At 3:00 in the morning on January 17, 1991, the air war against Iraq began. In the Red Sea, USS Philippine Sea (CG-58) fired Tomahawk cruise missiles into the darkness — one of the first salvos of what would become Operation Desert Storm. The Tomahawks flew northwest, threading through the night sky toward Iraqi command centers, airfields, and air defense installations. Philippine Sea’s crew had drilled for this moment for months. The missiles hit their targets. Desert Storm had started, and a Ticonderoga-class cruiser from Norfolk was part of the opening salvo of history’s first large-scale precision air campaign.
The Ship
USS Philippine Sea (CG-58) is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, commissioned on March 18, 1989, and named for the Battle of the Philippine Sea — the June 1944 naval engagement in which American carrier forces destroyed Japanese naval aviation so completely that the battle became known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” The class is built around the Aegis combat system, the most capable air defense system afloat, and armed with the Mark 41 Vertical Launch System capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles and Standard surface-to-air missiles from the same launchers. Philippine Sea was homeported at Norfolk, Virginia, and was among the Navy’s newest and most capable surface combatants when she deployed to the Persian Gulf region in 1990.
Desert Shield, 1990
When Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, Philippine Sea was part of the naval forces that surged to the region in the weeks that followed. Desert Shield — the buildup phase — placed multiple carrier battle groups and their surface warfare escorts in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, establishing the naval component of the multinational coalition that would ultimately force Iraq out of Kuwait. Philippine Sea operated in the Red Sea with the carrier battle group, providing air defense for the formation, monitoring Iraqi naval movements, and preparing for the strike campaign that planners knew was coming if diplomacy failed.
The five months of Desert Shield were a period of sustained readiness — the crew maintaining the ship’s systems at wartime levels, conducting training, and waiting for the United Nations deadline to pass. The deadline passed on January 15, 1991. Two days later, the war began.
Desert Storm — The Opening Night
Philippine Sea’s Tomahawk launches on the opening night of Desert Storm were part of a coordinated strike package that included cruise missiles from multiple ships and submarines, F-117 stealth aircraft, and conventional aircraft from multiple coalition carriers and air bases. The Tomahawk had never been used in combat at this scale, and the opening night of Desert Storm was a demonstration of what precision standoff strike looked like when executed across a theater. Philippine Sea’s crew watched the missiles leave their vertical launchers, tracked them on radar until they passed out of range, and then turned back to managing the air defense picture — because the war had just started, and the ship’s job wasn’t done.
The air campaign ran for 38 days before the ground war began on February 24, 1991. Philippine Sea continued her air defense role throughout, protecting the battle group from any Iraqi attempt to strike at the ships operating in the Red Sea. The threat never fully materialized; the Iraqi Air Force was destroyed or driven to Iran in the opening days of the campaign. But the Aegis systems on Philippine Sea and her sister ships remained at watch, because that was the job.
Life Aboard
A Ticonderoga-class cruiser carries a crew of roughly 350 officers and enlisted sailors — small enough that everyone knows everyone, large enough to operate every combat system the ship carries around the clock. The combat information center is the heart of the ship during wartime, a controlled darkness of radar displays and computer screens where air defense coordinators track hundreds of contacts simultaneously. The people who stood watch in Philippine Sea’s CIC during Desert Storm were young — most of them in their twenties, some teenagers — and they did their jobs with the professionalism that the Navy’s training system exists to produce. The Tomahawks flew because the crew was ready. The air picture stayed clear because the watchstanders kept it that way.
If you served aboard USS Philippine Sea or want to honor someone who did, browse the full Philippine Sea collection — cruise shirts, license plate frames, and more.
Legacy
USS Philippine Sea continues to serve, more than three decades after her commissioning. Her Desert Storm deployment — and specifically those opening-night Tomahawk launches — placed her in the small fraternity of ships that can say they were there when precision warfare entered the modern era. The battle her namesake was named for was decided by carrier aviation in 1944; the battle she fought in was decided by cruise missiles in 1991. The Philippine Sea connection runs from the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot to the first night of Desert Storm, connecting two very different kinds of naval dominance across five decades of American military history.