I was on the Mobile Bay (CG-53) escorting the Abraham Lincoln (yeah Rick, the one that the COMMANDER IN CHIEF landed on) during that 9 1/2 month deployment when the Iraqi war started. We launched 31 Tomahawks.

We had 73 days at sea followed by 92 days... One deployment and 2 beer days. THAT sucked.

But we did get to go to Melbourne and Sydney!