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USS Germantown (LSD 42)

USS GERMANTOWN (LSD 42) was the second ship of the WHIDBEY ISLAND-class of dock landing ships and the second US Navy vessel to bear the name. Originally homeported in San Diego, California, GERMANTOWN spent a substantial part of her career with the Pacific Fleet and also served for many years as a forward-deployed naval vessel at Sasebo, Japan. She returned permanently to San Diego in October 2021 and completed more than 40 years of commissioned service there. Her decommissioning ceremony was held at Naval Base San Diego on September 24, 2026.

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Crew List:

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

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USS GERMANTOWN Cruise Books:

• Maiden Cruise Book 1987
• Desert Storm Cruise Book 1991

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About the Ship's Name:

USS GERMANTOWN is named after the historical Pennsylvania district of Germantown.

Now a residential section of Philadelphia, Germantown was founded in 1683. It was the site of an important battle of the American War for Independence fought on 4 October 1777 between the forces of General George Washington and General Sir William Howe. On the morning of the battle amidst dense fog, the forces of Washington repelled 9000 of Howe's troops. The Americans, however, were forced to retreat when the British ranks reformed and were reinforced.

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History of USS GERMANTOWN:

USS GERMANTOWN was ordered on 26 March 1982, launched at Lockheed Shipbuilding in Seattle on 29 June 1984, and commissioned there on 08 February 1986. After post-shakedown availability and initial amphibious certifications out of San Diego, the ship settled into the WHIDBEY ISLAND-class routine of well-deck operations with LCUs and LCACs, flight-deck qualifications for helicopter detachments, and West Coast and Western Pacific work-ups with embarked Marines.

After initial San Diego pier periods in March-April 1986, she transited to the Gulf Coast and Panama City in July-August for LCAC interface testing and crew training, embarked LCACs for the first time on 14 August 1986, and continued shakedown events into the autumn while refining well-deck and flight-deck procedures that would define the class. These early evolutions - documented in the ship's 1986 command history and sailor logs of the period - established GERMANTOWN as a Pacific Fleet pathfinder for LCAC operations.

Across 1987 and 1988, she completed her maiden Western Pacific deployment and successive work-ups, cycling amphibious embarkation rehearsals with embarked Marines, LCAC load/unload drills, and aviation deck qualifications. The 1987-1988 command history captures the pace of this first two-year window: periods underway from San Diego to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, interleaving amphibious ready group (ARG) events with inspections, certifications, and port logistics. By the end of 1988, the ship had validated the WHIDBEY ISLAND-class concept as a high-throughput well-deck platform, routinely operating multiple LCACs at sea.

In 1989, she maintained the deployment-maintenance rhythm, executing additional WestPac tasking and graded assessments ahead of a pivotal year in the Gulf. The 1989 command history notes the continued emphasis on amphibious lift, connector safety, and integration with Marine air-ground task forces as the ship stayed on a deployment footing.

The Iraq-Kuwait crisis in 1990-1991 pulled GERMANTOWN into coalition operations. Through late 1990, she surged west toward the North Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf to support Operation Desert Shield, then shifted into Desert Storm tasking in January-February 1991. Critically, she embarked four LCACs and put them to combat use - an historic first for the craft - while rehearsing and posturing for potential amphibious assaults that helped bind Iraqi forces to the littoral. Navy and Marine Corps campaign chronologies for January-February 1991 highlight both the ship's LCAC employment and the broader maritime interdiction and deception plan in which she played a part. With the cease-fire, GERMANTOWN retraced to the Pacific for post-deployment maintenance.

In 1992, the Navy reassigned her to Forward-Deployed Naval Forces in Japan. After preparations in the spring and summer, she completed a homeport shift to Sasebo. The 1992 command history records her arrival on 3 November 1992 and the start of a new operating pattern with AMPHIBIOUS SQUADRON 11 and what would soon be reconstituted as the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). Forward-basing shortened transit times to exercises in Northeast and Southeast Asia and placed a heavy premium on rapid, repetitive well-deck cycles with LCACs, LCUs and AAVs.

From 1993 through 1994, she completed multiple Seventh Fleet patrols out of Sasebo, alternating short at-sea periods and local availabilities with amphibious training around Okinawa and the Japanese home islands and recurring bilateral serials on the Korean Peninsula and in Southeast Asia. Her command histories in the mid-1990s show the tempo typical of the 31st MEU/PHIBRON 11 team: embark at White Beach, Okinawa; conduct amphibious integration training; execute a patrol with port visits for logistics; return to Sasebo for upkeep; repeat.

In 1995, she sustained that forward pattern, grading and re-qualifying watch teams and well-deck crews while keeping connectors certified and air operations current. The 1995 command history places her under COMPHIBGRU ONE/PHIBRON 11 with explicit attention to LCAC integration as a distinguishing feature of her employment.

Through 1996 and into early 1997, GERMANTOWN remained in the Western Pacific, then in the first quarter of 1997 deployed for the large U.S.-allied exercise TANDEM THRUST. She embarked Marine logistics elements and a Navy special operations detachment for the combined arms scenarios, then completed her return track and moored back at Sasebo on 13 April 1997 to begin post-deployment maintenance and the next basic-phase rebuild.

The cycle continued into 1998 as the 31st MEU/PHIBRON 11 team answered a series of contingency and exercise commitments around the Philippine Sea and the Sea of Japan, keeping GERMANTOWN's well-deck throughput high while the ship periodically reset at Sasebo to preserve hull-mechanical-electrical margins.

From November 1998 into the first quarter of 1999, GERMANTOWN executed a no-notice deployment to the Arabian Gulf, operating with the 31st MEU and allied navies during a period of heightened Iraq-related tension. The 1999 command history explicitly notes her steaming "for much of the first quarter" in the Gulf following the late-1998 tasking, with a mission set anchored in amphibious transport, logistics, and maritime security presence. By the autumn of 1999, as the Australian-led INTERFET force stabilized East Timor, the 31st MEU and the BELLEAU WOOD (LHA 3) ARG shifted south. U.S. releases and contemporaneous summaries record the ARG's support to INTERFET off Dili in October, and ship trackers for GERMANTOWN place her on scene late in the month to contribute LCAC lift and afloat staging for relief and security forces.

In 2000 and 2001, she sustained the forward-deployed pattern - short patrols, amphibious certifications, and periodic yard work in Sasebo - while continuing to embark and offload the 31st MEU at White Beach for exercises across the theater. This period consolidated lessons from the Gulf and East Timor while preserving readiness for fast-breaking contingencies.

The forward-deployed chapter closed in 2002. On 16 August 2002, HARPERS FERRY (LSD 49) relieved GERMANTOWN in Sasebo. GERMANTOWN then returned to San Diego for a $25-million overhaul and a fresh deployment cycle with U.S. Third Fleet. The swap preserved continuous amphibious presence in Japan while resetting GERMANTOWN for sustained employment from the continental United States.

In September 2003, she sailed with the Navy's first modern Expeditionary Strike Group - ESG-1 - alongside PORT ROYAL (CG 73) and other ARG ships to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the 13th MEU moved equipment through Kuwait Naval Base and into Iraq, GERMANTOWN's well deck cycled LCACs and LCUs to sustain the flow while the ESG executed maritime security and interdiction patrols in Fifth Fleet waters. The ESG concept itself, introduced that year, paired classic amphibious lift with cruiser-led air and missile defense and broader sea control. Service reviews from 2004 highlight the innovation, while SURFPAC's ship history records GERMANTOWN's role and timing.

Through 2004 she remained on deployment into the Indian Ocean and back, crossing the equator in early February, then completed post-deployment stand-down and maintenance. The 2004 command history traces the year's mix: inspections, corrective work packages, crew certifications, and at-sea periods to keep the well-deck team sharp after a demanding OIF tour.

In 2005, she rebuilt to another deployment posture with PELELIU (LHA 5)-based forces, spending the autumn in formation operations and group training in the eastern Pacific before heading west. Imagery from 13 December 2005 shows GERMANTOWN maneuvering with PORT ROYAL (CG 73) and OGDEN (LPD 5) as the team worked up, a prelude to the 2006 Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf tour that followed. By the end of 2005, she had completed a full turn of the post-OIF readiness cycle and was back at sea as an integral connector platform for embarked Marines and their equipment.

GERMANTOWN's next Middle East tour followed in early 2006 with the 11TH MEU as part of a PELELIU-centered Expeditionary Strike Group. GERMANTOWN executed "presence ops", oil-platform defense, and vessel queries on approaches to Iraqi waters. She returned to San Diego in August 2006. She deployed again on 5 November 2007 for Fifth Fleet, initially to move 11TH MEU elements to Kuwait for field exercises, then to conduct maritime security operations and oil-infrastructure protection in the Shatt al-Arab waterway before returning home on 3 June 2008 to begin preparations for an extended mid-life overhaul and inspections.

From late 2008 through October 2009, the ship was in a comprehensive modernization and repair package in San Diego, followed by basic-phase rebuild and INSURV preparations. With forward-deployed amphibious lift in Japan rotating again, the Navy directed a second hull-swap: on 18 January 2011 the service announced GERMANTOWN would return to Sasebo to relieve HARPERS FERRY. She arrived in early 2011, rejoined AMPHIBIOUS SQUADRON 11 and the 31ST MEU, and immediately flowed into regional exercises. When the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck, GERMANTOWN joined ESSEX (LHD 2), HARPERS FERRY, TORTUGA (LSD 46) and other Seventh Fleet units for OPERATION TOMODACHI, using her well deck, vehicle stowage and flight deck to stage supplies, survey landing sites, and help reopen damaged ports as relief corridors into northeastern Honshu. Through the remainder of 2011, she completed a fall Western Pacific patrol with the 31ST MEU, balancing amphibious certification events and partner training.

In 2012, GERMANTOWN again embarked 31ST MEU elements for COBRA GOLD in Thailand, cycling LCUs and AAVs through the well deck and supporting combined command-and-control drills ashore. She returned to Sasebo for upkeep and certifications and then completed additional Seventh Fleet patrol events through the year. In 2013, she maintained the forward-deployed pattern of short patrols and local availabilities until November, when TYPHOON HAIYAN devastated the central Philippines. Tasked for humanitarian assistance, GERMANTOWN operated in concert with ASHLAND (LSD 48) and the 31ST MEU during OPERATION DAMAYAN, moving relief cargo by surface connectors and aircraft and coordinating closely with Philippine armed forces as the wider interagency aid mission ramped up.

Early 2014 brought command-climate turbulence aboard ship - on 7 March 2014 the Seventh Fleet amphibious force commander relieved GERMANTOWN's commanding officer for loss of confidence - while an earlier (January-February) case against the command master chief resulted in permanent removal that February. Those personnel actions did not alter the ship's forward-deployed tasking. She continued routine patrols with the 31ST MEU, well-deck certifications off Okinawa, and maintenance at Sasebo across the year.

In 2015, GERMANTOWN supported PHIBLEX 15 with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, hosting planning, embarkation, and shipboard rehearsals on 8-15 October while amphibious elements executed combined landings and live-fire training. Later that month, on 27 October 2015, Marines embarked at White Beach, Okinawa, for BLUE CHROMITE amphibious events that included MV-22B carrier qualifications and AAV splash-outs to nearby beaches, a recurring III MEF series designed to keep the forward-deployed force current without long transits.

The 2016, operating year opened with patrol work and PHIBLEX 33, culminating in an 11 October closing ceremony in Taguig City. Immediately thereafter, on 16 October 2016, GERMANTOWN arrived at Sihanoukville, Cambodia, for a scheduled port visit - part of theater-security cooperation that year - before returning to Sasebo on 1 November 2016 after roughly ten weeks at sea with the 31ST MEU. Through the winter maintenance window that followed, the crew preserved well-deck equipment, completed certifications and prepared for the next patrol.

From 2017 through mid-2021, the ship maintained the familiar FDNF cadence: short Western Pacific patrols with the 31ST MEU, local availabilities at Sasebo, repeated embarkations at White Beach, and serial participation in Seventh Fleet cooperation events around the Philippine Sea and South China Sea. A concrete waypoint late in that period came as the Navy rebalanced the Sasebo amphibious force: on 15 September 2021, GERMANTOWN departed Sasebo to conclude more than a decade of forward-deployed service, and on 17 November 2021, RUSHMORE (LSD 47) arrived to assume the billet. GERMANTOWN rejoined the U.S. Third Fleet amphibious force in San Diego after her trans-Pacific return.

Stateside from 2022 into 2023, GERMANTOWN moved through post-arrival maintenance and basic-to-integrated phase training in Southern California operating areas while the Navy and Congress debated the near-term future of legacy LSDs. The ship remained in commission and available to SURFPAC. In 2024, she shifted south to the U.S. Southern Command exercise slate: Chile hosted UNITAS LXV from 2-12 September 2024, with combined amphibious and maritime-security phases at sea off Valparaiso and ashore near Puerto Aldea, followed by SOLIDAREX 2024 serials. On 10 October 2024, GERMANTOWN moored at Naval Base San Diego to close the deployment, with Third Fleet noting the Western Hemisphere exercise sequence on return.

USS GERMANTOWN entered 2025 at her home port of Naval Base San Diego during the final phase of a career. She remained assigned administratively to Commander, Naval Surface Group Southwest and operationally to Amphibious Squadron 7. Although the Navy had previously considered retiring the aging ship earlier, she remained in active commissioned service throughout 2025. On 18 June 2025, GERMANTOWN held a change-of-command ceremony on her flight deck at Naval Base San Diego. Commander Benjamin C. Pearlswig relieved Commander Kenneth W. Zilka as commanding officer. Zilka had commanded the ship since October 2023 and had overseen maintenance availabilities, engineering and operational certifications, Rim of the Pacific 2024 and the subsequent U.S. 4th Fleet deployment. Pearlswig became the ship's 29th and final commanding officer.

From 28 July through 8 August 2025, GERMANTOWN supported Exercise Trident Warrior 25 in Southern California. Rather than a conventional amphibious exercise, the event focused in part on developing advanced manufacturing methods for sustaining naval forces when traditional supply chains were unavailable or too slow. Researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School, the Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education and Marines from the Marine Innovation Unit worked with GERMANTOWN and other fleet organizations to identify components that could potentially be reverse-engineered and produced through additive manufacturing or computer-controlled machining.

The work was particularly relevant to an aging ship such as GERMANTOWN, where replacement parts for decades-old systems could become difficult to obtain through normal logistics channels. Across Trident Warrior 25, the advanced-manufacturing team handled more than 180 individual part requests from participating military organizations. GERMANTOWN's involvement provided actual fleet maintenance requirements against which the developing distributed-manufacturing process could be tested.

GERMANTOWN entered 2026 still in active service at San Diego. During the spring and summer of 2026, GERMANTOWN remained at Naval Base San Diego while the crew increasingly concentrated on inactivation requirements. These included accounting for equipment and government property, preparing machinery and ship systems for inactive status, transferring records and material and gradually reassigning personnel. Commander Pearlswig remained in command throughout the process.

On 24 September 2026, the Navy held GERMANTOWN's decommissioning ceremony at Naval Base San Diego, more than 40 years after the ship had been commissioned at Seattle on 8 February 1986. Commander Benjamin C. Pearlswig participated as the final commanding officer. Brigadier General Samuel L. Meyer, Director of Expeditionary Warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, served as guest speaker, while retired Commander Terrance McKearny, GERMANTOWN's first executive officer, also addressed the final crew. The ceremony included the traditional departure of the final Officer of the Deck watch stander and marked the public conclusion of GERMANTOWN's commissioned career. During the event, the Navy credited the ship with two Navy Unit Commendations, three Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations and six Battle Effectiveness Awards accumulated during more than four decades of service.

29 September 2026 was subsequently projected as GERMANTOWN's formal inactive date. Her planned status after inactivation remained Logistics Support Asset.

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Homeports of USS GERMANTOWN:

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USS GERMANTOWN Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me and show the GERMANTOWN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on March 23, 2010.

The photos below were taken by Lienhard Geißler and show the GERMANTOWN at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan, on May 27, 2015. The GERMANTOWN is undergoing a two-week training availability at Yokosuka.

The photos below were taken by Shiu On Yee and show the USS GERMANTOWN at China Merchants Wharf in Kennedy Town, Hong Kong, on October 15, 2015. GERMANTOWN arrived at Hong Kong for a liberty port visit on October 13.

The photos below were taken by Sebastian Thoma and show the USS GERMANTOWN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on November 28, 2021.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the USS GERMANTOWN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on May 29, 2022.

The photos below were taken by me and show USS GERMANTOWN departing Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on July 22, 2024.

The photos below were taken by me and show USS GERMANTOWN returning to Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on July 26, 2024.

The photos below were taken by me and show USS GERMANTOWN at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on July 26, 2024.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show USS GERMANTOWN departing Naval Base San Diego, Calif., enroute to Seal Beach, Calif., on October 15, 2024.

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