USS Tarawa (LHA-1), the lead ship of her class, is an amphibious assault ship that served in the United States Navy from 1976 to 2009. She is the second ship to be named for the Battle of Tarawa, fought during World War II. Tarawa was decommissioned on 31 March 2009, at San Diego Naval Base.
USS Cleveland (LPD-7), an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city in Ohio. Her keel was laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on 7 May 1966, and was commissioned on 21 April 1967 at Norfolk, Virginia. At the time of decommissioning, she was the third-oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy, behind USS Constitution and USS Enterprise.
USS Shreveport (LPD-12) is an Austin-class amphibious transport dock. It is the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city in Louisiana. Her keel was laid down on 27 December 1965 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 22 October 1966 sponsored by Mrs. Andrew McBurney Jackson, Jr., and commissioned on 12 December 1970.
USS Ponce, is an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, formerly in service with the United States Navy. She has been the only ship of the Navy named for Ponce in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which in turn was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, the first governor of Puerto Rico and the European discoverer of Florida. Her keel was laid down on 31 October 1966 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 20 May 1970 sponsored by Florence W. Hyland, the wife of Admiral John J. Hyland, and commissioned on 10 July 1971. She spent most of her career based on the East Coast and operating in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, serving in Operation Desert Shield and supporting US operations in the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
The seventh USS Ranger (CV/CVA-61) was the third of four Forrestal-class supercarriers built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. Although all four ships of the class were completed with angled decks, Ranger had the distinction of being the first US carrier built from the beginning as an angled-deck ship.
The fifth USS Independence (CV/CVA-62) was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. She was the fourth and final member of the Forrestal class of conventionally powered supercarriers. She entered service in 1959, with much of her early years spent in the Mediterranean Fleet.
USS Ticonderoga (DDG/CG-47), nicknamed "Tico", was a guided-missile cruiser built for the United States Navy. She was the lead ship of the Ticonderoga class and the first U.S. Navy combatant to incorporate the Aegis combat system. Originally ordered as a guided-missile destroyer, she was redesignated as a cruiser after capabilities from the cancelled Strike cruiser program were implemented into the ship's design. The new AEGIS system allowed Ticonderoga to track and engage many aerial targets more effectively than any previous U.S. Navy warship.
USS Leahy (DLG/CG-16) was the lead ship of a new class of destroyer leaders in the United States Navy. Named for Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, she was commissioned on 4 August 1962 as DLG-16, a guided missile frigate, and reclassified as CG-16, a guided missile cruiser, on 30 June 1975.
USS Saipan (LHA-2) was a Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship, the second United States Navy ship named in honor of the World War II Battle of Saipan. Commissioned in 1977, the ship saw service until 2007 when she was decommissioned. In 2009 the ship was sold for scrapping.
USS Monticello (LSD-35) was a Thomaston-class dock landing ship, the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Virginia.
USS Germantown (LSD-42) is the second Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship in the United States Navy. She is the second navy ship named after the Revolutionary War Battle of Germantown.
USS Point Defiance (LSD-31) was a Thomaston-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for Point Defiance, a location in Pierce County, Washington, the site of a military reservation established by the U.S. Government in 1866. She was the second ship assigned that name. The construction of the first ship, Casa Grande-class dock landing ship Point Defiance (LSD-23), was canceled on 17 August 1945.
USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship (LSD) of the United States Navy. She was named for Whidbey Island, in Puget Sound, Washington, the location of NAS Whidbey Island; the name ultimately derives from the sailor, explorer and engineer Joseph Whidbey.
USS Fort McHenry (LSD-43) is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, the 1814 defense of which inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner".
USS Tortuga (LSD-46) is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to be named for the Dry Tortugas, a group of desert coral islets 60 miles (97 km) west of Key West, Florida.
The Anchorage-class dock landing ships were a series of five dock landing ships (LSD) constructed and commissioned by the United States Navy between 1965 and 1972. US Navy decommissioned all five of them by 2003. They are succeeded by Whidbey Island-class LSDs and Harpers Ferry-class LSDs.
USS Donner (LSD-20) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named for the Sierra Nevada Donner Pass, where the Donner Party became snowbound in the winter of 1846–47.
USS Mount Vernon (LSD-39) was an Anchorage-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the fifth ship of the U.S. Navy to bear the name. She was built in Massachusetts in 1972 and homeported in Southern California for 31 years until being decommissioned on 25 July 2003. Mount Vernon acted as the control ship for the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In 2005, she was intentionally destroyed off the coast of Hawaii as part of a training exercise.
USS Fort Mandan (LSD-21) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of Fort Mandan, the encampment at which the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered in 1804–1805, in what is now North Dakota.
USS Rushmore (LSD-14) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named in honor of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
United States
