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USNS Dahl (T-AKR 312)

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USNS DAHL is the third WATSON - class large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship (LMSR) and the first ship in the Navy named after Specialist Fourth Class Larry G. Dahl. During the construction process, the DAHL was the first ship in her class delivered under NASSCO's single integrated trial concept, a process that reduced the delivery schedule by five weeks and saved the Navy hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USNS DAHL. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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About the Ship's Name:

USNS DAHL is named in honor of Army Spec. Larry G. Dahl, (1949-1971), a native of Portland, Ore., posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Citation:

Sp4c. Dahl distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a machine gunner on a gun truck near An Khe, Binh Dinh Province. The gun truck in which Sp4c. Dahl was riding was sent with 2 other gun trucks to assist in the defense of a convoy that had been ambushed by an enemy force. The gun trucks entered the battle zone and engaged the attacking enemy troops with a heavy volume of machinegun fire, causing a large number of casualties. After a brief period of intense fighting the attack subsided. As the gun trucks were preparing to return to their normal escort duties, an enemy hand grenade was thrown into the truck in which Sp4c. Dahl was riding. Instantly realizing the great danger, Sp4c. Dahl called a warning to his companions and threw himself directly onto the grenade. Through his indomitable courage, complete disregard for his safety, and profound concern for his fellow soldiers, Sp4c. Dahl saved the lives of the other members of the truck crew while sacrificing his own. Sp4c. Dahl's conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity at the cost of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit and the U.S. Army.

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USNS DAHL History:

USNS DAHL is a WATSON-class large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off (LMSR) ship built for the U.S. Navy's strategic sealift and afloat prepositioning mission and operated by Military Sealift Command with a civilian mariner crew. The ship was awarded to National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) on October 20, 1994, laid down in San Diego, California, on November 12, 1997, and launched on October 2, 1998. The launch and naming honored U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient Specialist Fourth Class Larry G. Dahl. On July 13, 1999, the ship entered service as USNS DAHL (T-AKR 312). In MSC service, DAHL's role has been tied to the Maritime Prepositioning Force concept: keeping combat and sustainment equipment forward at sea so that a Marine Air-Ground Task Force can be equipped rapidly, with cargo discharged in port or transferred ashore through in-stream systems when fixed infrastructure is limited or contested.

Public, date-specific reporting on DAHL's routine stationing and movements is intermittent (typical for prepositioning ships that spend long periods underway or at strategic anchorages), but several well-documented milestones illustrate how the ship has been employed across multiple theaters and geopolitical contexts. On December 5, 2011, DAHL was used as the objective vessel during a boarding/seizure training evolution conducted at White Beach, Okinawa, reflecting the continued emphasis on maritime security skills in the Western Pacific.

In early April 2013, DAHL supported U.S.-Moroccan and multinational training tied to U.S. Africa Command's annual Exercise AFRICAN LION: DAHL arrived at Agadir, Morocco, on April 6, 2013, delivered vehicles and equipment for the exercise, and by April 9, 2013, had departed the port to anchor offshore after the offload. Contemporaneous reporting described maritime offload activity that staged hundreds of pieces of cargo for follow-on movement ashore as the exercise built toward larger field training with Moroccan Royal Armed Forces participation. In the following year, DAHL was linked to the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps drive to modernize ship-to-shore logistics under expeditionary conditions. During PACIFIC HORIZON 2015 - conducted on and off Camp Pendleton, California, from October 20, 2014, through October 28, 2014 - DAHL supported Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore-style experimentation and helped demonstrate how the expeditionary transfer dock USNS MONTFORD POINT (T-ESD 1) could function within the ship-to-shore chain. That line of effort continued in the Pacific: on May 20, 2015, DAHL and USNS MONTFORD POINT transited in formation off Hawaii during Exercise CULEBRA KOA 2015, a U.S. Pacific Fleet-directed amphibious and joint seabasing exercise, and reporting from MSC described DAHL maneuvering alongside MONTFORD POINT so a ramp connection could move vehicles and cargo across the ESD's deck to Landing Craft Air Cushion for delivery ashore. USNS MILLINOCKET (T-EPF 3) also participated in ship-to-ship transfers with MONTFORD POINT during the same exercise period. By Fiscal Year 2015, MSC publicly listed DAHL within Maritime Prepositioning Force Squadron Three's inventory, underscoring its place in the forward-operated prepositioning posture in the Indo-Pacific.

As the U.S. and allies renewed emphasis on large-scale littoral logistics, DAHL repeatedly appeared in dated documentation tied to in-stream offload systems and amphibious logistics exercises. On August 7, 2017, at Mayport, Florida, Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One used DAHL's cranes to lower an Improved Navy Lighterage System (INLS) warping tug as part of Lift On/Lift Off operations during Maritime Prepositioning Force Exercise 2017 (MPFEX17), an event framed as rehearsal of critical in-stream skills supporting the Maritime Prepositioning Force concept of operations for Exercise BOLD ALLIGATOR 2017.

On August 15, 2021, MSC and Marine Corps reporting tied DAHL to Exercise FREEDOM BANNER 21, during which DAHL conducted an in-stream offload of Marine Corps equipment at Guam and Tinian - an example of distributed sustainment practice in the U.S. Pacific area of responsibility. In the increasingly active Northeast Asia security environment, DAHL arrived at the Port of Kushiro, Japan, on September 26, 2022, alongside USNS SACAGAWEA (T-AKE 2) to support Exercise RESOLUTE DRAGON 22, a U.S.-Japan training event oriented on rapid movement and sustainment of forces across dispersed locations.

In 2023, DAHL was again documented supporting the U.S.-Philippines alliance's flagship exercise BALIKATAN: DAHL was photographed moored at Subic Bay on March 26, 2023, and on April 9, 2023, the ship delivered equipment via an INLS causeway ferry to Casiguran Bay, with additional dated imagery showing cargo transfers between DAHL and INLS elements during the same Casiguran Bay evolution. In the Korean Peninsula context, DAHL was used as an afloat platform for aviation proficiency as well: on March 7, 2024, day and night helicopter deck landing qualification evolutions were conducted aboard DAHL while underway off Jinhae, Republic of Korea, during exercise activity associated with WARRIOR SHIELD 24.

Most recently in publicly dated reporting, DAHL supported Republic of Korea-U.S. combined readiness through an in-stream logistics event during FREEDOM BANNER 25: from February 28, 2025, to March 1, 2025, DAHL and U.S. Navy and Republic of Korea Marine Corps elements conducted an in-stream offload near Dogu Beach outside ROKMC Base Pohang, illustrating how prepositioning ships, lighterage, and partnered forces can integrate to move combat power ashore even when traditional port throughput is constrained.

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