A decommissioning ceremony was held at Naval Base San Diego for USS Germantown, a dock landing ship of the U.S. Navy that spent 40 years in active service.
In the event, guest speaker Brigadier General Samuel L. Meyer, the director of expeditionary warfare, paid tribute to the legacy of the vessel and generations of sailors, Marines, and families whose service gave life to the ship’s history.
The Whidbey Island-class vessel had a crew of 22 officers and 391 sailors, with additional space for up to 102 personnel if needed for specialised missions.
Constructed in Seattle by Lockheed Shipbuilding, the ship was christened after the Battle of Germantown, which occurred on October 4, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War. When it first entered service, the vessel sailed regularly from San Diego before it was deployed to Japan’s Sasebo.
There, it assisted amphibious operations and the Marines. It was the first dock landing vessel to perform these operations using Landing Craft Air Cushion vehicles. It was part of several crucial missions such as
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