USS ''Guam'' (LPH-9), was an ''Iwo Jima''-class

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (and, a ...

, and was laid down by the

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the ci ...

on 15 November 1962; launched on 22 August 1964, sponsored by Mrs. Vaughn H. Emory Green, and commissioned on 16 January 1965. She was the third US Navy ship to carry the name, after the US Territory of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

1960s

After fitting out and builder's trials, the new amphibious assault ship joined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet on 21 April 1965 and sailed for

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, her homeport. Arriving Hampton Roads the next day for training off the

Virginia Capes The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. In 1610, a supply ship learned of the famine at Jamestown when it ...

, she departed Hampton Roads for underway training out of Guantanamo Bay,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

''Guam'' returned to Norfolk on 5 July 1965 for intensive amphibious training. She sailed from Hampton Roads on 29 November 1965 to participate in amphibious and anti-submarine warfare exercises en route to the Caribbean. On 10 December 1965, ''Guam'' joined the Amphibious Ready Squadron in the Caribbean as flagship for Amphibious Squadron 12. There she operated at peak readiness to protect the peace and security of the Caribbean and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. From 16 to 28 February 1966, ''Guam'' patrolled south of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

ready to land forces on the volatile island of Hispanola if necessary. She conducted amphibious exercises until entering Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 1 June 1966 for post shakedown availability. She departed Philadelphia on 2 August 1966 and prepared for service as the primary recovery ship for the

Gemini 11 Gemini 11 (officially Gemini XI) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the ninth crewed spaceflight mission of NASA's Project Gemini, which flew from September 12 to 15, 1966. It was the 17th crewed ...

space flight. On 18 September, at 0959 EDT, ''Guam'' recovered Astronauts

Pete Conrad Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. (June 2, 1930 – July 8, 1999) was an American NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer and aviator, and test pilot, and commanded the Apollo 12 space mission, on which he became the third person to ...

and Dick Gordon 710 miles east of

Cape Kennedy , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...

. From 28 November to 12 December, ''Guam'' participated in Exercise "Lantflex 66", and on the latter date became flagship of Amphibious Squadron 8 and Caribbean Amphibious Ready Group.

1970s

In the summer of 1971, ''Guam'' was chosen as a test vessel for Admiral Elmo Zumwalt's

Sea Control Ship The Sea Control Ship (SCS) was a small aircraft carrier developed and conceptualized by the United States Navy under Chief of Naval Operations Elmo Zumwalt during the 1970s. Currently the term refers to naval vessels that can perform similar d ...

concept. This ship was to operate a few VSTOL fighters and some ASW helicopters in order to free up supercarriers from convoy duty during a conflict with the Soviet Union. On 18 January 1972, she began extensive testing and in 1974 deployed in the Atlantic as a sea control ship with Marine Corps AV-8A Harrier VSTOL fighters and Sea King ASW helicopters. ''Guam'' completed the SCS tests and reassumed her role as an Amphibious Assault Ship on 1 July 1974. In October 1974 her aircraft complement, operated by the US Marine Corps, comprised six AV-8A, eight CH-46F Sea Knights, five CH-53D Sea Stallions and two Bell UH-1N Iroquis utility helicopters. On 17 January 1977, in Barcelona, Spain, a landing craft being used as a liberty boat by USS ''Trenton'' and USS ''Guam'', was run over by a freighter. The Mike8 boat capsized and came to rest against the fleet landing pier. Crewmembers from both vessels were on hand to assist with rescue operations. There were over one hundred sailors and marines on board the landing craft. 49 sailors and marines were killed. A memorial is erected at the landing pier in memory.

1980s

While operating 50 km southeast of

Morehead City, North Carolina Morehead City is a port town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007. It forms part of the Crystal Coast. Hist ...

(USA), on 19 July 1981, a Sikorsky CH-53 ''Sea Stallion'' helicopter crashed into another CH-53 and a Bell UH-1N ''Twin Huey'' on landing. 4 crewmen died and 10 were injured. Guam deployed to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in 1982 for the

Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

as part of a multi-national peacekeeping force. In October 1983, bound for another stint off the coast of Lebanon, she was redirected to the Caribbean to serve as the flagship for Operation Urgent Fury, the invasion of Grenada. Vice Adm. Joseph P. Metcalf III and his command team of 50 directed the week-long invasion from the flag plot of the Guam, a control center designed to accommodate one quarter that number. After operations in Grenada, she continued onto Lebanon with Amphibious Squadron Four/22nd Marine Amphibious Unit embarked, finally returning to CONUS on 1 May 1984. In early 1985, the ship was drydocked at the

and given a massive overhaul lasting several months. Two

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 ...

were added to the ship at this time. On 28 January 1986, the USS ''Guam'' was steaming south from Norfolk, VA en route to Operational Trials, "Oppies", in the Caribbean sea when, while many crewmen were watching it on TV, the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' blew up just 750 miles South of their location off the coast of FL. USS ''Guam'' recovered many floating pieces of debris from the disaster, including a nose-cone from one of the booster rockets. For her around-the-clock efforts in the recovery mission her crew earned a Joint Navy/Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Citation. May through November 1986 she was deployed on MARG 2-86 in the Mediterranean. During this deployment, the ship was damaged while sailing through a tropical storm off the East Coast of the United States while en route to Rota, Spain. Gross command error had decided to sail directly through the storm, rather than go around it (a very similar event took place off the N.C. coast in 1983). A sailor on an escort ship was killed in a fall (not verified:https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/accidents.htm). Waves stripped the decking from the fantail, normally 50 ft above the water. All personnel were confined to racks for three days due to immense rocking. At least two helicopters were washed overboard and the ship stayed at port in Toulon, France for almost three weeks for repairs.

1990s and fate

She departed from

in August 1990, under the command of Captain Chuck Saffell, to deploy to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

for

Operation Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. On 2 January 1991, the ''Guam'' along with the USS ''Trenton'' were dispatched from anchorage off

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

to Somalia to airlift Embassy of the United States, Mogadishu, the US embassy in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, which had been suddenly enveloped by violence when rebels entered the city and the central government collapsed. On 5–6 January 281 US and foreign nationals were airlifted from the embassy, including all of the embassy's staff along with diplomats from several nations (notably, the Soviet ambassador to Somalia and 38 Soviet diplomats). The vessels returned to Oman and the evacuees disembarked on 11 January, ending Operation Eastern Exit. In 1993, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet. In 1996, the USS ''Guam'' supported the 22nd MEU in Operation Assured Response off the coast of Liberia. In addition to the MEU's Aviation Combat Element's helicopter load out, the MEU had a CONUS standby package of 4 AV-8Bs (Harriers) that ''Guam'' was capable of adding to the flight deck in support of contingency operations. She also conducted Harrier ops as part of the deployment work-up on a regular basis with the exception of the final voyage from September 1997 through April 1998. The last operation conducted was in May 1998 before the final ammunition offload at Naval Weapon Station Yorktown. The ''USS Guam'' was decommissioned on 25 August 1998 and spent several months at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard while the Navy decided what to do with the ship. ''Guam'' was disposed of as a target off the US east coast on 16 October 2001. The SINKEX was conducted by the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), ''John F. Kennedy'' Battle Group. USNS ''Mohawk'' towed her out to sea and a carrier air wing operating from ''Kennedy'' conducted SINKEX. She took over 12 hours to sink most likely due to all watertight compartments sealed by the decommissioning crew.''Iwo Jima'' class
/ref> The exact location was 031° 14' 22.0" North, 071° 16' 35.0" West. Her 3"/50 caliber gun, dual 3"/50cal Mk33 anti aircraft mount is preserved at the Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum, Mesa-Arizona Commemoration Air Force Museum.

is now on display at California Science Center, California Science Centre in Los Angeles.

Awards

* Combat Action Ribbon * Navy Unit Commendation with 6 awards * Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation with 3 awards * Navy Battle "E" Ribbon with 6 awards * Navy Expeditionary Medal * National Defense Service Medal with 2 awards * Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with 7 awards * Southwest Asia Service Medal * Armed Forces Service Medal with 7 awards * Humanitarian Service Medal with 2 awards * Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation * Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait), Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)

Gallery

File:USS Guam (LPH-9) underway during the recovery of the Gemini 11 spaceflight, in September 1966.jpg, USS Guam during recovery of the

in September 1966. File:Astronauts Pete Conrad (right) and Richard Gordon pose in front of the recovery helicopter.jpg, Astronauts

and Richard F. Gordon Jr., Richard Gordon pose in front of the recovery helicopter aboard USS Guam on 30 December 1966. File:USS Guam (LPH-9) underway at sea, circa in 1967.jpg, USS Guam underway in 1967. File:Sikorsky UH-34Ds of HMM-162 approach USS Guam (LPH-9), circa in 1967.jpg, Two Sikorsky H-34, Sikorsky UH-34D of VMM-162, HMM-162 approach USS Gum for landing in 1967. File:USS Guam (LPH-9) at sea c1973.jpg, USS Guam in c1973. File:Canadair CL-84 Dynavert on USS Guam (LPH-9) in 1973.jpg, Canadair CL-84 Dynavert on USS Guam in 1973. File:SH-3 Sea King over USS Guam (LPH-9) c1973.jpg, Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, SH-3 Sea King over USS Guam in 1973. File:UH-60A on USS Guam (LPH-9) off Grenada 1983.JPEG, Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, UH-60A on USS Guam off Grenada 1983. File:USS Guam (LPH-9) recoveres space shuttle SRB nose cone 1986.jpg, USS Guam recovers space shuttle SRB nose cone in 1986. File:Mesa-Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum-3 inch Mark 33 Deck Gun-USS Guam LPH-9-1.jpg, USS Guam's 3"/50 caliber gun, 3inch 50cal dual anti-air gun in Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum, Mesa-Arizona Air Force Museum.

References

External links

USS ''Guam'' LPH-9

SINKEX of USS ''Guam'' (LPH-9)
youtube.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Guam (Lph-9) Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ships Cold War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Vietnam War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Ships built in Philadelphia Gulf War ships of the United States 1964 ships Ships sunk as targets Space capsule recovery ships