USS Ashland (LSD-48)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For other ships of the same name, see USS Ashland.

Career

Awarded:	11 December 1985
Laid down:	4 April 1988
Launched:	11 November 1989
Commissioned:	9 May 1992
Status:	Active in service as of 2005.
Homeport:	NAB Little Creek, Virginia
General Characteristics
Displacement:	11,149 tons (light), 16,883 tons (full)
Length:	610 ft (185.9 m) overall
Beam:	84 ft (25.6 m)
Draft:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion:	4 Colt Industries, 16 cylinder diesel engines, 2 shafts, 33,000 shp (25 MW)
Speed:	20+ knots (37+ km/h)
Complement:	22 officers, 391 enlisted; Marine Detachment: 402 plus 102 surge
Armament:	2 x 25 mm Mk-38 guns; 2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts; 6 x .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns
Landing Craft:	4 LCACs or 21 LCM-6s
Motto:	Deliver Liberty, Defend Freedom

USS Ashland (LSD-48) is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to be named for Ashland, the boyhood home of Henry Clay, in Lexington, Kentucky

Ashland (LSD-48) was laid down on 4 April 1988, by the Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans, La.; launched and christened on 11 November 1989, sponsored by Mrs. Kathleen Foley, wife of Admiral Sylvester R. Foley, Jr. (Ret.); and commissioned on 9 May 1992, at New Orleans. As of 2005, Ashland is homeported at NAB Little Creek, Virginia, and assigned to Amphibious Group 2.

[edit]

2005 rocket attack

On August 19, 2005, the Ashland and the USS Kearsarge were targeted by three Katyusha rockets while in port in Aqaba, Jordan. The vessels were not hit, but one Jordanian soldier was killed and another was wounded after two rockets hit nearby docks. The third rocket landed on a taxi near the Eilat airport in Israel but did not explode. Responsibility was claimed by the Abdullah al-Azzam Brigades, which states that it is associated with the al-Qaeda terrorist group