USS New Orleans (LPH-11)
USS New Orleans in 1988
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | New Orleans |
Namesake | Battle of New Orleans |
Ordered | 18 December 1964 |
Builder | Philadelphia Naval Shipyard |
Laid down | 1 March 1966 |
Launched | 3 February 1968 |
Commissioned | 16 November 1968 |
Decommissioned | 31 October 1997 |
Stricken | 23 October 1998 |
Identification |
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Motto | The Enforcers[1] |
Fate | Sunk as target, 10 July 2010 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship |
Displacement | 19,431 tons |
Length | 598 ft (182 m) |
Beam | 84 ft (26 m) |
Draught | 30 ft (9.1 m) |
Propulsion | 2 × 600 psi (4.1 MPa) boilers, one geared steam turbines, one shaft, 22,000 shaft horse power |
Speed | 23 knots (26 mph; 43 km/h) |
Complement | 718 (80 officer, 638 enlisted) |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 20 × CH-46 Sea Knights, 10 × MH-53E Sea Stallion, 3 × AH-1 Cobra |
USS New Orleans (LPH-11) was an
New Orleans was laid down on 1 March 1966 at the
1960s and 1970s
New Orleans made her first appearance in the Western Pacific in August 1969 as flagship for Amphibious Ready Group Bravo. Her embarked Marine helicopter squadron and battalion leading team were ready to be landed within hours. In October, she hosted the Eighth Vietnamese Awards. Later that month, she participated in
.Two other interesting assignments were given to New Orleans prior to her next Western Pacific deployment. In August 1970, she became flagship for Commander First Fleet and provided support for president Richard Nixon's visit to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and made a port call to Acapulco. Then, in late 1970, she prepared for the recovery of Apollo 14. On 9 February 1971, she picked up astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell some 900 miles (1,450 km) south of American Samoa.
In May 1971, New Orleans made her second Western Pacific appearance, conducting various contingency exercises, a multi-national cruising exercise simulating a convoy under combat conditions, and a simulated assault with the Marines on the island of Mindoro, Republic of the Philippines. This deployment was completed in November of that same year.
Following a rather extensive yard period, New Orleans began her next Western Pacific deployment on 17 July 1972. She became flagship for Amphibious Squadron Three and later
The helicopter carrier became engaged in contingency operations again with the ready group off the coast of Vietnam until early February 1973, at which time she became the flagship for Commander Task Force 78 and the control ship for Operation End Sweep. CTF 78, headed by Rear Admiral Brian McCauley, was tasked with de-mining operations for the coast and harbors of North Vietnam. She ceased operations in Haiphong Harbor on 17 April 1973.
New Orleans next participated in recovery operations for the final two crewed
1980s
In 1980, the ship deployed and spent several months in the Indian Ocean during the Iran hostage crisis. She completed a major overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1981. Deployments and exercises in 1982 and 1983 included RIMPAC '82, Exercise Kernel Usher '83-1, Operation Team Spirit 83, and WESTPAC '83. From May to December 1984, New Orleans sailed the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific, participating in eight major amphibious operations. These included Operation Beach Guard, Operation Cobra Gold & Operation Valiant Usher and was honored as the first US ship to land troops ashore at the island of Iwo Jima since WWII as well as troops at Inchon, Korea since the Korean War. While on WESTPAC in 1986, she served in an alert status off the Philippine coast during that country's national elections. She also served as the medical and communications support ship for president Ronald Reagan's trip to Bali, Indonesia.
Upon her return to home port, New Orleans participated in two major exercises leading to her thirteenth deployment to the Western Pacific. During this time, she participated in four amphibious exercises, including Cobra Gold '88, Valiant Usher '89-1, and Valiant Blitz '89-1. The ship called on the port of Perth, Australia, during that country's bicentennial. In 1989, she made port visits to Mazatlán (Mexico) and Seattle, Washington, for the Seattle Sea Fair. She also conducted a humanitarian relief effort in Cabo San Lucas (Mexico).
1990s
Following completion of a phased maintenance availability in January 1990, New Orleans sailed the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf in support of
In November 1991, New Orleans returned to San Diego for a six-month overhaul. In October 1992, she hosted festivities at Fleet Week '92 in San Francisco. After returning to San Diego, she was the first LPH to go through Afloat Training Group Pacific's "Tailored Ship's Training Availability" and was instrumental in developing a training track for LPH-class ships. In September 1993, New Orleans deployed on her fifteenth WESTPAC cruise where she participated in Exercise Valiant Usher '93 and was a member of the Amphibious Ready Group that conducted operations in support of
New Orleans next sailed onto the movie screen in November 1994 when astronaut Captain Jim Lovell, USN, director Ron Howard, and actors Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton came aboard to film several portions of the Oscar-winning film Apollo 13. She portrayed the then-decommissioned USS Iwo Jima, one of her sister ships.
June 1995 saw New Orleans underway again for WESTPAC operations. She was present to support the Marine raid on the Al Hamra Facility on 24 October of that year. She returned to San Diego on 22 December 1995, after embarking 198 Sea Scouts as part of a "Tiger Cruise" during the last leg of her journey from Pearl Harbor to San Diego. The ship got underway again on 31 January 1997, for another WESTPAC cruise which included boarding the Marines from the 31st MEU(SOC) based out of Okinawa, Japan and participating in Operation Tandem Thrust '97 in Townsville, Australia in which it weathered Cyclone Justin before returning to port on 2 May.
Fate
New Orleans was decommissioned and placed in reserve in
In 2006, the ship was relocated to Pearl Harbor to be prepared for a 'SINKEX'. In February 2008, New Orleans was listed for scrapping, instead of sinking,
Awards
- Navy Unit Commendation
- Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
- Navy Battle "E" with 6 awards
- Navy Expeditionary Medal
- National Defense Service Medal
- Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
- Vietnam Service Medal with 5 awards
- Southwest Asia Service Medal with 2 awards
- Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
- Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation
- Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
- Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)
Gallery
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USS New Orleans at sea in c1969.
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USS New Orleans underway in 1974.
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Marine UH-1E on USS New Orleans in 1974.
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US Navy divers from USS New Orleans recovering the ASTP Apollo Command Module in July 1973.
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A crane lowers the Apollo CSM-111 capsule at Pearl Harbor from USS New Orleans on 25 July 1975.
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Stern view of USS New Orleans in 1985.
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USS New Orleans in 1991.
References
- ^ http://www.ussiwojimaclassassociation.org/lph11/history/images/c00029.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ AP Staff (26 September 1973). "Splashdown Ends Longest Space Odyssey". The Indianapolis Star. The Associated Press. p. 6. Retrieved 13 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Press Staff (9 February 1974). "Last Skylab Mission Over". Detroit Free Press. AP, UPI & New York News. p. 1. Retrieved 13 August 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Wilford, John Noble (25 July 1975). "LAST OF APOLLOS RETURNS SAFELY". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (2 August 2020). "Crew Dragon splashes down to end successful test flight". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 20 February 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ Priolo, Gary P. (25 January 2013). "USS New Orleans (LPH-11)" (Navsource Online: Frigate Photo Archive). NavSource Naval History. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ "Navy Ship Disposal". www.navytimes.com. 2008.[dead link]
- ^ Cole, William (16 July 2010) Sinking Feeling. Honolulu Star-Advertizer. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2009) |