SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The cruiser USS Lake Champlain departed Naval Base San Diego Friday and will join up with two warships that left a day earlier for deployment to the western Pacific and Indian Ocean.
The 568-foot-long Ticonderoga-class cruiser, the third American warship named for a decisive War of 1812 battle, will be part of the Vinson Carrier Strike Group. The flotilla also includes the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and destroyer Wayne E. Meyer. A second destroyer, the Michael Murphy, will join them from its base in Hawaii.
Launched in 1987, the Lake Champlain has taken part in numerous exercises over the past few years, but hasn't been part of an extended deployment since 2011.