USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7)

An aerial starboard side view of the amphibious ship USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) passing the Ellis Island Memorial Immigration Center as the ship arrives at New York City for Fleet Week '92.
History
United States
Ordered:	21 December 1959
Builder:	Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Laid down:	1 September 1961
Launched:	16 March 1963
Commissioned:	20 July 1963
Decommissioned:	31 August 1994
Struck:	31 August 1994
Motto:	There When Needed
Nickname(s):	The Golden Guad
Fate:	Expended as a target 19 May 2005
General characteristics
Class and type:	Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship
Displacement:	19,395 tons
Length:	602.3 ft (183.6 m)
Beam:	84 ft (26 m)
Draught:	27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion:	2 × 600 psi (4.1 MPa) boilers, one 22 ft (7 m) diameter screw, 23,000 shaft horse power
Speed:	23 knots (26 mph; 43 km/h)
Complement:	685 (47 officer, 638 enlisted)
Armament:	2 × 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow BPDMS launchers; 4 × 3 inch / 50 cal (2 × twin barrel guns); 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS
Aircraft carried:	11 - CH-53 Sea Stallions; 20 - CH-46 Sea Knights (representative, actual complement was mixed, including UH-1s and AH-1W Super Cobras)

USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7), the third Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship (helicopter), was launched by the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 16 March 1963, sponsored by Mrs. David Shoup, wife of General Shoup, the former Commandant of the Marine Corps; and commissioned 20 July 1963, Captain Dale K. Peterson in command. It was the second ship in the Navy to bear the name.

Upon completion of sea trials and outfitting, Guadalcanal departed Philadelphia to join the Amphibious Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. One of a new class of ships designed from the keel up to embark, transport, and land assault marines by means of helicopters, she lent new strength and flexibility to amphibious operations. After departing Norfolk 23 October 1963 for six weeks' shakedown training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Guadalcanal steamed to Onslow Beach, North Carolina, 6 December for practice amphibious landings. She then carried on training and readiness operations with the Atlantic Fleet, based in Norfolk until departing for Panama 11 February 1964. Following 2 months on station as flagship for Commander PhibRon 12 with the 12 Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked and ready to land anywhere needed. Guadalcanal entered Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 26 May, but was deployed again 7 October as a unit of Operation "Steel Pike 1", a NATO landing exercise on the beaches of southern Spain.

Career highlights include 21 July 1966, when she recovered the Gemini X astronauts and their spacecraft after they landed in the Atlantic east of Cape Kennedy, and 13 March 1969, when she recovered Apollo 9 off the Bahamas. In October 1985 the ship logged its 100,000th aircraft landing.