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USS Virginia (CGN 38)

USS VIRGINIA was the lead ship of a class of four nuclear powered guided missile cruisers and the eighth ship in the Navy named after the state of Virginia. USS VIRGINIA was homeported in Norfolk, VA.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS VIRGINIA. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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• Click here to see which USS VIRGINIA memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS VIRGINIA Cruise Books:

• Mediterranean Cruise Book 1979

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History of USS VIRGINIA:

USS VIRGINIA, the lead ship of her class, commissioned at Norfolk on September 11, 1976, and immediately began the demanding test program expected of a first-of-class nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser. In the first months she ranged the U.S. East Coast and the West Indies for post-commissioning trials and weapons workups. On April 25, 1977 she entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a five-month post-shakedown availability, completed final trials on September 28, and joined the Atlantic Fleet as an operational unit.

Early 1978 brought local operations off the Virginia Capes followed by "special tests" along the Florida coast and in the West Indies (January 28-March 23). On August 23, 1978 VIRGINIA sailed for Northern Europe to join NATO exercise Northern Wedding, a reinforcement scenario central to Cold War planning for the North Atlantic. Along the way she visited Oslo, Rotterdam, and Portsmouth, departing the latter on October 3 and returning to Norfolk on October 12. She then conducted training in the Gulf of Mexico with a port call at Mobile, executed naval gunfire support at Vieques, paused at St. Thomas on December 6-7, and closed out the year back in Norfolk on December 11 preparing for her first Mediterranean deployment.

VIRGINIA's operational focus shifted from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean as the United States increased its presence following upheavals in Southwest Asia. In 1980, a three-ship group built around DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69) with SOUTH CAROLINA (CGN 37) and VIRGINIA entered the Indian Ocean for extended operations. During this period VIRGINIA crossed to the Philippines for emergency sonar-dome work before resuming tasking, a reminder of the practical maintenance realities of long forward deployments far from U.S. bases.

Her third Mediterranean deployment in 1983 unfolded against the Lebanese Civil War. Operating with Sixth Fleet units off Beirut, VIRGINIA repeatedly provided naval gunfire to support stabilization efforts ashore. On September 19, 1983, in concert with the destroyer JOHN RODGERS (DD 983), she fired a documented 338 five-inch rounds to help the Lebanese Armed Forces hold the high-ground town of Suq al-Gharb. The action marked a clear shift from "presence" to direct support amid mounting Syrian-backed pressure on Beirut. Following the October 23 Marine barracks bombing, the ship rendered emergency assistance to the force, and at the end of the cruise was cited as Sixth Fleet "Top Hand".

A major overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in 1984 modernized the ship for the mid-1980s threat set. During this availability VIRGINIA received the Tomahawk Land-Attack Missile via armored box launchers, upgrades associated with the SM-2 surface-to-air missile family, and close-in defenses, and her problematic aft hangar/elevator arrangement was removed to make room for the strike installation - changes that reflected the Navy's expanding emphasis on long-range precision strike while retaining area air defense. Post-overhaul trials and Atlantic Fleet workups followed.

By the turn of the 1990s, crisis in the Persian Gulf again drew her to the Sixth Fleet's eastern Mediterranean station. Departing on December 28, 1990, VIRGINIA took station off Israel, Lebanon, and Syria in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. On January 22, 1991 she launched two Tomahawk land-attack missiles from the Mediterranean toward Iraq - widely reported at the time as record-length combat shots for the weapon - and acted as local strike coordinator for additional launches by SPRUANCE (DD 963) and the attack submarine PITTSBURGH (SSN 720), with PHILADELPHIA (SSN 690) also operating with the group. Amid the frenetic theater pace, VIRGINIA also experienced a minor collision with a fishing vessel south of Souda Bay, Crete. The incident required no salvage assistance and operations continued.

In the immediate post-war years VIRGINIA's employment mirrored broader U.S. naval priorities in the Western Hemisphere. She undertook counter-narcotics deployments to the Caribbean, including a fall 1992 cruise that transited the Panama Canal for a short Pacific period before returning to Atlantic duties. Her final operational period in the fall of 1993 concentrated on interdiction and maritime surveillance in support of interagency efforts, with the ship's sensors and embarked teams directly detecting or controlling successful seizures measured in tens of thousands of pounds of marijuana and metric tons of cocaine.

As the Cold War drawdown deepened and the Navy weighed the high cost of refueling and modernizing nuclear-powered surface combatants lacking the Aegis combat system, the VIRGINIA-class cruisers were slated for early retirement. VIRGINIA decommissioned at Norfolk on November 29, 1994, ending just over eighteen years in commission. Following several years in inactive status she entered the Navy's Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound. Administrative actions related to disposal began in 1999, and the recycling of ex-VIRGINIA is recorded as complete on September 25, 2002.

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USS VIRGINIA Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Terry Mills. They show VIRGINIA anchored off Naples, Italy, in 1983.

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