[1] The second Port Royal (CG-73) was assigned hull number CG-69 on 9 May 1989, but that number was reassigned to guided missile cruiser USS Vicksburg and CG-73 to Port Royal on 8 December 1989; was laid down on 18 October 1991,[2] at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Litton Industries; launched on 20 November 1992; sponsored by Susan G. Baker (wife of James A. Baker III, Chief of Staff to President George H. W. Bush and former Secretary of State); and commissioned at Savannah, Georgia, on 9 July 1994.

[3] Port Royal and Lake Erie are the original cruisers for the navy's Linebacker Program (Milestone Phase I, II and III), which provided theater ballistic missile defense capability, as test platforms to detect, track, cue, intercept, and interact with other national assets to shoot down ICBMs.

[5] As of 2009, Port Royal along with Lake Erie and Shiloh were the only three Ticonderoga-class cruisers to be equipped for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program.

[6] Originally, Port Royal was to be outfitted with the experimental shipboard mounted High Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWEPS).

The outfitting, scheduled to occur in Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme, California in 1994 was cancelled, along with all plans to install HELWEPS on Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

Four (LM2500) gas turbine engines propel Port Royal with 80,000 shaft horsepower (60,000 kW) at speeds greater than 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph).

The CVBG was participating in Operation Southern Watch, but was deployed to the South China Sea in March 1996, to act as a stabilizing force the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.

Leaving in January 2000, she returned to Hawaii early after sustaining damage to her port shaft and Hub during pursuit of a vessel suspected of smuggling Iraqi oil in violation of U.N. sanctions.

[7] Port Royal deployed with Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group-One (ESG-1) in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) from 3 September 2003 until 11 March 2004.

Port Royal deployed with Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group-Three (ESG-3) in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) from 27 February 2006 until 5 August 2006.

On 6 January 2008, the destroyer Hopper, Port Royal and the frigate Ingraham were entering the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz when five Iranian boats approached them at high speed and in a threatening manner.

[15] In May 2013, to answer queries made by Congress, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) reported that the condition of the ship was comparable to certain other cruisers in the same class and that the effects of the grounding might not have been as severe as had been previously thought.