[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (admin @ Mar. 10 2004,4:31)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Please pray for my brother's protection. He is in the Navy and shipped out today for six months. His mission is a military one. By that I mean that there will be bad guys and there will be raids on those bad guys. They are going to several locations.

Please pray for his safety. He is aboard the U.S.S. Tikongaroga (an Indian name).

As I said, he will be gone for six months. Please pray for him and the crew with him.

Thanks,

Lee[/quote]
Lee You know he has my prayers.

A question though, are you sure of the spelling? Could it not be USS Ticonderoga? I fancy myself a buff of naval lore and I went searching for your brothers ship and came up dry with your spelling.

As it is an Indian name, I suspected an oiler or auxilliary following USA naval custom, but nothing there and that does not reconcile with your concern for raids on bad guys. Not a suitable task for an oiler, but for the Ticonderoga as a Guided Missle Cruiser, certainly.

USS Ticonderoga CG47





USS TICONDEROGA is the lead ship of the TICONDEROGA class and fifth ship in the Navy to bear the name. She was the world's first warship equipped with the AEGIS combat system. USS TICONDEROGA is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2004.

General Characteristics: Keel Laid: Jan. 27, 1980
Launched: April 25, 1981
Commissioned: Jan. 22, 1983
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding, West Bank, Pascagoula, Miss.
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 SH-2 Seasprite (LAMPS)
Armament: two Mk 26 missile launchers Standard missiles and ASROC, Mk 46 torpedoes, Harpoon missile launchers two Mk 45 5-inch/54 caliber lightweight guns, two Phalanx CIWS
Homeport: Pascagoula, Miss.
Crew: 33 Officers, 27 Chief Petty Officers and approx. 324 Enlisted


About the Name "TICONDEROGA":

When the Department of Navy announced in February 1980 that the lead ship of a new class of AEGIS-equipped, guided missile cruisers would be called TICONDEROGA, it marked the fifth time in U.S. Navy history that a ship would bear that historic name.

The newest ship was named, not after the great stone fortress itself, but in commemoration of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga on 10 May 1775 by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys. The first ship named TICONDEROGA (1814 - 1825) was a 17-gun schooner of Commodore MacDonough's Flotilla in the victorious Battle of Lake Champlain on 11 September 1814. The second TICONDEROGA (1863 - 1881) was a steam sloop-of-war which served with distinction during the Civil War. A former German cargo ship was transformed into the third TICONDEROGA (1917 - 1918), which served the Naval Overseas Transportation Service during World War I. The fourth ship was the famed aircraft carrier, affectionately known as "The Big T," which served from 1944 to 1973, earning 17 Battle Stars for service during World War II and the Vietnam War. The carrier also received three awards of the Navy Unit Commendation and the Meritorious Unit Commendation for service during the Vietnam War.

May God bless and keep your brother from harm, Lee my brother

I'll remember him in my prayers, Lee.

Booty--great pic and info.  Certainly puts a mental picture of what I'm praying about in my head.  Thanks.

He has been lifted in a prayer of protection and safe-keeping.  

Peace and blessings.

James