USS Saipan .. did you know ?
I though this was interesting, did you know that the US military had two ships named USS Saipan.
USS Saipan (CVL-48) was a light aircraft carrier laid down on July 10, 1944 and was the lead ship of her class of carriers, she was later converted to the command ship Arlington(AGMR-2) before being decommission and sold for scrap in June 1, 1976. USS
Saipan ( LHA-2) was a light aircraft carrier of sorts, The TARAWA class of amphibious assault ship, she was the second ship of class. Laid down on July 21, 1972, and commissioned on September 23, 1978 she participated in many operations in the Mediterranean. Her commendations and awards include the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medal (two awards), Humanitarian Service Medal, Battle Efficiency “E” (four awards), the Admiral Flatley Safety Award (two awards), the Sledge Award, the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force “Admiral’s Cup” in 1985, COMPHIBRON Twelve’s “Bronze Anchor” for retention excellence, and the 1993 COMNAVSURFLANT Command Excellence Award for Command and Control, Maritime Warfare and Logistics Management. SAIPAN’s motto, “Omnia Facimus” - “We do it all” - aptly describes the unique capabilities and history of this very special ship. She was an Harrier carrier able to deploy 6 AV-8B Harrier attack planes, 4 AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters, 12 Ch-46 Sea Knight helicopters, 9 Ch-53 Sea Stallion helicopters and 4 UH-1n Huey Helicopters, her crew was 82 officers and 882 enlisted with am 1900+ marine detachment.
Sadly Saipan (LHA-2) has been decommissioned April 20, 2007, without much of a eye brow raise from the people of Saipan which this proud ship is named. She is currently at her homeport in Naval Station Norfolk. Unfortunately, she will be used for weapon effect testing on her hulls.
She has participated in all the major global news events.
1990 Saipan was deployed to Mediterranean and conducted non-combatant evacuation operations, evacuating 1,600 civilians from war-torn Liberia in support of Operation Sharp Edge.
1991~1992 Saipan was deployed to Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm.
2000, Saipan began her eight Mediterranean deployment, The ship commenced Adriatic presence operation during the Fall of 2000 federal elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2002, Saipan was deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the War on Terrorism.
2005 Saipan was deployed in support of New Horizons, the humanitarian assistance efforts in Haiti.
2005 Saipan was one of two American military vessels to participate in the Royal Navy International Fleer Review in the waters off Portsmouth, England.
It is sad to see her in the end to be used as a weapon test target. I wish the government of the CNMI would rally together to bring her to her namesake home, to be used as a floating WWII museum. Now how cool would that be… one could hope.
