USS Green Bay (LPD-20)

USS Green Bay (LPD-20) is a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. She is the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city and bay of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Green Bay.

USS Green Bay (LPD-20)
USS Green Bay underway from Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding Avondale Operations in New Orleans
History
United States
Name: USS Green Bay
Namesake: The city and bay of Green Bay, Wisconsin
Ordered: 30 May 2000
Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems
Laid down: 11 August 2003
Christened: 15 July 2006
Launched: 11 August 2006
Acquired: 29 August 2008
Commissioned: 24 January 2009
Homeport: Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan
Motto: Statum Bello Invictus Maneo ("Stand and Fight, Remain Unvanquished")
Status: in active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock
Displacement: 25,000 tons full
Length:
Beam:
  • 31.9 m (104 ft 8 in) extreme
  • 29.5 m (96 ft 9 in) waterline
Draft: 7.0 m (23 ft 0 in))
Propulsion:
Speed: 22 knots (41 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried:
Capacity: 700 (66 officers, 633 enlisted Marines); with a surge to 800 total.
Complement: 28 officers, 332 enlisted sailors
Armament:
  • 2 × 30 mm Bushmaster II cannon
  • 2 × Rolling Airframe Missile launchers
Aircraft carried: 4 × CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters or 2 × MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft may be launched or recovered simultaneously, with many more than this carried.

The contract to build her was awarded to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana, on 30 May 2000 and her keel was laid down on 11 August 2003. Green Bay was christened on 15 July 2006 and commissioned on 24 January 2009. Rose Magnus, the wife of Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert Magnus, served as the ship's sponsor. Green Bay is assigned to the U.S. Pacific Fleet,[1] and her home port was Naval Base San Diego,[2] until 2015 when she was forward deployed to United States Fleet Activities Sasebo in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan.[3]

The ship's name has resulted in a close connection to the people of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and their professional football team, the Green Bay Packers. The ship's flight deck is named "Lambeau Field" after the name of the Packers' stadium. Green Bay businesses and residents presented the ship with a truckload of Packerland memorabilia for her 2009 commissioning.[4][5]

Service history

In 2009, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 31 (VX-31) and Green Bay tested the feasibility of using the San Antonio-class LPDs for AV-8B Harrier IIs V/STOL attack aircraft in emergency situations. The AV-8Bs were used in numerous tests for the San Antonio-class's aviation certification, as well testing the effect of exhaust heat on the flight deck.[6]

The ship went on her first deployment in February 2011 with the three-ship Boxer Amphibious Ready Group. The group, comprising 4,000 sailors and Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, deployed for seven months to the United States Fifth and Seventh Fleet areas in the Asian region.[7]

In March 2011, Green Bay was scheduled to assisted in Operation Tomodachi, the relief efforts after the massive 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.[8] She was instead rerouted into Operation Enduring Freedom areas and never made it to Japan.

In May 2013, Green Bay returned from an eight-month deployment to the Middle East and Asia as part of the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group, along with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

In January 2015, Green Bay was forward deployed to the 7th Fleet replacing USS Denver in the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group homeported at United States Fleet Activities Sasebo.

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References
  1. "Commissioning". City of Green Bay. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  2. Liewer, Steve (24 January 2009). "Navy's New Dock Ship To Be Based In San Diego"". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  3. Merriman, Elizabeth (26 January 2015). "USS Green Bay Departs for Forward Deployment to 7th Fleet". US Navy. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  4. "USS Green Bay to get Taste of Namesake City". WSAW-TV. 9 January 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  5. Cradler, Sheila (1 February 2010). "USS Green Bay personalized by symbols of namesake city". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  6. "New ship: Harrier's emergency option?". Archived from the original on 23 November 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  7. Fuentes, Gidget (13 July 2011). "Misconduct claims lead to Green Bay XO's firing". Military Times.
  8. Briand, Xavier (12 March 2011). "FACTBOX - U.S. Navy ships prepared for Japan earthquake relief". Reuters. Retrieved 17 July 2012..

This article contains information from the Naval Vessel Registry and various other U.S. Navy Web sites.

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