Amphibious transport ship USS San Diego arrives at new homeport in southern Japan

The amphibious transport dock USS San Diego has arrived at its new homeport in Japan, replacing the USS Green Bay, which had been stationed at Sasebo Naval Base for nearly a decade.

The San Diego steamed away from its namesake city on Aug. 14 and on Thursday arrived at the base in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, US 7th Fleet said in a press release that afternoon.

The San Diego joins the America Amphibious Ready Group, led by the amphibious assault ship USS America, and teams with the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

“The crew is enthusiastic about starting our next chapter with the USS San Diego in Japan,” Capt. David Walton, the ship’s skipper, said in the release. “After over a month of transiting across the Pacific Ocean, and many more months of preparation and training, this is the moment we have all been focused on.”

The ship, which had been homeported at Naval Base San Diego for 12 years, will support a variety of missions, Task Force 76 spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. John Mike told Stars and Stripes by email last month. These include transporting personnel, equipment and vehicles that would be used as part of a landing force, and aircraft like the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor or Navy and Marine Corps helicopters.

The San Diego carries a ship’s company of 360 officers and crew with room for 440 embarked Marines, according to the Navy.

“We are grateful for the support we received entering into 7th Fleet, and we are ready to immediately fold into forward deployed operations,” Walton said.

The San Diego, commissioned in 2012, is three years younger than the Green Bay.

In 2021, the Navy awarded BAE Systems a $90.2 million contract for a yearlong modernization period for the San Diego. The work included hull maintenance, ballast tank repairs and refurbished living spaces.

The Green Bay underwent a similar, yearlong maintenance period prior to its deployment to Sasebo in 2015, US Pacific Fleet said in a press release that year.

The Green Bay has been conducting routine operations somewhere in 7th Fleet’s operations area, Mike said Aug. 14. He declined to comment on when the ship will leave for San Diego or whether it will undergo maintenance when it arrives there.

US warships may not spend more than 10 years at a time in Japan. Congress set the limit in the fiscal year 2019 defense budget following back-to-back collisions involving the destroyers USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald.

Both vessels were based in Japan for more than a decade when they separately collided with commercial vessels in 2017.