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Uss Rushmore (Lsd-47) | colspan="2"| | | style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"| Career | style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"| | | warded: | 11 December 1985 | | aid down: | 9 November 1987 | | aunched: | 6 May 1989 | | ommissioned: | 1 June 1991 | | Status: | | | Homeport: | NS San Diego, California | | olspan="2" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"| General characteristics | | isplacement: | 11,590 tons (light), 16,325 tons (full) | | ength: | 610 ft (186 m) overall | | eam: | 84 ft (25.6 m) | | Draft: | 21 ft (6.4 m) | | ropulsion: | 4 Colt Industries, 16 cylinder diesel engines, 2 shafts, 33,000 shp (25 MW) | | peed: | 20+ knots (37+ km/h) | | omplement: | 22 officers, 391 enlisted; Marine Detachment: 402 plus 102 surge | | rmament: | 2 × 25 mm Mk-38 guns; 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts; 6 × .50 cal. (12.7 mm) machine guns | | Landing craft: | 4 LCACs or 21 LCM-6s | | Motto: | MOTTO | USS Rushmore (LSD-47) is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to be named for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Rushmore (LSD-47) was laid down on 9 November 1987, by the Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans, La.; launched on 6 May 1989, sponsored by Mrs. Meredith Brokaw, wife of NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw; and commissioned on 1 June 1991, at New Orleans. History The ship's first assignment was to deliver three Air Cushioned Landing Craft (LCAC) to Camp Pendleton, California from Panama City, Florida. Along the way, Rushmore conducted a port visit in Jamaica, traversed the Panama Canal, and visited Rodman, Panama. Camp Pendleton was the last stop before arriving at her homeport of NS San Diego. During her first six-month deployment, Rushmore spearheaded the beach landing on Somalia during Operation Restore Hope. The largest military humanitarian operation in history, Restore Hope was designed to provide food and medical relief to the starving people of Somalia. Rushmore's 1994 WestPac deployment came almost one year ahead of schedule. She deployed with only four weeks notice and participated in Operation Support Hope off the coast of Mombasa, Kenya, the USLO relocation in Somalia, and exercises with forces of Oman and the United Arab Emirates. During this deployment, Rushmore also was awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation. Rushmore's 1996 deployment followed a complete and highly successful training cycle during which Rushmore earned the Blue E and the Battle E. This deployment provided numerous international training opportunities for the Tarawa (LHA-1) Amphibious Readiness Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (13th MEU) including Cobra Gold '96 with Thailand, Infinite Moonlight with Jordan, Red Reef with Saudi Arabia, and Meuex '96 with Kuwait. Rushmore demonstrated its superior adaptability throughout deployment by becoming the first LSD-41-class ship to employ Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) for the SPECWAR Detachment. Rushmore concluded 1996 with a port visit to Mazatlan, Mexico. The ship earned its second consecutive Battle E in 1996. Rushmore is the test platform for the Smart Ship program known as Gator 17. The ship was outfitted with several new technologies to reduce workload and manning levels. Information from the program aboard Rushmore will be used to assist in the design of the LPD-17 class amphibious ships. Installation was completed at the end of 1997. Rushmore's 1999 deployment provided numerous international training opportunities for the Peleliu (LHA-5) Amphibious Readiness Group and the 11th MEU, including Operation Iron Magic with the United Arab Emirates and Exercise Red Reef with Saudi Arabia. Rushmore recently returned from her summer deployment in support of the annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise. Throughout the deployment to Southeast Asia, the sailors and Marines of Rushmore participated in a variety of humanitarian projects as well as conducted military training with the host countries. As of 2005, Rushmore is commanded by Commander Richard N. Fox, homeported at NS San Diego, California, and assigned to Amphibious Group 3. See USS Rushmore for other ships of the same name.
Reference External links Rushmore 47
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