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USS Anchorage (LPD 23)

USS ANCHORAGE is the seventh SAN ANTONIO - class amphibious transport dock and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS ANCHORAGE. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS ANCHORAGE History:

Commissioned on May 4, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska, USS ANCHORAGE transited back to Naval Base San Diego to complete post-delivery trials and fleet-introduction workups. During the homeport period that followed, NASA and the Navy began planning how to use the well deck, cranes, craft control and command-and-control suite of a SAN ANTONIO-class ship for operational recovery of an Orion crew module, with senior NASA and fleet officials visiting ANCHORAGE in San Diego on September 12, 2013 to align procedures, safety constraints and sea-state limits. The integration work foreshadowed the ship's dual role in amphibious operations and national space test support during her first years in commission.

In 2014, the ship alternated Southern California operating area drills with major fleet events. She sailed for the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) series that summer to practice well-deck operations, ship-to-shore movement, replenishment, maritime security drills and multinational amphibious integration across the Hawaiian and Southern California ranges, an outward sign of the Navy's emphasis on coalition maritime operations in the Pacific amid rising great-power competition. In early August, she shifted to NASA's Underway Recovery Test-2, rehearsing daytime and nighttime recoveries and towing procedures in moderate sea states. That work culminated on December 5, 2014, when ANCHORAGE executed the at-sea recovery of NASA's uncrewed Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 capsule in the Pacific, using small-boat teams and a specialized winch to secure the capsule, forward bay cover and parachutes in her well deck before returning the hardware to San Diego.

ANCHORAGE's pre-deployment cycle in early 2015 included visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) evolutions, live-fire events and amphibious certifications with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and the other ships of the ESSEX Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) - ESSEX and RUSHMORE (LSD 47) to validate theater entry standards in a period defined by counter-terrorism operations in the Middle East and contested waters in the Western Pacific. ANCHORAGE departed San Diego on May 11, 2015, beginning her maiden deployment. After transiting the Western Pacific, she operated in the South China Sea in June during a phase of heightened regional focus on maritime claims and freedom of navigation, and made a liberty call off Laem Chabang, Thailand, for crew rest before continuing west through the Strait of Singapore. She then crossed the Indian Ocean into the U.S. 5th Fleet area, supporting 15th MEU sustainment training and bilateral workups ashore in Djibouti through the summer. In the autumn, she participated in additional bilateral training with French forces in Djibouti, underscoring the coalition approach to stability operations along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The ESSEX ARG returned to San Diego on December 15, 2015, closing a seven-month deployment that spanned the 7th and 5th Fleet regions.

Following her return, ANCHORAGE entered a selected restricted availability (SRA) at BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair under a Navy award on January 27, 2016, to complete depot-level maintenance, alterations and modernization that would carry her through the next training and deployment cycle. After completing that yard period in 2016, she resumed local operations and fleet exercises. On October 22, 2017, during Exercise Dawn Blitz off Southern California, Marines launched a HIMARS rocket from ANCHORAGE's flight deck against a land target ashore - a demonstration of sea-based fires that reflected the Navy-Marine Corps team's evolving distributed and expeditionary lethality concepts.

In January 2018, the ship again supported NASA during Underway Recovery Test-6, spending a week at sea to practice the full sequence of locating, securing and winching a test article into the well deck in varied sea states and light conditions. Sailors worked alongside NASA engineers, Special Boat Team 12 and Navy divers from Explosive Ordnance Disposal units to validate the procedures ahead of Orion's future crewed missions. This test reaffirmed ANCHORAGE's value as an at-sea recovery platform capable of integrating defense and civil-space objectives.

ANCHORAGE's second major deployment began on July 10, 2018, when the ESSEX ARG - ESSEX, ANCHORAGE and RUSHMORE - with the 13th MEU departed San Diego for the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean in a geopolitical context shaped by ongoing counter-ISIS operations and Indo-Pacific deterrence. In early October, after China denied a requested port call for U.S. forces, the ARG arrived in Singapore for logistics and liberty, then continued west through the Indian Ocean. From December 22-26, ANCHORAGE conducted a cooperative deployment with the Indian Navy from Visakhapatnam, training at sea with the destroyer INS RAJPUT (D 51) to refine communications, maneuvering and combined amphibious planning. The ship then crossed into the Red Sea and Mediterranean as the ESSEX ARG pushed through 5th and 6th Fleets, while ESSEX's embarked F-35B detachment conducted the platform's first combat sorties in support of U.S. Central Command, with ANCHORAGE providing the amphibious lift, logistics and sea base support that underpin ARG/MEU operations. The ARG returned to San Diego on March 1, 2019.

Back in homeport, the Navy awarded a $41.9 million SRA in March 2019 to modernize and repair ANCHORAGE, a package that included electronic system upgrades and lifecycle maintenance to sustain availability for high-tempo Pacific operations. The ship completed the 2020 docking availability with Southwest Regional Maintenance Center oversight and returned to the fleet in October 2020 following sea trials that verified hull, mechanical and electrical work.

Through 2021, the ship remained active in local and fleet exercises as the Navy emphasized distributed maritime operations and manned-unmanned teaming, using San Diego's ranges to rebuild well-deck and flight-deck proficiency for the next deployment. In February 2022, ANCHORAGE supported waterborne training for the Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicle off Camp Pendleton as the service worked to safely reintroduce ACV surf operations, an incremental step in restoring full ship-to-shore maneuver capability.

In late 2022, ANCHORAGE deployed with the MAKIN ISLAND (LHD 8) Amphibious Ready Group - MAKIN ISLAND, ANCHORAGE and JOHN P. MURTHA (LPD 26) - and the 13th MEU to the Indo-Pacific, operating under U.S. 7th Fleet. After initial integrated training in 3rd Fleet, the group crossed the Pacific and in December 2022, ANCHORAGE called at Surabaya, Indonesia, for Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) events that focused on coastal security, medical exchanges and amphibious planning. In January 2023, she entered Colombo, Sri Lanka, for CARAT/MAREX Sri Lanka 2023, conducting subject-matter exchanges, Women, Peace and Security engagements, and pre-sail briefs before combined at-sea phases - a reflection of U.S. policy to build partner capacity in the Indian Ocean during a period of strategic competition. At sea that spring, ANCHORAGE and her ARG counterparts conducted presence operations and training across the South China Sea and Philippine Sea, at times integrating with other U.S. ships such as CHUNG-HOON (DDG 93) and AMERICA (LHA 6), while the embarked 13th MEU participated in Exercise Balikatan with the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In early March 2023, the ship made a port visit in Thailand for crew rest before resuming operations. While underway on May 7, 2023, ANCHORAGE marked the tenth anniversary of her commissioning. The ARG completed its Western Pacific deployment and returned to San Diego in early June 2023.

Following the deployment, ANCHORAGE shifted to a maintenance phase. On March 10, 2023, the Navy awarded General Dynamics NASSCO a Docking Selected Restricted Availability contract to conduct a comprehensive FY23 dry-dock package - structural, propulsion, habitability and combat-system work intended to keep the hull fully mission-capable through the next operating cycle. The ship held a change-of-command ceremony on the flight deck of USS MIDWAY (CV 41) in San Diego on December 6, 2023, while still in maintenance status. Contract records show the DSRA spanned into mid-2024, after which the ship returned to the water to begin the standard sequence of post-availability testing, sea trials and basic phase training tied to U.S. Pacific Fleet readiness cycles. As of late 2023 and into 2024 she remained homeported in San Diego preparing for future tasking.

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Homeports of USS ANCHORAGE:

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USS ANCHORAGE Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by Lydia Perz and shows the ANCHORAGE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on May 3, 2014.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the ANCHORAGE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 27, 2014.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the ANCHORAGE undergoing a Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Continental Maritime of San Diego shipyard on April 18, 2016.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the ANCHORAGE undergoing a Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Continental Maritime of San Diego shipyard on October 6, 2016.

The photo below was taken by Sebastian Thoma and shows the ANCHORAGE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 20, 2016.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the ANCHORAGE at San Diego's Broadway Pier for Fleet Week San Diego on October 11, 2017.

The photo below was taken by Sebastian Thoma and shows the ANCHORAGE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on November 10, 2017.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the ANCHORAGE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on March 2, 2019 - one day after returning home from an almost 8-month deployment to the western Pacific and Middle East. Note the homecoming lei on the bow.

The photos below were taken by Sebastian Thoma and show the ANCHORAGE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on November 28 and November 29 (aerial photo), 2021.

The photos below were taken by me and show USS ANCHORAGE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on July 26, 2024.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows USS ANCHORAGE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on October 15, 2024.

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