Ordered:	20 May 1982
Builder:	Bath Iron Works
Laid down:	31 August 1984
Launched:	14 December 1985
Acquired:	22 June 1987
Commissioned:	22 August 1987
Decommissioned:	15 December 2005
Struck:	14 December 2005
Motto:	Defender of the Republic
Fate:	To be disposed of
General characteristics
Class & 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, 80,000 shaft horsepower (60,000 kW) 2 × controllable-reversible pitch propellers 2 × rudders
Speed:	32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Complement:	33 officers, 27 Chief Petty Officers, and approx. 340 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPY-1A/B multi-function radar AN/SPS-49 air search radar AN/SPG-62 fire control radar AN/SPS-73 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite 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
Armament:	2 × Mk 26 missile launchers 68 × RIM-66 SM-2, and 20 × RUR-5 ASROC 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon missiles 2 × Mark 45 5 in / 54 cal lightweight gun 2–4 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) 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.

USS Thomas S. Gates (CG-51) is a Ticonderoga-class cruiser in the United States Navy. The warship is named after Thomas S. Gates, Secretary of Defense in the last years of the Eisenhower Administration (1959–1961). Thomas S. Gates was laid down 31 August 1984 at Bath Iron Works, Maine and sponsored by Anne Gates, daughter of the ships namesake. Thomas S. Gates was launched 14 December 1985, purchased 22 June 1987 and was commissioned 22 August 1987.

Due to Hurricane Katrina, her last deployment was cut short. The crew was given leave to take care of their families and other personal business. The Navy decommissioned her on 15 December 2005, four months earlier than the planned March, 2006 date. She was stricken the same date and is now berthed at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, PA. She is slated to be dismantled in the next five years along with her sisters Vincennes and Yorktown.

In March 2003 Thomas S. Gates, homeported at Pascagoula, was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 6.