The US Navy recently decommissioned the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship (LSD) USS Germantown after more than 40 years of service.
The navy’s fiscal year 2026 retirement plan identified Germantown for retention as a support asset. Five other Whidbey Island-class LSDs will remain in the fleet.
The navy said Germantown was the first LSD to use air-cushion landing craft vehicles in amphibious operations.
Germantown deployed in support of Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom. The ship’s crew also provided humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in response to the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The LSD subsequently participated in Operation Tomodachi, the response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Her multinational exercise programme included Cobra Gold, Exercise Blue Chromite, Talisman Sabre and Rim of the Pacific.
The vessel was first based in San Diego, then forward-deployed from Sasebo, Japan. Her forward deployment with the US Seventh Fleet began on January 5, 2011; after a decade in that role, she returned to San Diego on October 15, 2021.
Lockheed Shipbuilding built Germantown in Seattle, Washington. The ship was christened on June 29, 1984, and commissioned on February 8, 1986.
She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, which commemorates the Battle of Germantown during the American Revolutionary War.