.jpg) USSGermantown passing the Coronado Bridge in San Diego Bay in August 2003. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Germantown |
| Namesake | Battle of Germantown |
| Ordered | 26 March 1982 |
| Builder | Lockheed Shipbuilding |
| Laid down | 5 August 1982 |
| Launched | 29 June 1984 |
| Commissioned | 8 February 1986 |
| Homeport | San Diego, California |
| Motto | Folgen Sie unseren Fusspuren! (Follow in Our Footsteps) |
| Status | in active service |
| Badge |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Whidbey Island-classdock landing ship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 610 ft (190 m) |
| Beam | 84 ft (26 m) |
| Draft | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Propulsion | 4 Colt Industries, 16-cylinder diesel engines, 2 shafts, 33,000 shp (25,000 kW) |
| Speed | over 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | 5LCACs |
| Troops | Marine detachment: 402 + 102 surge |
| Complement | 22 officers, 391 enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USSGermantown (LSD-42) is the secondWhidbey Island-classdock landing ship in theUnited States Navy. She is the second navy ship named after theRevolutionary WarBattle of Germantown.
Germantown was the first ship in the class to serve in the Pacific. Theamphibious ship's mission is to project power ashore by transporting and launching amphibious craft and vehicles loaded with embarkedMarines in support of an amphibious assault. The ship was designed specifically to operate withLanding Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vessels. She has the largest capacity for these landing craft (four to five) of any US Navy amphibious platform.
The navy ordered USSGermantown on 26 March 1982. Four years later, on 8 February 1986, the ship wascommissioned. In 1990–1991, she played a significant role duringOperations Desert Shield andDesert Storm. The ship participated in mock amphibious assaults inOman after the start of the air war in preparation for a possible amphibious assault.
On 16 August 2002,Harpers Ferry relievedGermantown as a forward-deployed naval unit atSasebo, Japan.Germantown returned toSan Diego, California, where she underwent aUS$ 25 million overhaul. One year later, the ship deployed to thePersian Gulf as part of Expeditionary Strike Group One.Germantown supportedOperation Iraqi Freedom by landing Marines and equipment from the13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
In September 2003,Germantown deployed with the first everExpeditionary Strike Group to supportOperation Iraqi Freedom, providing support for Marines inIraq andKuwait while also patrolling the Persian Gulf.
In February 2006,Germantown deployed to thePersian Gulf in support ofOperation Enduring Freedom, carrying the11th Marine Expeditionary Unit toKuwait. She assistedIraq in the North Persian Gulf by responding to an oil fire on the Khwar Al Amaya Oil Terminal and by querying vessels before they entered Iraqi waters.Germantown conducted "Presence Operations" throughout the Persian Gulf before returning toSan Diego, California in August 2006.
Germantown departed for the Persian Gulf on 5 November 2007 to supportOperation Enduring Freedom by transporting members of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit to Kuwait for field exercises. She then proceeded to conductmaritime security operations throughout the Persian Gulf and was later tasked with conducting oil platform defense in the narrow Shatt-Al-Arab waterway on theIran-Iraq border. She returned home to San Diego on 3 June 2008 and began preparations for an extended mid-life overhaul to commence in the winter of 2008.
In January 2011,Germantown reversed the 2002 hull swap withHarpers Ferry, to return to Sasebo, and immediately proceeded to join theEssex Amphibious Ready Group for Cobra Gold 2011, a multinational exercise hosted annually by the Kingdom ofThailand.
Germantown was one of several ships participating in disaster relief after the2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[1] The ship departed Sasebo in September 2011 for a patrol of the western Pacific. Accompanying the ship wereDenver andEssex.[2] In November 2013,Germantown andAshland supported relief operations in the wake ofTyphoon Haiyan.[3]
In March 2014, the ship's commanding officer, Commander Jason Leach was relieved of duty by the head of the7th Fleet's amphibious unit "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command." News reports indicated that "The relief was not related to a single incident but was the result of a poor command climate on board the ship and the commanding officer's failure to use the good judgment expected of leaders in the navy and to uphold standards."[4] In January 2015, the ship's command master chief Jesus Galura pleaded guilty to a number of charges stemming from an investigation into a prostitution procurement ring between him and four other chief petty officers on board the ship.[5]
In December 2020, the U.S. Navy's Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels stated that the ship was planned to be placed Out of Commission in Reserve in 2023.[6]
On 15 October 2021 theGermantown completed ten years of forward deployed service in Japan and completed a homeport shift to San Diego.[7]
GUIUAN, Philippines – Two amphibious ships, the USS Ashland and the USS Germantown, along with 900 Okinawa-based Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, have arrived in the Philippines to boost Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts.
