The ''Anchorage''-class dock landing ships were a series of five dock landing ships (LSD) constructed and commissioned by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

between 1965 and 1972. US Navy decommissioned all five of them by 2003. They are succeeded by ''Whidbey Island''-class LSDs and ''Harpers Ferry''-class LSDs.

Design and development

The ''Anchorage'' class of dock landing ships was built as a replacement for the remaining aging war-built LSDs of the ''Ashland'' and ''Casa Grande'' classes. Their principal intended role was to carry additional landing craft to supplement those carried by the

Amphibious transport dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently opera ...

s (LPD)s, which carried less landing craft in order to accommodate more troops and cargo.Polmar 1981, pp. 144, 146. The ''Anchorage'' class was slightly larger than the preceding ''Thomaston'' class, but were of generally similar design, with a large

Well dock A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

aft to accommodate landing craft, and a removable flight deck fitted above the well deck to allow the operation of helicopters, although no

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

was provided. The well dock was long and wide, and could accommodate three

Landing Craft Utility A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers ...

s or nine

LCM-8 The LCM-8 ("Mike Boat") is a river boat and mechanized landing craft used by the United States Navy and Army during the Vietnam War and subsequent operations. They are currently used by governments and private organizations throughout the world. ...

Landing Craft Mechanised Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or ...

.Polmar 1981, p. 146. The ship could carry 375 troops compared with the 345 carried by the ''Thomaston''s,Polmar 1981, pp. 145–146. while of vehicle parking space was provided.Baker 1998, p. 1046. The ships were propelled by two geared steam turbines driving two shafts and giving a total of . This gave a speed of , the standard speed of the postwar US Navy amphibious fleet.Polmar 1981, p. 125.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, pp. 549–550. As built, the ships had a defensive armament of eight 3"/50 Mark 33 anti-aircraft guns in four twin mounts, while major sensors included SPS-10 surface search radar and SPS-40 air-search radar.

Construction and service

The name ship of the class, was ordered under the

Fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

1965 (FY65) shipbuilding program, with three more (, and ) ordered under the FY66 program and the final ship of the class, , under the FY67 programme.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 619. They were laid down between 1967 and 1970 and entered service between 1969 and 1972. The fire-control directors for the 3 in guns were removed in the late 1970s, while the ships' gun armament was gradually reduced, with two mounts removed by 1990, and the remaining 3 inch guns removed by 1994.Baker 1998, p. 1046. Two 20mm

Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS (often spoken as "sea-wiz") is a gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the Gen ...

mounts to defend against anti-ship missiles and two 25 mm Bushmaster cannon to defend against surface targets were fitted to replace these weapons.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 620.

Ship List

References

* * * * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Anchorage class dock landing ship