama Canal transit, the cruiser arrived at her initial home port, San Diego, in early September 1992 and entered routine local operations and workups through 1993 in Southern California operating areas, qualifying the AEGIS combat system and integrating with carrier air-defense exercises. In April 1994, the ship departed San Diego for her maiden Western Pacific/Indian Ocean deployment. During this first WESTPAC the ship conducted presence operations in the Arabian Gulf, supported sanctions enforcement against Iraq, and made liberty calls that included Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. SHILOH completed that six-month cruise and returned to San Diego in late 1994. In September 1995, while operating in Hawaiian waters, SHILOH took part in a parade of ships off Honolulu/Diamond Head, then returned to Southern California for training and maintenance through early 1996.
On May 14, 1996, SHILOH got underway from San Diego for another six-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf amid ongoing no-fly-zone enforcement over southern Iraq. On September 3, 1996, while assigned to the CARL VINSON (CVN 70) battle group operating in the region, the cruiser launched Tomahawk Land-Attack Missiles at Iraqi air-defense sites during Operation Desert Strike. Open-source tallies credit SHILOH with launching a significant share of the Navy's TLAMs that day. The strike followed Iraqi ground operations in northern Iraq and preceded an expansion of the southern no-fly zone. SHILOH resumed air-defense commander duties for the battle group and maritime security tasks in the Gulf before returning to San Diego later that autumn.
Through 1997, the cruiser again deployed to the Western Pacific/Arabian Gulf, rotating through maritime interception operations supporting U.N. sanctions enforcement and conducting port visits typical for the theater, then returned to San Diego for maintenance and training. In 1998-1999, the ship remained a West Coast surface combatant focused on Persian Gulf readiness cycles and pre-deployment exercises as tensions with Iraq periodically escalated. The cruiser's role during those periods centered on air defense for carrier operations and long-range strike readiness, consistent with the class mission profile.
In August 2000, SHILOH deployed with the ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) battle group for another Western Pacific/Arabian Gulf cruise supporting Operation Southern Watch. The ship returned to San Diego in February 2001 and entered a maintenance and training period through mid-2002. On July 20, 2002, SHILOH departed San Diego again with the ABRAHAM LINCOLN group for a scheduled deployment that initially supported Operation Enduring Freedom and Southern Watch. As U.S. policy shifted toward major combat operations in Iraq, the group's deployment was extended. In March-April 2003, SHILOH provided air-defense commander duties and strike support for the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The battle group's unusually long cruise concluded with the force's West Coast return in late April/early May 2003. Port images from January 2003 place SHILOH alongside in Fremantle, Australia, during the outbound leg; the group's homecoming in San Diego on April 24, 2003, is documented in contemporary press.
On December 26, 2004, while SHILOH was in Hong Kong for a holiday port visit, the Indian Ocean tsunami struck. The cruiser quickly re-tasked south and by January 2005, was operating off Banda Aceh, Sumatra, as part of the ABRAHAM LINCOLN strike group supporting Operation Unified Assistance. From January into February the ship helped provide helicopter flight-deck support, air-defense coordination, and logistics for sustained relief operations along the Aceh coast, then returned to forward presence and training duties in Seventh Fleet before heading north.
On June 22, 2006, during a joint Missile Defense Agency/U.S. Navy test near Hawaii, SHILOH launched a Standard Missile-3 that successfully intercepted a multi-stage ballistic-missile target launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, marking a key Aegis BMD milestone. Weeks later, on August 2006, SHILOH shifted home port to Yokosuka, Japan, joining the Forward-Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF) to enhance regional ballistic-missile defense and air-defense coverage. From late 2006 through 2007, the cruiser patrolled the Western Pacific with carrier groups and conducted multilayered air-defense and BMD tasking in the Philippine Sea, East China Sea, and Sea of Japan.
In October 2008, SHILOH moored in Hong Kong to participate in the Hong Kong Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX) 2008, a civil-maritime interoperability drill with regional authorities. The cruiser then joined annual U.S.-Japan bilateral ANNUALEX maneuvers in November 2008 in the East China Sea, where images show SHILOH leading a multinational formation that included GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) strike group units and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ships. In November 2009, SHILOH again participated in ANNUALEX (21G), operating with JMSDF destroyers including CHOKAI and ISOYUKI off Okinawa.
On July 8, 2009, during a pierside evolution in Yokosuka, a SHILOH sailor fell overboard; despite an intensive search in Tokyo Bay the sailor was later declared deceased - an incident that prompted internal safety reviews across the forward-deployed surface force. Through 2010-2012, SHILOH cycled between Seventh Fleet patrols and maintenance in Yokosuka, appearing in official imagery operating off Japan and in the Gulf of Thailand and completing dockyard periods as required for forward-deployed ships.
On January 30, 2013, SHILOH arrived in Busan, Republic of Korea, for an Aegis interoperability event with the ROK Navy. On May 30, 2013, the cruiser made a port visit to Zhanjiang, China, engaging with the PLA Navy's South Sea Fleet and conducting shipboard exchanges - one of a small number of U.S. Navy port calls to that base in the period. In June 2014, SHILOH rejoined GEORGE WASHINGTON strike group activities and made a goodwill visit to Hong Kong (June 16-20), followed by a late-June port call in Singapore before resuming patrols. On May 4, 2015, SHILOH returned to Busan for a scheduled visit and wreath-laying ceremony. In July 2015, the cruiser entered Dry Dock #5 at Yokosuka Naval Ship Yard for a dry-docking selected restricted availability (DSRA) focused on hull, machinery, and combat-systems maintenance, then undocked and returned to berth in the late summer.
In September 2016, SHILOH completed a two-week continuous maintenance availability (CMAV) at Sembawang, Singapore - the first 7th Fleet CMAV executed away from Yokosuka - demonstrating expanded expeditionary maintenance options in theater. The ship resumed patrols in the Philippine and East China seas through early 2017. On June 8, 2017, while the cruiser was operating east of Okinawa, a SHILOH sailor was reported overboard, prompting a large U.S.-Japanese search effort. On June 15 the sailor was found alive aboard the ship, and the Navy subsequently transferred him for medical evaluation and administrative action.
From 2018-2020, SHILOH remained in FDNF rotation with RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76) and other carrier strike groups, conducting presence operations, air-defense/BMD tasking, and periodic availabilities at Yokosuka. In 2021, the cruiser deployed with the RONALD REAGAN Carrier Strike Group to U.S. Fifth Fleet, transiting through the Indian Ocean into the Arabian Sea and Gulf region by July. Following Afghanistan withdrawal support in August-September and subsequent large-force exercises in the Philippine Sea - where RONALD REAGAN and CARL VINSON strike groups trained alongside U.K. CSG-21 and JMSDF ships. SHILOH returned to Yokosuka on November 19, 2021.
After additional Seventh Fleet patrols in 2022-2023, SHILOH concluded 17 years of forward-deployed service in Japan. On September 5, 2023, the ship departed Yokosuka to shift homeport to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, as part of a planned rotation of Pacific forces, and completed the transit the following month. In early 2025, the cruiser executed a SOUTH PACIFIC patrol in support of the Oceania Maritime Security Initiative (OMSI), conducting presence, maritime domain awareness, and cooperative boarding operations before returning to Pearl Harbor on April 4, 2025.
back to top go to the end of the pageHomeports of USS SHILOH:
| Period | Homeport |
|---|---|
| commissioned at Bath, Maine | |
| 1992 - 2006 | San Diego, Calif. |
| 2006 - 2023 | Yokosuka, Japan |
| 2023 - present | Pearl Harbor, Hi. |
back to top go to the end of the pageAccidents aboard USS SHILOH:
| Date | Where | Events |
|---|---|---|
| June 8, 2017 | 180 miles east of Okinawa | A sailor is reported missing and reported overboard at approx 9:30p.m. Aircraft from three ships, including the aircraft carrier RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76), as well as eight ships subsequently conduct a 50-hour search covering more than 5,500 square miles, but are unable to recover the sailor. On June 11, the search was called off and the sailor was presumed dead. However, on June 15, the missing sailor was found alive aboard USS SHILOH. The Navy is presently investigation how the sailor remained undetected for such a long time. |
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About the Battle of Shiloh:
In March 1862, Major General Henry W. Halleck was put in command of all Federal forces in the Mississippi Valley, and he initiated a slow advance which he sent his two armies along the Tennessee River. By early April Ulysses S. Grant had some 37,000 men near Shiloh Church and Pittsburg Landing, close to the Tennessee-Mississippi border, and off to the east Don Carlos Buell's 25,000 were on their way from Nashville to join him. Meanwhile, Albert Sidney Johnston was desperately assembling all the Confederate troops he could find Corinth, Mississippi. He had more than Grant, but he would have to strike before Buell arrived.
The Union position was a reasonably strong one, but Grant and his division commanders felt it would be bad for morale to have the men entrench. General C.F. Smith told Grant, "By God, I want nothing better than to have the Rebels ... attack us! We can whip them to hell. Our men suppose we have come here to fight, and if we begin to spade, it will make them think we fear the enemy." In the Federal camps a peach orchard was in glorious bloom, and war and killing seemed remote.
But just 25 miles to the south Johnston was pushing his raw levies onto the roads. Like most of Grant's men, these Confederates were as green as grass. They ambled along, whooping and shouting, firing their guns just to see if they would work, driving their officers into a frenzy. P.G.T. Beauregard, second in command, urged that the attack be called off, but Johnston was adamant: "I would fight them if they were a million". He ordered an assault for dawn on Sunday, April 6.
Grant was caught off guard, and in the first day's fight his army was almost pushed into the Tennessee River. It rallied just in time, Johnston was killed in action, and at dark Buell's troops began to arrive and one of Grant's divisions which had been delayed in reaching the field got to the scene. On the second day the Federals reversed the tide, and by mid afternoon Beauregard had to admit defeat. He drew his badly battered army back toward Corinth, and the Federals, equally battered, made no more than a gesture at pursuit. The greatest battle ever fought on the American continent, up to date, was over. The Federals had lost 13,000 men, the Confederates, 10,000. The troops had fought with impressive valor, but they had been poorly handled, especially on the Union side.
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USS SHILOH Patch Gallery:
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back to top go to the end of the pageUSS SHILOH Image Gallery:
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The photo below was taken by Ian Johnson and shows the SHILOH alongside Victoria Quay in Fremantle harbor, Australia, on January 9, 2003. At the time, SHILOH was assigned to the ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) battle group.
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The photos below were taken by Shiu On Yee during USS SHILOH's port visit to Hong Kong June 16 - 20, 2014, while the ship was assigned to the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) Strike Group.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the SHILOH at Yokosuka, Japan, on August 3, 2019.
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