USS Anchorage (LPD-23)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Anchorage.
Career
Name: Anchorage
Namesake: Anchorage, Alaska
Awarded: 1 June 2006
Builder: Avondale Shipyard
Laid down: 24 September 2007
Launched: 12 February 2011 [1]
Christened: 14 May 2011 [2]
Acquired: 17 September 2012 [3]
Commissioned: 4 May 2013 [4]
Homeport: San Diego, CA
Status: in active service, as of 2015
General characteristics
Class and type:San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock
Displacement:25,000 tons full
Length:Overall: 208.5 m (684 ft)
Waterline: 201.4 m (661 ft)
Beam:Extreme: 31.9 m (105 ft)
Waterline: 29.5 m (97 ft)
Draft:7 m (23 ft)
Propulsion:Four Colt-Pielstick diesel engines, two shafts, 40,000 hp (30 MW)
Speed:22 kn (41 km/h)
Boats and landing
craft carried:		Two LCACs (air cushion)
or one LCU (conventional)
Capacity:699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); surge to 800 total
Complement:32 officers, 364 enlisted
Armament:Two 30 mm Bushmaster II cannons, for surface threat defense;
Two Rolling Airframe Missile launchers for air defense
Aircraft carried:Four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters or two MV-22 tilt rotor aircraft may be launched or recovered simultaneously

USS Anchorage (LPD-23), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Anchorage, Alaska.

History

Anchorage with the Orion space capsule, December 5, 2014.

Anchorage‍ '​s keel was laid down on 24 September 2007, at the Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, Louisiana, then owned by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. The ship was launched on 12 February 2011.[1] She was christened two months later, on 14 May — the first ship christened by Huntington Ingalls Industries since Northrop Grumman spun off its shipbuilding divisions as a separate company.[2] The ship's sponsor is Annette Conway, wife of former Marine Corps Commandant General James T. Conway.[5] The ship was formally delivered and accepted by the US Navy on 17 September 2012.[3] Anchorage was commissioned 04 May 2013, in her namesake city.[4]

Voyages and exercises

In 2014, sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 1 and divers from New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, Australia and Chile recover their boats into the well deck of the amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage after conducting night dive exercises off the coast of San Diego during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC).[6]

In early August 2014, Anchorage participated in Underway Recovery Test 2, rehearsing scenarios for recovering an Orion space capsule. On 5 December 2014, Anchorage served as the recovery vessel for Orion's Exploration Flight Test 1.[7][8]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Anchorage (LPD-23).