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General Characteristics Crew List Memorabilia Cruise Books Accidents aboard the Ship About the Ship's Coat of Arms About the Name "Oak Hill" History Homeports of USS Oak Hill Image Gallery to end of page |  |
USS OAK HILL is the third HARPERS FERRY class Dock Landing Ship and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name.
| General Characteristics: | Keel laid: September 21, 1992 |
| Launched: June 11, 1994 | |
| Commissioned: June 8, 1996 | |
| Builder: Avondale Industries, New Orleans, Louisiana | |
| Propulsion system: four 16 cylinder Colt-Pielstick Diesel Engines | |
| Propellers: two | |
| Length: 610 feet (186 meters) | |
| Beam: 84 feet (25.6 meters) | |
| Draft: 20 feet (6 meters) | |
| Displacement: approx. 16,500 tons full load | |
| Speed: 22 knots | |
| Well deck capacity: two LCAC or one LCU or four LCM-8 or nine LCM-6 or 15 amphibious assault vehicles (AAV) | |
| Aircraft: none, but two landing spots allow for operation of aircraft as large as the | |
| Crew: Ship: 24 officers, 328 enlisted | |
| Marine Detachment: 504 Marines | |
| Armament: two | |
| Cost: about $135 million | |
| Homeport: Little Creek, VA |
back to top go to the end of the pageback to top go to the end of the pageCrew List:
This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS OAK HILL. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.
back to top go to the end of the pageback to top go to the end of the pageUSS OAK HILL Cruise Books:
back to top go to the end of the pageAccidents aboard USS OAK HILL:
| Date | Where | Events |
|---|---|---|
| February 19, 2000 | off Morehead City, N.C. | The Norfolk-based dock landing ship OAK HILL ran aground and spent nearly eight hours on a mud bank off Morehead City, N.C., before tugs and a rising tide freed it. The ship sustained no significant damage and was allowed to continue to its overseas deployment. Its commanding officer has remained in command. |
back to top go to the end of the pageAbout the Ship's Coat of Arms:
The Shield:
The dark blue and gold represent the US Navy. The eagle's head, derived from the Coat of Arms of the Monroe family, represents both the heritage of the home Oak Hill for which the ship is named, and also the United States. The compass rose symbolizes navigation and a world-wide scope of operations. The anchor represents the trials and tribulations in the life of a sailor. A fouled anchor is the worst enemy. Gold stands for excellence, red for courage and sacrifice, and white for integrity.
The Crest:
The torch, derived from the Statue of Liberty's torch, symbolizes freedom, and also refers to the protection denoted in the ship's motto. The gold mullets record the five Battle Stars awarded to the first USS OAK HILL (LSD 7) for service in World War II. Gold signifies excellence.
Supporters:
The crossed Navy and Marine Corps officer swords symbolizes the ship's united mission with the United States Marine Corps in amphibious operations.
The Motto:
"Nations' Protector" is a nod to the Monroe Doctrine. "Oak Hill" was the homeplace of James Monroe in Virginia.
back to top go to the end of the pageAbout the Ship's Name:
USS OAK HILL honors the residence of the fifth President of the United States, James Monroe.
Oak Hill, located in Loudon County, Virginia, was constructed in 1820-1823 with the assistance of James Hoban, Irish architect of the white House and the protege of Thomas Jefferson. It is a brick mansion that stands at the head of an avenue of trees. The simple interior is ornamented by two very handsome mantels sent by the Marquis de Lafayette from Europe. Incidentally, Lafyette stayed at Oak Hill during his triumphal tour of the United States.
Monroe spent much time at Oak Hill making trips to and from the Capitol on horseback and carrying state papers in his saddle bags. While at Oak Hill, he penned the Monroe doctrine, a pronouncement he made in 1823 staking out the Western Hemisphere as an American hemisphere of influence. After retiring from public life in 1825, he remained at Oak Hill until Mrs. Monroe's death five years later, at which time he went to live with his daughter in New York.
Oak Hill passed out of the family in the years following Monroe's death in 1831. Confederate Colonel John W. Fairfax bought Oak Hill in 1854. His wife remained at the mansion to manage the plantation during the Civil War and was an unwilling hostess when Union General George G. Meade made it his headquarters during the Battle of Second Manassas.
Today it still remains as a private residence, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Delasmutt. The historic mansion is a fitting monument to an important part of American History and to President Monroe.
back to top go to the end of the pageUSS OAK HILL History:
USS OAK HILL entered service in the mid-1990s as the third unit of the HARPERS FERRY-class dock landing ships, built at Avondale in New Orleans to provide well-deck lift for LCACs, LCUs, and amphibious vehicles in support of Marine expeditionary operations. Launched on June 11, 1994, and commissioned on June 8, 1996, at the height of post-Cold War regional contingency operations, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and homeported at Little Creek, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Within weeks of commissioning she was called into an unexpected civil-support role: on July 23, 1996, she deployed off Long Island to serve as the afloat command-and-control base for the Navy's diving, salvage, and EOD teams supporting the search for and recovery of TWA Flight 800. The tasking highlighted the ship's flexible C2 spaces, flight deck, and well-deck logistics utility early in her career.
After post-shakedown workups, OAK HILL's first extended overseas period unfolded from October 1997 into spring 1998, centered on amphibious exercises and engagement in the Mediterranean and Black Seas - including participation in BRIGHT STAR in Egypt and a sequence of port visits and combined training with regional partners - followed by a late-deployment divert to the Northern Arabian Sea to support pressure on Iraq over U.N. inspections. The pattern reflected the Navy-Marine Corps team's persistent presence missions in a decade defined by peacekeeping and sanctions enforcement from the Balkans to the Gulf.
On February 19, 2000, while forming up for another deployment cycle, OAK HILL grounded briefly on a mud bank off Morehead City, North Carolina. She was refloated on the rising tide without significant damage and continued on deployment. From February to July 2000, she operated with the USS WASP (LHD 1) Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) in the Mediterranean during NATO's large-scale DYNAMIC MIX and the Israeli-U.S. bilateral NOBLE SHIRLEY, exercises that integrated amphibious, aviation, and special operations forces in the post-Kosovo NATO Southern Region.
In May 2001, the ship paused for Fleet Week in Port Everglades, Florida, before deploying again from February to August 2002 with WASP and the 22ND MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT to the Persian Gulf in support of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. The ARG/MEU presence contributed to maritime security, boarding operations, and sea-base logistics as coalition forces sustained combat and stabilization operations in Afghanistan and the broader CENTCOM theater.
As Western Hemisphere engagement re-intensified, OAK HILL sailed in early 2005 with the SAIPAN (LHA 2) Expeditionary Strike Group for Caribbean "NEW HORIZONS" humanitarian assistance to Haiti, providing lift, boats, and deck space for engineering, medical, and logistics detachments. In early 2006, she crossed back to the Arabian Gulf with USS ROOSEVELT (DDG 80) and USS VICKSBURG (CG 69) for GWOT maritime security missions - escort, visit/board/search/seizure (VBSS), and sea-lanes presence - typical of coalition operations that kept pressure on terrorist networks and protected key energy infrastructure.
From January to July 2007, OAK HILL deployed with the BATAAN (LHD 5) Expeditionary Strike Group toward the Horn of Africa, where CJTF-HOA and coalition maritime task forces were building out counter-terrorism capacity and maritime interdiction along strategic chokepoints. She surged again from March to October 2008 to the same region to conduct Maritime Interdiction Operations, patrolling sea lanes that were then seeing a spike in piracy and arms trafficking, before returning stateside to reset. The following summer, June-August 2009, she shifted south to support SOUTHCOM's "Southern Partnership Station '09", conducting amphibious training and theater security cooperation with partner navies and marines in Latin America.
By July 4, 2011, OAK HILL was back on the U.S. East Coast and took part in Boston's Independence Day events with USS CONSTITUTION, then rejoined SOUTHCOM for Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station '11 from October to December. That cruise mixed at-sea interdiction support with HA/DR training and port engagements. As the deployment wound down, OAK HILL called at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay on December 13, 2011, to complete agricultural wash-downs before returning home.
After maintenance and training, the ship had a high-profile stateside role in 2014, serving in May as the flagship for New York City's Fleet Week and then, in September, as flagship for Baltimore's Inner Harbor "Star-Spangled" bicentennial commemorations of the War of 1812 - public diplomacy assignments that leveraged an amphib's large topside and internal spaces for ceremonies and tours. In October 2014, she joined BOLD ALLIGATOR 2014 off the East Coast, a major Navy-Marine Corps amphibious rehearsal that stressed sea-control, littoral maneuver, and the integration of surface, air, and landing forces.
OAK HILL completed pre-deployment certifications through mid-2015 and then sailed from October 2015 to May 2016 with the KEARSARGE (LHD 3) ARG to the U.S. 6TH and 5TH Fleet areas, supporting OPERATION FREEDOM'S SENTINEL and regional maritime security in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Arabian Gulf. Immediately afterward, in June 2016, she shifted to U.S. 4TH Fleet and became the only U.S. warship formally participating in the Panama Canal Expansion ceremonies at Balboa on June 25. The event, marking the opening of the "Neopanamax" locks to global commerce, drew regional heads of state and underscored the canal's geo-economic significance. In August 2016, she made a community-relations port visit to Rockland, Maine, as a guest ship during the Maine Lobster Festival, returning to home waters for final upkeep before her next surge.
When the 2017 hurricane season struck the Gulf and Caribbean, OAK HILL joined USS KEARSARGE under U.S. Fleet Forces tasking for immediate HA/DR. After getting underway for possible Hurricane Harvey response off Texas, she diverted with KEARSARGE as Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Through September and into October 2017, the ARG delivered heavy-lift, aviation, water production, and beach logistics to island communities, a textbook amphibious application to domestic disaster relief.
From February to August 2018, OAK HILL deployed again with the IWO JIMA (LHD 7) ARG through the 5TH and 6TH Fleet theaters. The cruise included participation in BALTOPS in the Baltic Sea - demonstrating combined amphibious and sea-control skills with NATO allies - before returning to CENTCOM for presence and maritime security missions.
Another high-tempo cycle followed in late 2019, as the BATAAN ARG with the 26TH MEU deployed to the Mediterranean and Middle East. On April 3, 2020, OAK HILL transited the Strait of Hormuz as the ARG shifted between the North Arabian Sea and the Gulf, and in late May she operated closely with MARK VI patrol boats from Commander, Task Force 56, using her well deck to practice launch/recovery and integrated expeditionary training - an illustration of how LSDs can sea-base littoral patrol craft for maritime security. In June 2020, she entered the Black Sea, joining USS PORTER (DDG 78) for maneuvers with the Bulgarian corvette BGS RESHITELNI, Romanian frigate ROS REGINA MARIA, Turkish corvette TCG KINALIADA, and the Georgian Coast Guard before departing the Black Sea on June 25. She returned to Little Creek on July 15, 2020, concluding the seven-month deployment.
In December 2020, the Navy awarded a fiscal-year 2021 Selected Restricted Availability package to MHI Ship Repair & Services in Norfolk, covering modernization and repairs that occupied much of 2021 and set conditions for her next employment cycle. Routine training and local operations followed into 2022-2023 as the Atlantic amphibious force reset after multiple ARG/MEU deployments and the pandemic period.
In 2024, OAK HILL deployed with the WASP ARG and the 24TH MEU(SOC) to the Mediterranean under U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa and SIXTH Fleet, conducting a steady drumbeat of exercises, port calls, and partner engagements. Publicly documented stops included Thessaloniki, Greece (July 3), Aksaz, Turkey (July 26), a mid-deployment voyage-repair (MDVR) in Limassol, Cyprus (arrived September 20), Larnaca, Cyprus (October 17), Souda Bay, Crete (October 26), a return to Limassol (October 31), and Malaga, Spain (November 18), reflecting a profile of amphibious readiness, logistics sustainment, and allied interoperability across the Eastern and Central Mediterranean during a period of heightened regional tensions.
Back stateside in 2025, she featured prominently in Fleet Week New York: on May 21 the ship led the Parade of Ships and was open for public tours at Staten Island's Homeport Pier, a public-affairs capstone after the Mediterranean cruise. In late June, she anchored off Fort Story, Virginia, during ATLANTIC ALLIANCE 2025 (the successor to Bold Alligator), the East Coast's premier naval-marine integration exercise that brought together more than two dozen U.S. Navy and Marine Corps units alongside Dutch naval forces and British Royal Commandos for amphibious assaults, air assaults, and command-and-control rehearsals from June 27 to July 15. Later in April, the Navy had already awarded a Docking Selected Restricted Availability to General Dynamics NASSCO for an approx. 20-month maintenance and modernization period scheduled to begin in August 2025, setting up OAK HILL for continued service beyond the mid-2020s.
back to top go to the end of the pageHomeports of USS OAK HILL:
| Period | Homeport |
|---|---|
| commissioned at New Orleans, La. | |
| 1996 - present | Little Creek, Va. |
back to top go to the end of the pageUSS OAK HILL Image Gallery:
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The photos below were taken by me and show the OAK HILL at Norfolk, Va., on November 9, 2008.
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The photos below were taken by me on May 5, 2012, and show the OAK HILL early in the morning at Little Creek, Va.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the OAK HILL at General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., Norfolk, Va., undergoing a Phased Maintenance Availability (PMA) on October 12, 2016.
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The video and the photos below were taken by me and show the OAK HILL arriving at Kiel, Germany, after participating in BALTOPS 2018 on June 15, 2018. The OAK HILL is in the fifth month of a scheduled deployment as part of the USS IWO JIMA (LHD 7) Amphibious Ready Group. Since leaving her homeport in February 2018, the ship has already operated in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Red Sea and the Baltic Sea.
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The photos below were taken by me and show the OAK HILL at Naval Base Kiel, Germany, on June 15-16, 2018.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the OAK HILL at Little Creek, Va., on September 21, 2018.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the OAK HILL undergoing a Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) at the Marine Hydraulics Industries (MHI) Ship Repair & Services shipyard, Norfolk, Va., on December 26, 2021. The OAK HILL entered the shipyard on February 1, 2021.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the OAK HILL during Fleet Week New York at New York City on May 25, 2023.
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