USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52)

USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52) in the Pacific Ocean (20 June 2007).
History
United States
Name: USS Pearl Harbor
Namesake: Pearl Harbor
Ordered: 12 October 1993
Builder: Avondale Shipyards
Laid down: 27 January 1995
Launched: 24 February 1996
Commissioned: 30 May 1998
Homeport: Naval Base San Diego
Motto: Nation's Battle Cry
Nickname(s): "The Black Pearl"
Status: in active service, as of 2016
Badge:
General characteristics
Class & type: Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship
Displacement:
  • 11,251 tons (light)
  • 16,088 tons (full)
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 MW)
Speed: 20+ knots (37+ km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 2 LCACs
Complement:
  • 22 officers, 397 enlisted
  • Marine detachment:
  • 402 + 102 surge
Armament:

USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52) is a Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for Pearl Harbor, where World War II began for the United States.

Pearl Harbor was laid down on 27 January 1995, by the Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans, La.; launched on 24 February 1996; and commissioned on 30 May 1998.

As of 2014, Pearl Harbor is commanded by CDR Karrey Sanders, homeported at NS San Diego, California, and assigned to Amphibious Group 1.

Service history

On 4 May 2008 the ship departed San Diego for assignment in the Persian Gulf as part of the Peleliu amphibious assault group. On 21 July 2008, Pearl Harbor was run aground on a shoal off of Kuwait without damage. Following the incident, Commander Xavier F. Valverde was relieved of command by Rear Admiral Kendall Card, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, and reassigned to shore staff duty in Bahrain. Captain Mike Slotsky, deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 9 in Everett, Washington, was assigned to oversee the ship temporarily.[1][2]

On 20 May 2010 the ship departed on a WESTPAC deployment as a part of the Peleliu Amphibious Readiness Group, where she participated in relief efforts following devastating floods in Pakistan in September 2010. Following her aid to Pakistani victims, she sailed south to Somalia where she conducted counter-piracy operations and lent aid to over 60 Somali refugees for over a month. She returned to her homeport of San Diego, California on 17 December 2010.

On 14 November 2011 the ship departed on a WESTPAC deployment as part of the Makin Island Amphibious Readiness Group. She returned to San Diego on 22 June 2012.

From May through August 2013, Pearl Harbor deployed independently in support of Pacific Partnership 2013, providing humanitarian aid to the island nations of Samoa, Tonga, New Caledonia, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and Soloman Islands.

On 15 April 2014, the ship entered an Extended Docking Phased Maintenance Availability (EDPMA) to complete her midlife overhaul.

Close up look of USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52)

Notes

  1. ↑ Carter, Chelsea (28 July 2008). "Navy commander fired after running ship aground". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  2. ↑ San Diego Union-Tribune, "Commander Is Reassigned After Ship Runs Aground", 29 July 2008.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

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