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.
The second USS La Salle (LPD-3/AGF-3) was built as a Raleigh-class amphibious transport dock and entered service with the United States Navy in 1964. La Salle was named for the city in Illinois that was in turn named after René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. La Salle saw service in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and throughout international waters in the Middle East. The vessel served as a command ship for Joint Task Force Middle East. In 2005 the ship was decommissioned and sunk as a target ship off the Atlantic coast of the United States in 2007.
USS Shreveport (LPD-12) was an Austin-class amphibious transport dock. It was 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 Nashville (LPD-13), was an Austin-class amphibious transport dock and the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the capital city of Tennessee. Her keel was laid down on 14 March 1966 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 7 October 1967 sponsored by Mrs. Roy L. Johnson, and commissioned at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, on 14 February 1970.
USS Ponce, was 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 United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering Sea, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and a sector of the Arctic. Major oil and trade sea lines of communication within this area are critically important to the economic health of the United States and friendly nations throughout the Pacific Rim region.
The Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US military services as well as for other government agencies. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's ocean transport needs. The MSTS was renamed the Military Sealift Command in 1970.
USS Denver (LPD-9), an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, was the third ship of United States Navy to bear this name. Denver's keel was laid on 7 July 1964 at Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company, Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 23 January 1965, christened by Mrs. Ann Daniels Love, wife of John A. Love, the former governor of Colorado, and commissioned on 26 October 1968. After 46 years of service, Denver was decommissioned at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam on 14 August 2014. At the time of her decommissioning, Denver was the oldest deployable warship in the U.S. Navy, and was one of the last active warships to have served in Vietnam.
USS Cowpens (CG-63) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser in service with the United States Navy. The ship is named after the Battle of Cowpens, a major American victory near Cowpens, South Carolina, in the American Revolution. She was built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine. Cowpens is stationed at Naval Base San Diego.
USS Halsey (DDG-97) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy.
Command ships serve as the flagships of the commander of a fleet. They provide communications, office space, and accommodations for a fleet commander and their staff, and serve to coordinate fleet activities.
Michael Harold "Mike" Miller is a former vice admiral in the United States Navy, and was the first active-duty officer to direct the White House Military Office. He was the 61st Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy.
USS Lewis Hancock (DD-675) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, in service from 1943 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1957. She was sold to Brazil in 1967, where she served as Piaui (D31) until being scrapped in 1989.
Bernard Ambrose Clarey, nicknamed "Chick", was an admiral of the United States Navy. A submarine commander during World War II, he served during the late 1960s as Vice Chief of Naval Operations and in the early 1970s as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
USS Piedmont (AD–17) was a Dixie-class destroyer tender built during World War II for the United States Navy. Her task was to service destroyers in, or near, battle areas and to keep them fit for duty. She served in the Pacific Ocean during World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. For her work in battle areas, the ship was awarded four battle stars for her Korean War efforts and one for Vietnam War service.
In the United States Navy, the expeditionary strike group (ESG) is a coordinated group of surface ships, aircraft, submarines, and other naval assets. In contrast to carrier strike groups (CSGs), which emphasize air power and are led by a supercarrier, ESGs are strongly suited for amphibious warfare and are led by an amphibious assault ship. The ESG concept was introduced in the early 1990s, based on the Naval Expeditionary Task Force. The U.S. Navy fields nine expeditionary strike groups.
USS Valcour (AVP-55), later AGF-1, was a Barnegat-class seaplane tender of the United States Navy, in commission as a seaplane tender from 1946 to 1965 and as a flagship from 1965 to 1973.
USS Coronado (LCS-4) is an Independence-class littoral combat ship. She is the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after Coronado, California.
United States
