Week Five: USS Essex LDH2

 Week Five: USS Essex LDH2

USS Essex LDH2

This week in the Veterans History Project, I have been assigned an interview of a veteran who served in the United States Navy in the Naval Hospital through the majority of her service. I have multiple weeks before the interview and in the spirit of preparation, I have decided to conduct my own personal research one one of the two naval assault ships our veteran had served upon. 

Indian Ocean. November 2011. Photo from Sea Forces.



The USS Essex is a handed down name with 4 previous ships coming before the current model of the named ship. After the retirement of version 4, the current version was awarded it's name on September 10th, 1986 before it's commission on October 17th, 1992 (Sea Forces, 2022). Following it's commission, it's homeport was finally settled in Sasebo, Japan where it remains to this day. 



The ship is classified as a Wasp class Amphibious Assault Ship that specializes in technical data regarding armament, aviation, and propulsion measures. The USS Essex displayed her potential in the Persian Gulf in multiple instances with a highlight being her place in the withdrawal of UN multinational force from Somalia in Operation United Shield (Sea Forces, 2022). During her time in service, the USS Essex has obtained multiple prestigious awards including multiple battle "E" awards, the Golden Anchor Award for retention, the Ney Award for food service excellence, the Thompson Award for public affairs excellence, the Ogden Award for firefighting excellence, and the Chief of Naval Operations and Commander, Naval Surface Forces Pacific Safety Award (Sea Forces, 2022).




Sasebo, Japan. June 11. Photo from Sea Forces.

Our veteran served an undocumented amount of time on the assault ship and I am very interested to understand her role in the operations of the ship during her time on it. Next week, I will look into the other ship mentioned in her report: the USS LaSalle. 


Bibliography

“LHD 2 - USS Essex.” Sea Forces. Accessed September 22, 2022. https://www.seaforces.org/usnships/lhd/LHD-2-USS-Essex.htm.

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