USS Kearsarge (LHD-3)


USS Kearsarge is the third of the United States Navy. She is the fifth ship to be so named, but fourth overall, as the third was renamed the, after the first was sunk, and served during the remainder of World War II.

Namesake

Named in honor of, a sloop-of-war that gained fame hunting Confederate raiders during the American Civil War. The sloop was named for Mount Kearsarge in Merrimack County, New Hampshire.

Construction

Kearsarges keel was laid down on 6 February 1990 at Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Ingalls built Kearsarge using efficient pre-outfitting and modular construction techniques. Hundreds of smaller sub-assemblies, containing piping, ventilation ducting and other hardware, as well as major machinery equipment, generators, and electrical panels were constructed. The sub-assemblies were then joined with others to form assemblies, which were in turn welded together to form five completed hull and superstructure modules. These giant modules, each weighing thousands of tons, were joined together on land to form the completed ship's hull. The result of this early outfitting was a ship that was over 70 percent complete at launch.
She was launched on 26 March 1992, in a ceremony attended by then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell. The warship was christened on 16 May 1992, and commissioned on 16 October 1993.

Characteristics

The assault support system on the ship co-ordinates vertical and horizontal movement of troops, cargo and vehicles. A Monorail system, moving at speeds up to 600 ft/min, transports cargo and supplies from storage and staging areas throughout the ship to a well deck, which opens to the sea through huge gates in the ship's stern. There, the cargo, troops and vehicles are loaded onto landing craft for transit to the beach. The air cushion landing craft can "fly" out of the dry well deck, or the well deck can be flooded so that conventional landing craft can float out on their way to the beach.
Simultaneously, helicopters can be lifted from the hangar deck to the flight deck by two deck-edge elevators and loaded with supplies from three massive cargo elevators.
Kearsarges armament suite includes the NATO RIM-7 Sea Sparrow point defense system for anti-aircraft support, RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles, 25-mm chain guns and the Phalanx close-in weapon system to counter threats from low-flying aircraft and close-in small craft. Missile decoy launchers augment the anti-ship missile defenses.

Operations

Kearsarge is capable of amphibious assault, advance force and special purpose operations, as well as non-combatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions. Since her commissioning, she has performed these missions all over the world, including evacuating non-combatants from Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 31 May 1997 and rescuing Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady from Serb-controlled territory in Bosnia on 8 June 1995.
Operation Noble Obelisk was the evacuation of civilians from Sierra Leone in 1997 undertaken by USS Kearsarge. More than 400 Americans and more than 3000 third-country nationals were taken aboard Kearsarge over 4 days.
Additionally, Kearsarge is fully equipped with state-of-the-art command and control systems for flagship command duty, and her medical facilities are second in capability only to the Navy's hospital ships, and. These facilities allowed Kearsarge to serve a dual role during the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a platform for bombing missions against Yugoslav forces in Operation Allied Force, and as a treatment facility for Albanian refugees in Operation Shining Hope.
On 19 August 2005, Kearsarge and were targeted by rockets while in port in Jordan. The rockets flew over Ashlands bow and struck the pier adjacent to the ships. The vessels were not hit but one Jordanian soldier was killed and another was wounded.
In 2006, 2008, and again in 2017, USS Kearsarge served as the principal attraction for New York's "Fleet Week". In August 2007, the ship visited the port of Valletta, Malta on the way to a six-month deployment to Iraq. The ship deployed Sailors and Marines in a relief effort in Bangladesh following Cyclone Sidr and provided support for President George W. Bush's January 2008 visit to Israel.
board an MV-22 Osprey on the flight deck of the USS Kearsarge while participating in Turkish-led and hosted amphibious exercise Exercise Egemen.
on Kearsarges flight deck
On 2 March 2011, Kearsarge, along with, traveled through the Suez Canal in response to the 2011 Libyan civil war. Robert Gates had said days earlier that he ordered the two warships into the Mediterranean, along with an extra 400 Marines, in case they are needed to evacuate civilians or provide humanitarian relief. As of 20 March, AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft from Kearsarge have been reported attacking Libyan targets as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn. On 22 March, V-22 Ospreys from Kearsarge conducted a successful TRAP operation to recover the crew of a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle after it crashed in Libya due to a mechanical failure during a combat mission. The Daily Telegraph reported a military source, stating that, during the rescue, strafing runs were carried out and two Harriers dropped two 500 lb bombs on a convoy of Libyan vehicles, with other reports alleging that Libyan civilians were wounded in the operation. The ship returned to home port at Norfolk on 16 May 2011.
Following a three-day delay due to bad weather, Kearsarge deployed from Naval Station Norfolk on 11 March 2013 for a scheduled eight-month deployment. One of her first port visits was to Cyprus. Kearsarge later docked at the Israeli port of Eilat for several days beginning on 14 May 2013 before continuing her deployment. One of her MV-22s exercised in a joint operation with.
In September 2017, Kearsarge was called upon to assist in search-and-rescue operations during Hurricane Maria, after contact was lost with a ship carrying four people that issued a distress signal while battling seas and winds off the coast of Vieques, Puerto Rico. The United States Coast Guard, Navy, and the British Royal Navy utilized an HC-130 aircraft, a fast response cutter, and Navy helicopters. A woman and two children were rescued, but a man died aboard their capsized vessel.
Kearsarge participated in Ft. Lauderdale's 2018 Fleet Week.

Deployments

USS Kearsarge has been awarded the Golden Anchor for Retention Excellence, Ronald Reagan Distinguished Service Award, the CNO Environmental Safety Award, the Admiral Flatley Memorial Award, SECNAV Energy Award, Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program Mobility Energy Efficiency Award, the Chief of Naval Operations Safety Award and the Commander Naval Surface Force Atlantic Safety Award.
Additionally, Kearsarge has qualified for the following medals and unit awards: Combat Action Ribbon, Humanitarian award, Navy Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Battle Efficiency "E" Award, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and the NATO Medal.

Shield and crest

Blue and gold are colors traditionally associated with the Navy and symbolize the sea and excellence. The green chevron suggests the green-peaked Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire. The amphibious nature of the combat operations of the present USS Kearsarge is represented by green and blue, alluding land and sea. The arrowheads, together with the white chevronel, which represents a shore line, allude to assault landings. The stars commemorate the battle stars the third Kearsarge received for Korean War and Vietnam War service.
The wings of the crest symbolize the aviation capabilities of both the present and the third Kearsarge; they are gold for the honor and achievement. The white anchor recalls the round-the-world cruise of the second Kearsarge of the Great White Fleet in 1907 and denotes the naval prowess of the USS Kearsarges. The blue-and-gray wavy bar highlights the Civil War service for the first USS Kearsarge. The swords are crossed, to denote cooperation and teamwork, as well as the combined combat mission of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Motto ~ "Proud... Bold... Trustworthy."