USS Dubuque (LPD-8): Difference between revisions

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USS Dubuque
History
US
Name	USS Dubuque
Namesake	the city of Dubuque, Iowa
Operator	United States Navy
Ordered	25 January 1963
Builder	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down	25 January 1965
Launched	6 August 1966
Commissioned	1 September 1967
In service	1967-Present
Homeport	Naval Base San Diego
Identification	LPD-8
Motto	Our Country, Heritage, and Future
Nickname(s)	The Mighty 8
Honors and awards	list error: <br /> list (help) Navy Unit Commendation (2) Meritorious Unit Commendation (3) Battle Efficiency Award (3) Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation
Status	in active service
General characteristics
Class and type	Austin-class
Type	Landing Platform Dock (LPD)
Displacement	list error: <br /> list (help) 17,252 long tons (17,529 t) light; 9,521 long tons (9,674 t) full; 7,731 long tons (7,855 t) dwt
Length	list error: <br /> list (help) 569 ft (173 m) overall; 548 ft (167 m) waterline
Beam	list error: <br /> list (help) 100 ft (30 m) extreme; 84 ft (26 m) waterline
Draft	23 ft (7.0 m) maximum
Decks	well deck 7,000 sq. feet
Ramps	2
Installed power	24,000 per shaft (2 shafts)
Propulsion	Two 600psi Foster-Wheeler boilers, two Delaval steam turbines, two shafts
Sail plan	All U.S. Navy warships have confidential Sail Plan.
Speed	21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h)
Boats & landing craft carried	2 RHIB
Capacity	cargo capacity 2,500 tons
Complement	24 officers, 396 enlisted, 840 marine troops, 90 flag/staff personnel
Crew	Mixed
Armament	Two 25mm Mk 38 chain guns, two 20mm Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS, eight .50-calibre machine guns
Aircraft carried	Two CH-46/CH-53 equivalents, or four UH-1/AH-1 equivalents, or two AV-8B Harriers
Aviation facilities	1 hangar

USS Dubuque (LPD-8), an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, is the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Dubuque, Iowa.

Her keel was laid down on 25 January 1965 by Ingalls Shipbuilding. She was launched on 6 August 1966 and commissioned on 1 September 1967 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. In November 1967, the ship arrived at her first homeport of San Diego, California after transiting the Panama Canal.

From 1968 until 1975, Dubuque made five Western Pacific deployments that saw extensive duty in Vietnam. In a highly publicized event in October 1968, the ship returned 14 repatriated prisoners of war to North Vietnam. From 1969 until 1971 the ship conducted ten "Keystone Cardinal" troop lifts to Okinawa as part of the "Vietnamization" of the war. From February to June 1973 the ship operated helicopters that conducted naval mine clearance operations in Haiphong Harbor as part of Operation End Sweep. In April 1975 the ship participated in Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon and the rescue of refugees fleeing South Vietnam.

On 15 August 1985 Dubuque departed San Diego for its new homeport of Sasebo, Japan, where she arrived 4 September 1985. There, she joined the Seventh Fleet Overseas Family Residency Program, her primary mission to support the Marine Corps in the Western Pacific.

In May 1988 Dubuque deployed to the Persian Gulf and served as the control ship for mine sweeping operations to protect US-flagged tankers during the Iran–Iraq War. For its participation in this operation, the ship was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation. In 1989 the ship participated in the contingency operation to evacuate American personnel from the Philippines during a failed coup attempt.

Immediately following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, Dubuque was deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Desert Shield. The ship functioned as the leading element of Amphibious Ready Group Bravo, which transported Marine Regimental Landing Team Four to Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia during the critical early stages of the multi-national buildup.

In November 1998 Dubuque again deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of the Belleau Wood Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) on support of Operation Desert Fox.

Need information from 1992 to present.

On 30 July 1999, Dubuque was relieved by USS Juneau (LPD-10) as part of the forward-deployed naval forces. Since then, she has been once again home-ported in San Diego, California.

From June to September 1999, Dubuque participated in the first SHIP-SWAP with her sister-ship Juneau, where each ship's crew remained in their original home ports, allowing Dubuque to return to the homeport of San Diego.

Need information from 1999 to 2006; particularly during its exercise deployment in the western Pacific, Australia; and its operational deployment to the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Pakistan, projecting Marines into Afghanistan in November, in response to the terrorist attacks in Sept. 11, 2001.

From September 2006 to May 2007 Dubuque was deployed with the USS Boxer (LHD-4) and the USS Comstock (LSD-45), transporting the 15th MEU to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom where among other missions the ship served as a holding facility for Iraqi POWs. Dubuque also assisted in the protection and maintenance of oil platforms in the northern part of the Persian Gulf.

Dubuque deployed again in 2008 with the Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group. Her crew participated in the pursuit of identifying pirates and collecting intelligence on piracy off the Gulf of Oman and the Horn of Africa. She also participated in rescuing six mariners from a sinking vessel off the Philippine coast line on the way to the Persian Gulf. [1]. The event was an exemplary incident, which proved the flexibility of U.S. maritime strategy in time of crisis or emergency.

In early May 2009 the Dubuque had to abort a humanitarian aid mission to the South Pacific after a sailor on board developed swine flu. It was later found out that approximately 50 more cases were likely H1N1 (swine flu) also.^[1]

On 9 September 2010, Marines attached to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Maritime Raid Force launched from the Dubuque and boarded and seized control German flagged M/V Magellan Star off the coast of Somalia. The pirates had taken control of the ship the previous day. The Marines captured nine pirates and rescued eleven crew members who had taken refuge in a "safe room" on the ship. No shots were fired and no injuries were reported. [2]

On 10 June 1988 Dubuque discovered a boat containing 80 refugees escaping from Vietnam; at least 20 others had already died on the voyage. The Vietnamese refugees had been stranded out at sea for 17 days due to an engine failure, but because of translation errors Dubuque's commanding officer, Captain Alexander Balian, believed the refugees had been adrift for only 7 days and that there were only 60 people on board. He provided the boat with food, water and navigation charts, but did not embark the refugees or render further assistance. The food and water lasted only several days, but the boat continued to drift for a further 19 days. Thirty more people died, and the remaining refugees were forced to engage in cannibalism in order to survive. The boat was eventually rescued by Filipino fisherman.^[2]

Captain Balian was relieved of command by Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet. He refused Admiral's Mast and per his rights under the Uniform Code of Military Justice requested court martial, where he was found guilty of dereliction of duty and given a letter of reprimand.^[3]

In May 2009 the Navy announced that a sailor on the ship had been confirmed as infected with Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 during the worldwide 2009 swine flu outbreak. Fifty more of the ship's sailors were suspected to have also been infected. As a result, the ship's June 2009 deployment to Oceania in support of the Pacific Partnership program was canceled.^[4]

According to the Navy Awards website [3], the Dubuque has received one Navy Unit Commendation, four Meritorious Unit Commendations, three Battle Efficiency Awards, three Armed Forces Expeditionary Medals, three Humanitarian Service Medals and participated in countless amphibious exercises and operations throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans.

• Rubel, Rick (2006 reprint). Case Studies in Ethics for Military Leaders. Boston: Pearason Custom Publishing. ISBN 053627018X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Dubuque (LPD-8).

• USS Dubuque official website
• nvr.navy.mil: USS Dubuque
• navsource.org: USS Dubuque
• navysite.de: USS Dubuque
• on Bolinao 52
• USS DUBUQUE (LPD-8) Deployments & History