The amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego leaves San Diego, Aug. 14, 2024, for its new homeport in Sasebo, Japan. (Mark Faram/U.S. Navy)
The amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego is on its way to Japan, where it will take the place of its sister ship USS Green Bay.
The San Diego sailed away from its namesake city on Aug. 14, U.S. Pacific Fleet announced Tuesday. The warship was homeported for 12 years at the naval base there.
The ship will make its way to Sasebo Naval Base on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, as part of a swap announced last month by the U.S. 7th Fleet.
Task Force 76 spokesman Lt. Cmdr. John Mike declined in a Thursday email to Stars and Stripes to comment on the ship’s arrival date, citing security concerns.
The base is home to the America Amphibious Ready Group, led by the amphibious assault ship USS America, which routinely deployed with the Green Bay over the past decade.
The San Diego, commissioned in 2012, is three years younger than the Green Bay. The Navy in 2021 awarded BAE Systems a $90.2 million contract for a yearlong modernization period for the San Diego. The work included hull maintenance, ballast tank repairs and refurbished living spaces.
The Green Bay underwent a similar, yearlong maintenance period prior to its deployment to Sasebo in 2015, U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a press release that year.
The San Diego will join the group to support a variety of missions by transporting personnel, equipment and vehicles that would be used as part of a landing force, and aircraft like the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor or Navy and Marine Corps helicopters, Mike said.
“Wherever San Diego operates, it provides naval power projection capabilities that allow the Navy and Marine Corps team to rapidly insert and support forces ashore,” he wrote.
The new assignment will be “very rewarding for the crew and families,” and the San Diego is “prepared for the move,” according to the ship’s skipper, Capt. David Walton.
“We appreciate all the support and fond memories of the City of San Diego, but it’s time for the city’s namesake USS San Diego to lead the charge. America is counting on us to deter aggression, defend our national security interests, and preserve our way of life,” he said in the release.
Meanwhile, the Green Bay will make its way to San Diego, concluding a decade-long assignment at Sasebo. It’s currently conducting routine operations somewhere in the 7th Fleet’s area of operations, Mike said.
He declined to comment on when the Green Bay will leave for San Diego or whether the ship will undergo maintenance when it arrives there.
U.S. warships may not spend more than 10 years at a time in Japan. Congress set the limit in the fiscal year 2019 defense budget following back-to-back collisions involving the destroyers USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald. Both vessels were based in Japan for more than a decade when they separately collided with commercial vessels in 2017.
