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

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of warship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an armed conflict. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (which, as a result, ar ...

, and was laid down by the

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy shipyard and was historically important for nearly two centuries. Construction of the original Philadelphia Naval Shipyard began during the American Revolution in 1776 at Front ...

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 ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

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 counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, her homeport. Arriving

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

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 the Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. The importance of the Chesapeake Bay in American history has lo ...

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

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. ''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 The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. 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 is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

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

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

ready to land forces on the volatile island of Hispaniola 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 15 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, aviator, and test pilot who commanded the Apollo 12 mission, on which he became the third person to walk on t ...

and Dick Gordon east of

Cape Kennedy Cape Canaveral () is a cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River. It i ...

. 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 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 city in Carteret County, North Carolina, Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its foundi ...

(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 ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

in 1982 for the

Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

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 The United States and a Caribbean Peace Force, coalition of Caribbean countries invaded the small island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela, at dawn on 25 October 1983. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in m ...

. 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 () is an automated 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 General Dynamics Co ...

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. 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, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

for

Operation Desert Shield , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

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-Man ...

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

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

to airlift the US embassy in Somalia's capital

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

, 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 Operation Eastern Exit was the codename given to the military evacuation of the Embassy of the United States, Mogadishu, United States embassy in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in January 1991. In late December 1990, violence quickly envel ...

. 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 ''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 dual 3"/50cal Mk33 anti aircraft mount is preserved at the Mesa-Arizona Commemoration Air Force Museum.

is now on display at California Science Centre in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Awards

Combat Action Ribbon The Combat Action Ribbon (CAR) is a United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States Marine Corps military decoration awarded to United States sea service members "who have actively participated in ground or surface combat." Coast ...

Navy Unit Commendation The Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) is a United States Navy and United States Coast Guard unit award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944. History Navy A navy, naval force, military m ...

with 6 awards * Navy

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or ...

with 3 awards * Navy Battle "E" Ribbon with 6 awards * Navy Expeditionary Medal *

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It was awarded to every member of the U.S. Armed Forces who served during any one of four s ...

with 2 awards *

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces, which was first created in 1961 by Executive Order of President John F. Kennedy. The medal is awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who, a ...

with 7 awards *

Southwest Asia Service Medal The Southwest Asia Service Medal (SASM or SWASM) was a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was created by order of President George H.W. Bush on March 12, 1991. The award is intended to recognize those military service member ...

Armed Forces Service Medal The Armed Forces Service Medal (AFSM) is a military award of the United States military that was created on January 11, 1996, by President Bill Clinton under . The AFSM is a deployed service medal that is presented to those service members who ...

with 7 awards *

Humanitarian Service Medal The Humanitarian Service Medal (HSM) is a military service medal of the United States Armed Forces which was created on January 19, 1977 by President Gerald Ford under . The medal may be awarded to members of the United States military (incl ...

with 2 awards *

Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The United States Army, U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstand ...

* 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 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 UH-34D of HMM-162 approach USS Guam 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,

SH-3 Sea King The Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King (company designation S-61) is an American twin-engine anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter designed and built by Sikorsky Aircraft. A landmark design, it was one of the first ASW rotorcraft to use turboshaft engine ...

over USS Guam in 1973. File:UH-60A on USS Guam (LPH-9) off Grenada 1983.JPEG, 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 3inch 50cal dual anti-air gun in 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