Gerald Eklund

USS **Bainbridge** (CGN-25) was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser commissioned into the United States Navy in 1962. As the first nuclear-powered frigate (later reclassified as a cruiser), she played a pioneering role in demonstrating the strategic value of nuclear propulsion within surface combatants. Bainbridge notably participated in Operation Sea Orbit in 1964, circumnavigating the globe without refueling alongside USS Enterprise and USS Long Beach. Throughout her nearly 33 years of service, Bainbridge was deployed extensively in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian Oceans, before decommissioning in 1996.