USS El Paso (LKA-117)

For other ships with the same name, see USS El Paso.

USS El Paso (AKA-117/LKA-117) is a Charleston-class amphibious cargo ship named after the city of El Paso, Texas. She served as a commissioned ship for 24 years and three months.^[1]

USS El Paso (LKA-117) after the addition of Phalanx CIWS
History
United States
Name	USS El Paso
Namesake	El Paso, Texas
Builder	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.
Laid down	Oct. 22, 1968
Launched	May 17, 1969
Commissioned	Jan. 17, 1970
Decommissioned	April 21, 1994
Stricken	Aug. 31, 2015
Homeport	Norfolk, Virginia
Nickname(s)	El Barco Magnifico
Status	Undergoing scrapping
General characteristics
Class & type	Charleston-class amphibious cargo ship
Tonnage	8,368 DWT
Displacement	18,600 tons (full load)
Length	575 ft 6 in (175.41 m)
Beam	82 ft (25 m)
Draft	25 ft 5 in (7.75 m)
Boats & landing craft carried	9 × landing craft
Complement	36 officers, 375 enlisted
Armament	As built: 4 × twin 3-inch/50-caliber guns Later fitted: 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS

History

She was laid down as AKA-117 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia, on October 22, 1968. Redesignated LKA-117 on January 1, 1969, she was launched on May 17, 1969 and commissioned on January 17, 1970.

She was home-ported at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. Her operations included embarking a Marine Amphibious Ready Group and transporting the MARG to the Mediterranean Sea for a six month deployment. In 1979 she deployed to the Mediterranean and eventually redirected to the Indian Ocean and Diego Garcia during the Iran Hostage Crisis. For that she was awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal. In 1993 she again deployed to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to participate in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. She was decommissioned on April 21, 1994, and moved to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the vessel was laid up.

On 29 September 2023, El Paso was removed from the Philadelphia NIMSF and towed to Brownsville, Texas, where it was scrapped.^[2] The ship arrived at Brownsville on 12 October 2023.^[3]

Awards

The ship earned several additional awards and campaign ribbons for her service.

She has had two noteworthy commanding officers. Captain Edward Clexton, Jr, commanded the ship from March 1979 through August 1980.^[4] During his tenure, the crew were awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal for the Iran Hostage Crisis. Captain Clexton went to command the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Clexton retired as a vice admiral in 1993 as Deputy CINCUSNAVEUR. Captain Roy Cash, nephew of singer Johnny Cash and father of Miss America 1987 winner Kellye Cash, served as her commanding officer from August 1985 to March 1987.^[5]