The Anchorage-class dock landing ships were a series of five dock landing ships (LSD) constructed and commissioned by the United States Navy 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.
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 docks (LPD)s, which carried less landing craft in order to accommodate more troops and cargo.[1]
The Anchorage class was slightly larger than the preceding Thomaston class, but were of generally similar design, with a large Well dock aft to accommodate landing craft, and a removable flight deck fitted above the well deck to allow the operation of helicopters, although no hangar was provided. The well dock was 430feet long and 40feet wide, and could accommodate three Landing Craft Utilitys or nine LCM-8 Landing Craft Mechanised.[2] The ship could carry 375 troops compared with the 345 carried by the Thomastons,[3] while 1115m2 of vehicle parking space was provided.[4]
The ships were propelled by two geared steam turbines driving two shafts and giving a total of 24000shp. This gave a speed of 20kn, the standard speed of the postwar US Navy amphibious fleet.[5] [6] 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.[3]
The name ship of the class, was ordered under the Fiscal year 1965 (FY65) shipbuilding program, with three more (and) ordered under the FY66 program and the final ship of the class,, under the FY67 programme.[7] 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.[8] Two 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts to defend against anti-ship missiles and two 25 mm Bushmaster cannon to defend against surface targets were fitted to replace these weapons.[9]
| Name | Builder[10] | Laid Down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi | 13 March 1967 | 5 May 1968 | 15 March 1969 | Decommissioned 1 October 2003[11] Sunk as target 17 July 2010 | ||
| General Dynamics, Quincy, Massachusetts | 21 September 1967 | 20 December 1969 | 3 October 1970 | Decommissioned 4 August 2003[12] Sunk as target 25 April 2004 | ||
| General Dynamics, Quincy, Massachusetts | 12 March 1969 | 11 July 1970 | 27 March 1971 | Sold to Taiwan Navy in 2000 | ||
| General Dynamics, Quincy, Massachusetts | 29 January 1970 | 17 April 1971 | 13 May 1972[13] | Decommissioned 25 July 2003[14] Sunk as target 16 June 2005 | ||
| General Dynamics, Quincy, Massachusetts | 15 July 1970 | 22 April 1972 | 12 September 1972 | Decommissioned 27 February 1998[15] Sold for scrapping 22 May 2009 |