USS Saginaw (LST-1188)
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Saginaw (LST-1188) |
| Namesake: | Saginaw River [1] |
| Builder: | National Steel and Shipbuilding Company |
| Cost: | 15 July 1966 |
| Laid down: | 24 May 1969 |
| Launched: | 7 February 1970 |
| Sponsored by: | Wife of R. James Harvey |
| Commissioned: | 23 January 1971 |
| Decommissioned: | 28 June 1994 |
| Struck: | 28 June 1994 |
| Homeport: | Little Creek, Virginia (former) |
| Fate: | Sold to Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Kanimbla |
| Status: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Newport class tank landing ship |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 522 ft (159.1 m) overall, 500 ft (152.4 m) at the waterline. |
| Beam: | 70 ft (21.34 m) |
| Draft: | 19 ft (5.79 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 20+ knots (37+ km/h) |
| Capacity: | 19,000 sq ft (1,765 m2), capacity of 29 tanks or 30 AAVs. |
| Troops: | Marine detachment: 360 plus 40 surge |
| Complement: | 14 officers, 210 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Saginaw (LST-1188), a Newport-class tank landing ship of the United States Navy was the second ship of that name. Saginaw was named after the Saginaw River, a river in mid-Michigan. The ship was decommissioned in Little Creek, Virginia on 29 August 1994 and at the same ceremony transferred to the Royal Australian Navy.
Saginaw was laid down on 24 May 1969 by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, in San Diego. She was launched on 7 February 1970, sponsored by Mrs. James Harvey, wife of the Congressman from the Eighth District of Michigan (which included Saginaw), and commissioned at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 23 January 1971, with Commander G. P. Brown in command.
The new tank landing ship (LST) completed fitting out, took on ammunition at NWS Seal Beach, California, and got underway from San Diego on 4 March 1971, bound for the east coast. On her first day out, her lookouts sighted a mechanized landing craft, LCM(6)-805, adrift at sea. The LST took the drifting craft in tow, and later, turned her over to the Point Defiance (LSD-31). Then, Saginaw proceeded via Acapulco, Mexico, and the Panama Canal, to NAB Little Creek, Virginia, her home port, arriving on 26 March.
Early in April, while preparing for shakedown, the ship tested a new concept for her class by hoisting a major self-contained medical unit (MUST) on her tank decks. This was done to evaluate the feasibility of setting up complete hospital facilities on her deck after off-loading her troops, vehicles, and cargo. She got underway on 19 April for Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for shakedown, which lasted until her return to Little Creek on 8 June. Various types of training and post-shakedown availability kept her busy through the end of the year.
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