USS Vancouver (LPD-2)

USS Vancouver (LPD-2) under way in 1963, location unknown. Note staggered funnels, boats stowed between funnels, and helicopter control tower outboard of after funnel. Note two LCPLs on the boat deck which are lowered by crane.
US Navy photo from 1968/69 edition of "Jane's Fighting Ships".

During Operation Deckhouse V the three ships of a 20-knot "amphibious ready group" steam toward the objective site, 4 January 1967. Ships from front to back are;
USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), USS Thomaston (LSD-28), and USS Vancouver (LPD-2).
US National Archives Catalog #: USN 1119682, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.

USS Vancouver (LPD-2) off the Vietnam coast near DMZ, during amphibious ops, 1969.

Ex-USS Vancouver (LPD-2) and St. Louis (LKA-116) laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF, Middle Loch, Pearl Harbor HI., circa 2000.

Ex-USS Vancouver (LPD-2) and St. Louis (LKA-116) laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF, Middle Loch, Pearl Harbor HI., circa 2000.

Raleigh Class Amphibious Transport Dock:

Laid down, 19 November 1960, at New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Launched, 15 September 1962

Commissioned USS Vancouver (LPD-2), 11 May 1963

During the Vietnam War USS Vancouver (LPD-2) participated in the following campaigns:

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal Vietnam Service Medal
Campaigns and Dates	Campaigns and Dates
Vietnam Advisory Campaign 9 February to 13 March 1965 13 to 18 April 1965	Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969 26 to 28 August 1969 9 September to 23 October 1969
Vietnamese Defense 24 to 25 August 1965	Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970 15 to 25 November 1969 7 to 15 December 1969 30 December 1969 to 10 January 1970 9 to 12 February 1970 10 to 13 March 1970
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II 13 August to 1 September 1966 13 to 28 September 1966 7 October to 11 November 1966 31 December 1966 to 17 January 1967 13 February to 4 March 1967	Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VII 8 to 11 July 1970 8 to 12 August 1970 1 to 3 May 1971 12 to 13 May 1971 20 to 22 May 1971 13 to 15 June 1971 18 to 20 June 1971
Tet Counteroffensive 22 to 24 February 1968 1 March to 1 April 1968	Consolidation I 15 to 16 July 1971 13 to 14 August 1971 5 to 6 September 1971 10 to 15 September 1971
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV 2 to 15 April 1968 1 March to 15 April 1968 27 April to 17 June 1968	Vietnam Ceasefire 9 to 10 July 1972
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V 6 July to 20 August 1968 1 September 1968	*Vietnam Evacuation (Operation Frequent Wind) 29 to 30 April 1975

Decommissioned, 27 March 1992, at Naval Station San Diego, CA.

Laid up in the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF), Pearl Harbor, HI., maintenance category X

Struck from Naval Register, 8 April 1997

USS Vancouver (LPD-2) earned the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal with ten campaign stars for Vietnam War service and Op. Frequent Wind of eleven campaign stars if the Armed Forces Medal is exchanged for the 18th Vietnam campaign, Operation Frequent Wind

Custody transferred to the Maritime Administration, 29 November 2001 of lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, date unknown, to International Shipbreaking LTD, Brownsville, TX., for $657,000

Withdrawn from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet anchorage for hull cleaning at Mare Island Drydocks, 21 February 2013, cost to the Federal Government $530,000, expected completion, 8 March 2013