USS San Diego (LPD-22)

For other ships with the same name, see USS San Diego.

USS San Diego (LPD-22), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for San Diego, California.

USS San Diego (LPD-22)

USS San Diego on 6 April 2012
History
United States
Name	San Diego
Namesake	San Diego
Awarded	1 June 2006[1]
Builder	NGSS Ingalls
Laid down	23 May 2007[1]
Launched	7 May 2010[1]
Christened	12 June 2010
Commissioned	19 May 2012[1]
Homeport	Sasebo[1]
Identification	MMSI number: 369970638 Callsign: NSDG Pennant number: LPD-22
Motto	Semper Vigilans (Always vigilant)
Status	in active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class & type	San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock
Displacement	25,000 tons full
Length	208.5 m (684 ft) overall, 201.4 m (661 ft) waterline
Beam	31.9 m (105 ft) extreme,   29.5 m (97 ft) waterline
Draft	7 m (23 ft)
Propulsion	Four Colt-Pielstick diesel engines, two shafts, 40,000 hp (30 MW)
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h)
Boats & landing craft carried	Two LCACs (air cushion) or one LCU (conventional)
Capacity	699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); surge to 800 total.
Complement	28 officers, 333 enlisted
Armament	Two 30 mm Bushmaster II cannons, for surface threat defense; two Rolling Airframe Missile launchers for air defense
Aircraft carried	Four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters or two MV-22 tilt rotor aircraft may be launched or recovered simultaneously.

Construction

Ship's name

Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England named the San Diego on 30 April 2004:

San Diego is home to a large number of the Pacific Fleet's ships. For decades our nation's sailors and Marines have begun their service to America at boot camps in San Diego. Thousands of military families and veterans have fallen in love with the area, and are fortunate enough to live and work in San Diego. USS San Diego will project American power to the far corners of the earth and support the cause of freedom well into the 21st century.

The city is the home of Naval Base San Diego, the Navy's largest base in the Pacific, and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, the United States Marine Corps' west coast recruit training center.

San Diego's keel was laid down on 23 May 2007, at Northrop Grumman's Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on 7 May 2010,^[2] and christened on 12 June, sponsored by Linda Winter, wife of former Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter.^[3][4]

On 1 October 2011, it was announced that San Diego had completed her builders trials, including tests of her defensive, communications, propulsion, and other auxiliary systems, leaving only the repair of issues that arose in the builders trials and thereafter Navy Acceptance Trials before delivery.^[5] Her acceptance trials were completed on 17 November,^[6] ahead of her delivery to the Navy on 19 December.^[7]

Commissioning

San Diego departed Pascagoula on 15 March 2012^[8] and arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 19 March for a three-day layover on her way to San Diego.^[9] San Diego passed through the Panama Canal on 25 March. She arrived in San Diego on 6 April. San Diego was commissioned on 19 May 2012, in a ceremony at the Navy Pier (next to the USS Midway Museum) in San Diego.^[10]

Operational history

USS San Diego (LPD-22) in the Red Sea in October 2014.

In late 2014, San Diego operated with the Makin Island Amphibious ready group in the United States Fifth Fleet area.

Incidents

Coronavirus pandemic

See also: COVID-19 pandemic on naval ships

On 17 July 2020, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that sailors of San Diego had stated, on condition of anonymity, that at least five sailors from their ship had tested positive for COVID-19 during the preceding few days.^[11] The sailors had been interviewed by the Union-Tribune presumably regarding a fire aboard nearby amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard.^[11] In response, a Navy spokesperson confirmed that two sailors who were part of the firefighting effort had tested positive for the virus.^[a][11]

The two sailors had shown symptoms of the disease.^[11] One was part of a crew fighting the fire, and the other had been acting as support.^[12] One sailor who fought in the fire stated that the fire had destroyed much of Bonhomme Richard's firefighting gear, so the gear of nearby ships, including that of San Diego, was being used, and sailors fighting the fire often swapped gear with each other.^[11] In addition, 27 close contacts had been identified and placed in quarantine.^[11]

Notes

1. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the two sailors were from San Diego, while Navy Times reported that the spokesperson "declined to identify the local commands of the afflicted sailors, citing Defense Department policy for not naming units that suffer COVID-19 outbreaks".^[11][12]