View source for USS Anchorage (LPD-23)

{{Short description|US Navy amphibious transport dock ship}}
{{Other ships|USS Anchorage}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin|infobox caption=yes}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=File:Port bow view of USS Anchorage (LPD-23) during builder's sea trials US Navy 120515-N-ZZ999-101.jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Anchorage'' on 15 May 2012
}}
{{Infobox ship career
 | Ship flag =  {{USN flag}}
 | Ship name =  ''Anchorage''
|Ship country=United States
 | Ship namesake = [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]]
 | Ship awarded =  1 June 2006<ref name="NVR LPD23">{{cite web|url={{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=LPD23}} |title=USS Anchorage (LPD 23) |publisher=[[Naval Vessel Register]] |access-date=25 July 2016}}</ref>
 | Ship builder = [[Northrop Grumman Ship Systems]], [[Avondale Shipyard|Avondale]]
 | Ship laid down =  24 September 2007
 | Ship launched = 12 February 2011<ref name="NVR LPD23"/><ref name="marinelink"/>
 | Ship christened = 14 May 2011<ref name="christening"/>
 | Ship completed = 
 | Ship acquired =  17 September 2012<ref name="NVR LPD23"/><ref name="delivery"/>
 | Ship commissioned = 4 May 2013<ref name="NVR LPD23"/><ref name="commissioning date"/>
 | Ship decommissioned = 
 | Ship struck = 
 | Ship reinstated = 
 | Ship honors = 
 | Ship identification = *{{MMSI Number|369970637}}
*[[Maritime call sign|Callsign]]: NANC
*{{ICS|November}}{{ICS|Alpha}}{{ICS|November}}{{ICS|Charlie}}
*[[Pennant number]]: LPD-23
 | Ship status = {{Ship in active service|2016|||url=}}
 | Ship notes = 
 | Ship homeport= [[Naval Base San Diego|San Diego]]
 | Ship motto= *''NIL FATO RELINQUEMUS''
*(WE LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE)
 | Ship badge= [[File:USS Anchorage (LPD-23) crest.png|166px]]
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
 | Ship class = {{Sclass|San Antonio|amphibious transport dock}}
 | Ship displacement = {{cvt|25000|LT|lk=in}} [[full displacement|full]]
 | Ship length =
*{{cvt|684|ft}} [[length overall|oa]]
*{{cvt|661|ft}} [[waterline length|wl]]
 | Ship beam ={{cvt|105|ft}}
 | Ship draft = {{cvt|23|ft}}
 | Ship power =
* 4 × [[Colt-Pielstick]] diesel engines
* {{convert|40000|hp|MW|abbr=on}}
 | Ship propulsion =
* 2 × single reversing reduction gears
* 2 × inboard rotating [[Variable-pitch propeller (marine)|fixed pitch propellers]]
 | Ship speed = {{cvt|22|kn}}
 | Ship range = 
 | Ship complement = 33 officers, 411 enlisted
 | Ship troops = 66 officers, 625 enlisted
 | Ship sensors = 
* [[AN/SPS-48E]]
* [[AN/SPQ-9]]B
* AN/SPS-73
 | Ship EW = 
* [[AN/SLQ-25 Nixie|AN/SLQ-25A NIXIE]]
* [[AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite|AN/SLQ-32Q(V)2]]
* [[MK 36 SRBOC]]
* [[Nulka|MK 53 / NULKA]]
 | Ship boats =
*2 × [[Landing Craft Air Cushion|LCAC]]s (air cushion)
*or 1 × [[Landing Craft Utility|LCU]] (conventional)
 | Ship capacity = 
 | Ship armament =
*1 × [[Mark 41 Vertical Launching System|Mk 41 16 cell VLS]]
*2 × [[RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile|Mk31 Mod0 RAM launchers]]
*2 × [[Mk44 Bushmaster II|{{cvt|30|mm|1}} Mk46 Mod1]] [[chain gun]]s
*2 × [[M2 Browning|Mk 26 Mod17 .50 cal]] machine guns
 | Ship aircraft =*[[Hangar]]:
*1 × [[CH-53E Super Stallion]]
*or 2 × [[Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight|CH-46 Sea Knight]]s
*or 1 × [[MV-22 Osprey]]
*or 3 × [[Bell UH-1Y Venom|UH-1Y Venom]]s/[[AH-1 SuperCobra|AH-1J SeaCobra]]s
*Landing:
*2 × CH-53E Super Stallions
*or 4 × UH-1Y Venoms/AH-1J SeaCobras
*or 4 × CH-46 Sea Knights
*or 2 × MV-22 Ospreys
*or 1 × [[AV-8B Harrier]]
 | Ship notes = 
}}
|}

'''USS ''Anchorage'' (LPD-23)''' is a {{sclass|San Antonio|amphibious transport dock}} and the second ship of the [[United States Navy]] to be named after the U.S. city of [[Anchorage, Alaska]].

==Construction==
''Anchorage''{{'}}s keel was laid down on 24 September 2007, at the [[Avondale Shipyard]] near [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, then owned by [[Northrop Grumman Ship Systems]]. The ship was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 12 February 2011.;<ref name="marinelink">{{cite web
 | url= http://www.marinelink.com/news/anchorage-launched-future337147.aspx
 | title= Future USS Anchorage (LPD 23) Launched
 |date= 15 February 2011
 | access-date= 2011-02-20 }}</ref> sponsored by Mrs. Annette Conway, wife of [[James T. Conway]], a former [[Commandant of the United States Marine Corps|Commandant of the Marine Corps]].<ref name="DANFS">{{cite DANFS
|last=Evans
|first=Mark L.
|url= https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/anchorage-ii.html
|title=Anchorage II (LPD-23)
|link=on
|date=17 June 2015
|access-date=10 November 2016}}</ref> She was christened two months later, on 14 May – the first ship christened by [[Huntington Ingalls Industries]] since [[Northrop Grumman]] spun off its shipbuilding divisions as a separate company.<ref name="christening">{{cite press release
 | url= http://www.globenewswire.com/newsarchive/hii/pages/news_releases.html?d=222031
 | title= U.S. Navy's Amphibious Transport Dock Anchorage (LPD 23) Christened at Ingalls Shipbuilding Avondale Operations
 | date= 14 May 2011 | publisher= [[Huntington Ingalls Industries]]
 | access-date= 16 May 2011 }}</ref>
The ship was formally delivered and accepted by the U.S. Navy on 17 September 2012.<ref name="delivery">{{cite web
 | url= http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=69629
 | title= Navy Accepts Delivery of Future USS Anchorage
 |date= 17 September 2012
 | access-date= 2012-09-23 }}</ref>
''Anchorage'' was [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] 4 May 2013, in her eponymous city.<ref name="commissioning date">{{cite press release
 |url         = http://www.adn.com/2012/11/01/2679767/uss-anchorage-will-officially.html
 |title       = USS Anchorage will officially join the U.S. Navy on May 4, 2013
 |date        = 1 November 2012
 |publisher   = USS Anchorage Commissioning Committee
 |access-date  = 4 November 2012
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121103112143/http://www.adn.com/2012/11/01/2679767/uss-anchorage-will-officially.html
 |archive-date = 3 November 2012
}}</ref>

==Service history==
===Deployments===

*11 May 2015 – 15 December 2015: Maiden deployment<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://navydads.com/group/uss-anchorage-lpd-23/page/deployment-history|title=Deployment History|publisher=navydads.com|accessdate=11 September 2021}}</ref>
*10 July 2018 – 1 March 2019: Western Pacific<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uscarriers.net/lpd23history.htm|title=Deployment 2018}}</ref>

====Recovering Orion space capsules for NASA====
{{stack|[[File:USS Anchorage (LPD-23) with Orion Crew Module after landing 2014.JPG|thumb|''Anchorage'' with the [[Orion (spacecraft)|Orion space capsule]], 5 December 2014.]]}}
In early August 2014, ''Anchorage'' participated in ''Underway Recovery Test 2'', rehearsing scenarios for recovering an [[Orion (spacecraft)|Orion space capsule]].<ref>[http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/space-flight-news/orion/orion-sails-successful-test-aid-u-s-navy/ Jason Rhian, Orion Sails Through Successful Test With Aid Of Navy's U.S.S. Anchorage, Spaceflight Insider, 8 August 2014]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140809162904/http://amphibiouswarship.org/2014/08/amphibious-warship-uss-anchorage-assists-in-nasa-orion-testing/ Amphibious Warship USS Anchorage Assists in NASA Orion Testing, Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition, 5 August 2014]</ref>

Senior project managers from the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA), who oversaw the [[Exploration Flight Test 1]] (EFT-1) for the uncrewed Orion spacecraft, conferred with [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] [[Fernandez L. Ponds]], commander [[Expeditionary Strike Group]] (ESG) 3, and [[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]] [[William R. Grotewold]], the ship's commanding officer, on board {{USS|San Diego|LPD-22|2}} at her home port of [[Naval Base San Diego|San Diego]], 12 September 2013. They discussed plans to retrieve [[Orion (spacecraft)#Crew module (CM)|Orion's space capsule]] during her [[splashdown]] in a scheduled test off the coast of Southern California.<ref name="DANFS" />

"We had a chance to display the ship's capability, show the crew's enthusiasm and demonstrate that our amphibious capability is multi-dimensional, just one more thing that our Navy can do," Ponds explained. "The LPD 17-class ships have one of the most robust command and control communications systems in our Navy inventory."<ref name="DANFS" />
[[File:RIMPAC USS Anchorage.tiff|thumb|left|In 2014, sailors assigned to [[United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal|Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit]] (EODMU) 1 and divers from New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, Australia and Chile recover their boats into the well deck of the amphibious transport dock ''Anchorage'' after conducting night dive exercises off the coast of San Diego during [[Rim of the Pacific]] (RIMPAC).]]
The space agency's planners intended Orion to reach an altitude of nearly {{cvt|3600|mi}} above the Earth's surface during EFT-1. Following the test flight, she was to reenter the atmosphere at a speed of more than {{cvt|20000|mph}} and splashdown in the Pacific. The flight was to test the capsule's avionics, [[Heat shield#Space|heat shield]], and [[parachute]]s, and the Navy was tasked to locate and recover the craft.<ref name="DANFS" />

"NASA did a trade study whether they wanted Orion to land on the ground or in the water," Andy Quiett, Detachment 3 deputy operations lead for the Orion program and [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] (DoD) liaison for NASA said, "and because of the size, weight and the deep space requirements of the vehicle, they determined it needed to land in water." Orion's life support, propulsion, thermal protection, and avionics systems enable the spacecraft to extend the duration of her deep space missions, as part of the goal to eventually land on [[Mars]].<ref name="DANFS" />
{{stack|[[File:HIMARSfiresFromUSSAnchorage(LPD-23).jpg|thumb|A [[M142 HIMARS|HIMARS]] firing from the deck of USS Anchorage during an exercise.]]}}
NASA marked a major milestone in the agency's program to reestablish America's crewed space program when it carried out EFT-1 with Orion on 5 December 2014. Orion launched atop a [[Delta IV]] rocket from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 37|Space Launch Complex 37B]] at the [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]], Florida, made two orbits of the planet during a four and a half hour mission, and splashed down in the Pacific. ''Anchorage'', [[Military Sealift Command]]-crewed salvage ship {{USNS|Salvor|T-ARS-52|2}}, [[HSC-8|Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 8]] (HSC-8), EODMU-11, Mobile Diving and Salvage Company 11–17, [[Naval Air Station North Island|Fleet Weather Center San Diego]], and [[Fleet Combat Camera Pacific]] took part in the recovery when the spacecraft splashed down. ''Anchorage'' recovered Orion's crew module, forward bay cover, and parachutes. A bridge team especially trained for the operation maneuvered ''Anchorage'' alongside Orion, and lowered small boats to retrieve her. Divers attached lines from the small boats to guide the capsule toward ''Anchorage'', where a NASA-designed winch hauled the module into the well deck.<ref name="DANFS" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*{{Naval Vessel Register|{{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=LPD23}}}}
{{PD-notice}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|USS Anchorage (LPD-23)}}
*[https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/lpd23/ Official Web Site: USS ''Anchorage'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050404085329/http://www.pms317.navy.mil/ships/lpd23.asp       pms317.navy.mil: USS ''Anchorage'']
*{{navsource|10/09/0923|USS Anchorage (LPD-23)}}

{{San Antonio class amphibious transport dock}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anchorage (LPD-23)}}
[[Category:San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks]]
[[Category:2011 ships]]
[[Category:Space capsule recovery ships]]