The USS Tripoli, seen here in San Diego on Sept. 11, 2021, is scheduled to deploy to Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, the Navy announced Feb. 14, 2025. (Erica Higa/U.S. Navy)
The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli will relieve its sister ship USS America as the lead ship of an amphibious ready group at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, the Navy announced Friday in a news release.
The Tripoli, commissioned in 2020 and currently homeported in San Diego, will join Amphibious Squadron 11, U.S. Pacific Fleet said Friday in the release. The squadron, which includes an amphibious ready group composed of Navy ships and U.S. Marines, is the only one of its kind based outside the United States
The Navy did not say when the rotation would take place. Pacific Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Katie Koenig acknowledged Stars and Stripes’ request for additional information but had not responded as of Friday afternoon.
The America, based at Sasebo since December 2019, will return to San Diego, the ship’s homeport before it deployed to Japan, according to the release.
Both ships are small flattops that typically carry a variety of aircraft, including MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters and MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters.
The America, the first of its class, was commissioned in 2014; the Tripoli, the second in the same class, was commissioned in July 2020. Two more are under construction by Ingalls Shipbuilding, the USS Bougainville and the USS Fallujah, with more planned.
Among the Tripoli’s improvements over its predecessor are an extended hangar deck, a reconfigurable command and control complex, an enhanced medical bay and additional aviation support spaces, according to the ship’s webpage.
“The security environment in the Indo-Pacific requires that the U.S. Navy station the most capable ships forward,” Pacific Fleet said in the news release.
“This posture allows the most rapid response times for maritime and joint forces, and brings our most capable ships with the greatest amount of striking power and operational capability to bear in the timeliest manner.”
During its tenure in the Indo-Pacific, the America made its first visit to South Korea in September and participated in exercises, including Rim of the Pacific, Iron Fist and Talisman Sabre.
The Tripoli in December 2022 concluded its eight-month maiden voyage from San Diego to the Western Pacific and subsequently entered a yearlong maintenance and upgrade period, according to Pacific Fleet.
As the new lead for the squadron and the amphibious ready group, the Tripoli will regularly deploy with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from Okinawa and sail alongside an amphibious transport dock and dock landing ship.
The squadron acts as a contingency response force, and provides non-combatant evacuation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, maritime interdiction and recovery of downed aircrew and craft, according to its website.
