Anzio II (CG-68)
1992-2022
Anglo-American troops of the U.S. VI Corps landed at Anzio and Nettuno in Italy to outflank German defensive positions across the Italian peninsula during Operation Shingle, on 22 January 1944. The Allies failed to advance inland decisively, and their inaction enabled the German forces in the area to counterattack vigorously to deter further landings in Italy, and France. Allied planes proved unable to prevent Luftwaffe (German air force) raids on the beachhead or on the ships offshore, but air power and naval gunfire support proved essential in holding the perimeter. The Allies broke out of the beachhead by May, linked-up with troops that pierced German defensive lines inland, and on 4 June liberated Rome.
The second ship named Anzio. The first Anzio (CVE-57), an escort aircraft carrier, was laid down as an auxiliary aircraft carrier (ACV-57) on 12 December 1942, named Alikula Bay on 22 January 1943, renamed Coral Sea on 3 April 1943, reclassified to CVE-57 on 15 July 1943, commissioned on 27 August 1943, named Anzio in October 1944 to free the name Coral Sea for a large aircraft carrier (CVB-43), and served from 1943-1959 (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a10/anzio-i.htm).
For the ship's Command Operations Reports see (http://www.history.navy.mil/research/archives/command-operations-reports/ships/a/anzio-cg-68-ii.html).
II
(CG-68: displacement 9,600; length 567'; beam 55'; draft 33'; speed 30+ knots; complement 363; armament 2 5-inch, 2 Mk 41 Vertical Launch Systems (VLS) for BGM-109 Tomahawks, RIM-66 SM-2MR Standards, and RUM-139 VL-ASROC Antisubmarine Rockets, 8 RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile canister launchers, 2 Mk 15 Close In Weapon System (CIWS), 4 .50 caliber machine guns, and 6 Mk 32 torpedo tubes, aircraft 2 Sikorsky SH-60B Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) Mk III Seahawks; class Ticonderoga)
The second Anzio (CG-68) was laid down on 21 August 1989 at Pascagoula, Miss., by Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Litton Industries; launched on 2 November 1990; sponsored by Mrs. Doris S. Baggett, wife of Adm. Lee J. Baggett Jr., Commander Atlantic Command; and commissioned on 2 May 1992 at Norfolk, Va., Capt. Hugh W. Howard Jr. in command.
Anzio, with a Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk from Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light (HSL) 48 Detachment 7 embarked, seized approximately four tons of hashish with an estimated street value of $28 million on board a skiff in the Gulf of Aden about 170 miles southwest of Salalah, Oman, on 15 October 2009.
Anzio was decommissioned on 30 September 2022 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register that same day.
Detailed history under construction.
Mark L. Evans
