USS Port Royal (CG-73) 1997-98 Maiden Deployment Unisex Sweatshirt

USS Port Royal (CG-73) is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser commissioned on July 9, 1994, and homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Named in honor of the Battle of Port Royal (1861), a decisive Union naval victory in the Civil War, she is equipped with the Aegis Combat System and armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles and Standard Missiles. This sweatshirt commemorates Port Royal's 1997-98 maiden deployment — her first operational deployment as a commissioned warship — during which she deployed to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, operating as part of a carrier strike group and demonstrating the Aegis cruiser's role as the fleet's premier air defense platform. This sweatshirt honors the crew who served during that inaugural deployment.