USS "Vella Gulf" (CG-72) is a guided missile cruiser built for, and in active service with, the United States Navy. She is the second ship named for the Battle of Vella Gulf, a naval engagement in the Solomons campaign of World War II, the first being an escort carrier commissioned in 1945. She was laid down on 22 April 1991 at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Litton Industries, Ingalls Shipbuilding Division; launched on 13 June 1992; sponsored by Mary A. McCauley, wife of Vice Admiral William F. McCauley (Ret.); and commissioned alongside Pier 12, Naval Operating Base (NOB) Norfolk, Virginia, on 18 September 1993.