Ex-USS Ogden (LPD-5)

 military, ship, United States Navy

Laid down in February 1963 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as the second member of the Austin Class of Amphibious Transport Docks (LPDs) built for the US Navy, USS Ogden commissioned into US Navy service in June 1965 as a member of the US Atlantic Fleet.

Remaining in Atlantic waters long enough to complete her shakedown and training cruises, the Ogden joined the US Pacific Fleet and was promptly dispatched for service in Southeast Asia, where she began what would become seven years of regular deployments to support US forces fighting the Vietnam War. Earning nine campaign stars for her time in Vietnamese waters, the Ogden returned stateside to San Diego following her final roles supporting ceasefire operations and assumed the peacetime routine of regular training exercises and deployments throughout the Pacific.

Called upon in the late 1980's and early 1990's to support operations in and around the Persian Gulf leading up to and culminating with the First Gulf War, Ogden and her crews remained heavily active in the Middle East for the balance of the 1990's, making what was slated to be her final deployment to the theatre in 1998 prior to her planned decommissioning in 2001. The subsequent buildup of forces in preparation for the Second Gulf War brought a stay in Ogden's planned deactivation, and the 40 year old ship found herself once again in the Persian Gulf supporting combat operations. Conducting regular deployments to the Persian Gulf during the final years of her active service, the Ogden returned to San Diego the final time in August 2006 and subsequently decommissioned from service in February 2007, ending her career after 42 years of service.

Subsequently towed to her current location at NISMF Pearl Harbor, she was subsequently stricken from the Naval Register and was maintained in Category X reserve in preparation for her use as a target ship for the 2014 RIMPAC Exercises. Towed to sea on July 9th, the Ogden was sunk by live fire from naval vessels of the Republic of Korea, Norway and the United States on July 10th, 2014 approximately 55 miles NE of Kauai in 15,000ft of water.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNKLGbiXdE8
www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/LPD5.htm
www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0905.htm