New Orleans (LPH 11) - Naval Cruise Book

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NEW ORLEANS deployed in 1980 and spent several months in the Indian Ocean during the Iran hostage crisis. AfteramajoroverhaulatBremerton Naval Shipyard in 1981, she deployed on a sum- mer 1982 RIMPAO followed by WESTPAO in January 1983. NEW ORLEANS again sailed the Western Pacific along with the Indian Ocean from May - December 1984 and participated in eight major amphibious operations. During the 1986 WESTPAO, she served on an alert status off the coast of the Philippines during that nation's elec- tions. During thatWESTPAO, she also served as the medical and communications support ship for President Reagan's Bali, indonesia visit. UPON return ffom that CfU'S9- NEW ORLEANS Her predt-cess-,0r,Uss NEWORLEANSCCA-32J,survived underwent an extensive overall in San Francisco P IH b d th tt k d . WWII from October 1986 to September 1987. After ear ar Of an 0 er a ac S urmg ' returning to her homeport of San Diego, she participated in two major exercises and deployed on her thirteenth cruise of the Western Pacific. Significant accomplishments included exercises for a non-combatant evacuation operation contingency and a port visitto Perth, Australia coinciding with the Australian Bicentennial. ln 1989, NEW ORLEANS left for several EASTPAC deployments with port calls in Seattle, Washington for the Seattle Sea Fair and Mazalan, Mexico. She also participated in a humanitarian relief effort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. ln October, 1989 she entered a four-month overhaul in San Diego. During July 1989 - December 1990, NEW ORLEANS was designated the Hallmark ship of the COMNAVSURFPAC amphibious fleet by winning the Battle E award and six Mission Area Battle Excellence Awards. Upon completion of the 1990 overall period, she participated in several exercises, including an EASTPAC and RIMPAO 1990. From 1 December 1990 - 28 August 1991, NEW ORLEANS sailed the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf in support of Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT Sronivl as a member of the largest amphibious task force to deploy from the West Coast in 25 years. Significantaccomplishments included the off-load of 1700 com- bat Marine forces on G-Day and Aviation Mine Countermeasure Op- erations in the North Arabian Sea, 10 nautical miles off the coast of l Kuwait. Foroutstanding supportof 1 Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, she was awarded the Nav Unit Oommen - y - dation and Southwest Asia Service Medal. ln November 1991, NEW OR- LEANS entered a six-month DPMF availability in San Diego. NEW ORLEANS participated in TANDEM THRUST-92 in July 1992. ln Octo- ber of that year, she deployed for Fleet Week in San Francisco. NEW ORLEANS was again presented with the Battle E award in Janu- ary 1993. On 3 September 1993 she sailed for a WESTPAO!Ara- Dian Seacruise and W3SdiV9Vt9dt0d On November 18th, 1993 the NEW ORLEANS crew celebrated her the coast of Somalia to support an - - - defend the humanitarian efforts of 25th year as a commlssloned Shlp' UNOSOM ll. NEW ORLEANS was awarded the Armed Forces Expedi ' tion Medal for her efforts there. 25f5 fflflfliffffml

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25 Year of Naval service... USS NEW ORLEANS QLPH-1 11 is the third in line to bearthe name and carry on the heritage of its valiant predecessors and was commis- sioned on 16 November 1968 at the Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She celebrated the 25th year of her commis- sioning during her latest deployment. Some of her more notable accomplishments are fifteen deployments to the Western Pacific with U.S. Marine units in support of Seventh Fleet op- erations. She was the flagship for Com- mander, First Fleet during President Nixon's visit to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico in July 1970. The next year, she recovered astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Floose and Ed Mitchell in Apollo 14 on 9 February 1971. Then NEW GPLEANS supported mine sweeping opera- tions off the coast and harbors of North Viet- nam in Gperation END SWEEP during August 1972. She retrieved Skylab missions ll and lll, and on 5 July 1975, NEW ORLEANS recov- ered astronauts Stafford, Slayton and Brand from the Apollo-Soyuz mission. N l i Authorized ................... 1965 Ship Bldg Prog Keel Laid ............ ......... 1 March 1966 Commissioned ...........,.. 16 November 1968 Completion Date ............ 15 February 1969 Type of Vessel ...... Amphibious Assault Ship Class ....... ........... 1 wo Jima CLPH-22 Speed ........... ........ O ver 20 Knots Number of Marines .........,... 1,450 Displacement ............ 18,000 Tons Length ........... ............ 6 00 Feet Beam ......... .................. 8 4 Feet Draft ................. 26 Feet 6 Inches Crew .......... 700 Ojficers and Men Number of Helicopters ............. 23 Armament ........................ 2 20mm Phalanx CIWS, 4 50-cal gun mounts, and 3 25mm gun mounts. X I

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