USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44)

USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to be named for Gunston Hall, the Mason Neck, Virginia estate of George Mason, one of Virginia's renowned Revolutionary figures, and "Father of the Bill of Rights". Gunston Hall was laid down on 26 May 1986, at the Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans, LA, launched on 27 June 1987, commissioned on 22 April 1989 and assigned to Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek.

For other ships with the same name, see VA.

Gunston Hall during exercise Nautical Union (2005)
History
United States
Name: '
Namesake: Gunston Hall
Awarded: 21 November 1983
Builder: Avondale Shipyard
Laid down: 26 May 1986
Launched: 27 June 1987
Commissioned: 22 April 1989
Refit: 2009
Homeport: Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story
Identification:
Motto: Defending The Constitution
Status: in active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship
Displacement:
  • 11,332 tons (light)
  • 16,581 tons (full)
Length: 610 ft (190 m) overall
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:		 4 LCACs or 2 LCUs
Troops: Marine detachment: 402 + 102 surge
Complement: 22 officers, 391 enlisted
Armament:

Gunston Hall is currently homeported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia, and assigned to Amphibious Group 2 of the Atlantic Fleet.

Ship history

1999

Gunston Hall deployed as part of the USS Kearsarge (KSG) amphibious ready group (ARG) on 14 April, 1999 and returned to Hampton Roads 14 October, 1999, following a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean. The other ships of the ARG were KSG (LHD 3), and USS Ponce (LPD 15) (PON), with 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Special Operations Capable (26 MEU(SOC)) and Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON) 6 embarked. On 15 April, 1999, Gunston Hall embarked K Company of 3/8 Marines with their Assault Amphibious Vehicles (AAVs) in Morehead City, NC.

Upon arrival on station in the Adriatic Sea to participate in OPERATION ALLIED FORCE and JOINT TASK FORCE (JTF) SHINING HOPE, the ARG deployed Marines from the 26 MEU(SOC) into Albania to construct a camp for refugees fleeing the fighting in Kosovo. Gunston Hall Sailors conducted a pre-landing survey of the proposed landing beaches to assist in selection of the best landing sites.

As the Serbs withdrew from Kosovo, the ARG conducted a rapid withdrawal of the MEU(SOC), and conducted a high speed transit to Greece in order to again deploy the Marines ashore. An unopposed landing was conducted in Litokhoron, Greece to position the MEU(SOC) to enter Kosovo overland to provide an initial peacekeeping presence in the region, along with other NATO forces in OPERATION JOINT GUARDIAN. 26 MEU(SOC) spent 40 days in-country before the initial military technical agreements were finalized and more permanent security forces arrived. The ARG ships pulled into Thessaloniki, Greece, to backload the Marines and held a 'steel beach' cookout to celebrate their return. After enjoying liberty in several Mediterranean ports, the ARG/MEU team was once again called into action, this time to provide relief and assistance to Turkey in OPERATION AVID RESPONSE in the wake of a devastating earthquake. Gunston Hall Sailors participated in constructing a "tent city" to house thousands left homeless by the quake, and in the ARG/MEU deliveries of water and humanitarian supplies to many hard-to-reach sites within the country.

Even after the heavy real world workload, Gunston Hall still participated in EXERCISE ATLAS HINGE to enhance at-sea and Marine interoperability with Tunisian forces.

During the deployment Gunston Hall and K Co traveled more than 15 thousand miles, and visited ports such as Siracusa, Sicily; Haifa, Israel; Marmaris, Turkey; Ibiza, Spain; Taormina, Sicily; and Rota, Spain.

2006

It was announced on 9 October 2006 in the Halifax Herald in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada that the Canadian Navy will borrow the 186-meter amphibious assault ship for a brief period, and will pull it into CFB Halifax in early November, 2006. About 150 Canadian soldiers from CFB Valcartier, along with their light armored vehicles and G-wagons, will board the vessel and start training to storm beaches in landing craft, much like troops did in the Second World War. The U.S. military is providing mentoring and support during the operation.[1]

2008

While on deployment Gunston Hall engaged and gave chase to the tanker Golden Nori which had been hijacked by Somalian pirates. After days of chasing, Golden Nori was cornered in a Somali bay where USS Whidbey Island assisted with the extraction of the hostages.

In July 2008, Gunston Hall underwent a midlife modernization availability at Metro Machine Corp. in Norfolk, VA, which included major upgrades to the ship's control system, local area network and machinery control system, propulsion systems, HVAC, as well as replacement of the ship's boilers and evaporators with an all-electric services system. The refit extended her expected service life which could be up until 2038. She completed subsequent sea trials 21 May 2009.[2]

2010

Gunston Hall was deployed in January 2010, as part of rescue efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[3] On 18 January 2010, she anchored off Killick Navy Base and started relief operations.[4]

In August 2010, her Commanding Officer, Commander Fred R. Wilhelm, was relieved of his command by Rear Admiral Dave Thomas, commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic, and reassigned to administrative duties ashore after allegations surfaced of sexual harassment and simple assault among the ship's crew. Wilhelm was replaced by Captain Mark H. Scovill. The ship's executive officer, Commander Kevin Rafferty, and former Command Master Chief Wayne Owings, were given non-judicial actions over the same incident.[5]

2011

In 2011 Gunston Hall participated in "Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station (A-SPS) 2011", during on a 2-month deployment to the SOUTHCOM Area of Responsibility (AOR), with stops in Belize, Colombia, Guatemala and Jamaica. Embarked with Gunston Hall was a USMC Theater Security Cooperation Task Force (TSCTF), composed of multiple Marine Corps units, and the staff element of Destroyer Squadron 40. The sailors and marines conducted subject matter expert exchanges (SMEEs) with partner nations and gave out gifts to needy children at their port visits.[6]

2015

Gunston Hall experienced an onboard fire on 3 March 2015, while the ship was undergoing a maintenance availability at NASSCO/Earl Industries shipyard in Portsmouth, VA. The Portsmouth Fire Department responded and the fire was extinguished approximately 3 hours later.

2018

After completing the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) in May, Gunston Hall departed Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story on 18 June 2018 to participate in naval exercises Southern Seas 2018 and UNITAS 2018. The ship completed multiple port calls to Naval Station Mayport, Florida, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, Roatán, Honduras, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Santa Marta, Colombia and Cartagena, Colombia. After a brief return to Little Creek–Fort Story in order to resupply and embark the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, she departed for Reykjavik, Iceland to participate with New York and Iwo Jima, to participate in Exercise Trident Juncture 2018. After a port call in Portsmouth, England, the ship returned on 4 December 2018.

  • Gunston Hall off the coast of Haiti during Operation Unified Response following the 2010 Haiti earthquake
  • Ensign Matthew Sweet shows Tanzanian and Togolese Sailors the ship's security camera monitor aboard Gunston Hall, 12 April 2010
  • Dolphin dental care, courtesy of the US Navy
gollark: But they have comparatively good graphics.
gollark: Oh, they are mobile chips.
gollark: And Ice Lake apparently has very good (for an integrated GPU) graphics performance.
gollark: They're making dedicated cards next year.
gollark: For all the other problems with Intel, their Linux drivers are *great*.

References
  1. Thechronicleherald.ca
  2. "USS Gunston Hall Completes Sea Trials". Navy News Service. 29 May 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  3. Navy.mil
  4. "Navy in Hampton Roads answers call to duty in Haiti". WVEC. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
  5. Lessig, Hugh, "USS Gunston Hall CO Is Relieved Of Command", Newport News Daily Press, 13 August 2010.
  6. "Gunston Hall Departs Mayport for Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station 2011". 18 January 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
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