USS Thomas S. Gates on 18 July 2005
History
United States
Name	Thomas S. Gates
Namesake	Thomas S. Gates
Ordered	20 May 1982
Builder	Bath Iron Works
Laid down	31 August 1984
Launched	14 December 1985
Sponsored by	Anne Gates
Acquired	22 June 1987
Commissioned	22 August 1987
Decommissioned	16 December 2005
Stricken	16 December 2005
Homeport	Norfolk (1987 — 1998) Pascagoula (1998 — 2005)
Identification	Call sign: NTSG Hull number: CG-51
Motto	Defender of the Republic
Fate	Scrapped, 2017
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Ticonderoga-class cruiser
Displacement	Approx. 9,600 long tons (9,800 t) full load
Length	567 feet (173 m)
Beam	55 feet (16.8 meters)
Draught	34 feet (10.2 meters)
Propulsion	4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines 2 × controllable-reversible pitch propellers 2 × rudders
Speed	32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Complement	30 officers and 300 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems	AN/SPY-1A/B multi-function radar AN/SPS-49 air search radar (Removed on some ships) AN/SPG-62 fire control radar AN/SPS-73 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar AN/SQQ-89(V)1/3 - A(V)15 Sonar suite, consisting of: AN/SQS-53B/C/D active sonar AN/SQR-19 TACTAS, AN/SQR-19B ITASS, & MFTA passive sonar AN/SQQ-28 light airborne multi-purpose system (Note: No Towed Array Sonar on early Cruisers)
Armament	2 × Mk 26 missile launchers 68 × RIM-66 SM-2 20 × RUR-5 ASROC 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon missiles 2 × 5 in (127 mm)/54 caliber Mark 45 lightweight gun 2–4 × .50 in (12.7 mm) cal. machine gun 2 × Phalanx CIWS 2 × Mk 32 12.75 in (324 mm) triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried	2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.

The USS Thomas S. Gates (CG-51) was a flight-I Ticonderoga-class cruiser that was used by the United States Navy. The warship was named after Thomas S. Gates, Secretary of Defense in the last years of the Eisenhower Administration (1959–1961).

In a break from normal naming conventions for the Ticonderoga class cruisers, the Thomas S. Gates was originally the only vessel of the class to be named after a person; all of the other cruisers are named after notable events in American military history until 2023, when USS Chancellorsville was renamed USS Robert Smalls (CG-62).