Home > USS Coronado (AGF-11)

USS Coronado (LPD-11/AGF-11) is the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city in California. She was designed as a Cleveland-class amphibious transport dock (LPD), one of seven fitted with an additional superstructure level for command ship duties. Her keel was laid down on 1 May 1965 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launchedThe ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old. A Babylonian narrative dating from the 3rd millennium BC describes the completion of a ship: :Openings to the water I stopped; :I searched for crac on 1 July 1966. After two years of labor shortages and a 12-month strike, she was commissionedThe ceremonies involved in commissioning ships into a military force are based in traditions thousands of years old. Ship naming and launching are the inseparable elements which endow a ship hull with her identity. Yet, just as many developmental mileston 23 May 1970.

First assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in the 1970sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Years: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 Events and trends, Coronado conducted extensive operations, deploying on numerous occasions to the Caribbean SeaThe Caribbean Sea is a body of water adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, south of the Gulf of Mexico. It is bounded on the south by Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, to the west by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatan peninsula o and Mediterranean Sea, as well as Northern Europe.

In 1980 Coronado was re-designated an Auxiliary Command Ship (AGF). Her first assignment was to relieve USS La Salle (AGF-3) as command ship for Commander, U.S. Middle East Force, stationed in the Arabian Gulf.

Reassigned in October 1985, Coronado relieved USS Puget Sound (AD-38) as the command ship of Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet. During, a ten-month tour with the Sixth Fleet, Coronado operated out of Gaeta, Italy, participating in operations in the Gulf of Sidra and strikes against Libyan terrorist support facilities.

In July 1986, Coronado was relieved as Sixth Fleet command ship and ordered to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to become the command ship for Commander, U.S. Third Fleet. The Admiral and his staff embarked onboard Coronado in November 1986. Subsequently, Coronado was relieved as Third Fleet command ship and deployed to the Arabian Gulf to assume duties as command ship for Commander, U.S. Middle East Force in January 1988. Upon her return to Pearl Harbor on 9 November 1988, Coronado again assumed her duties as Commander, U.S. Third Fleet command ship.

Coronado remained homeported in Hawaii until August 1991, when crew and staff changed homeports to San Diego, California.

Since then Third Fleet and Coronado have become the center for naval innovation and technology experimentation. In November 1998 a large ship modification was completed. Incorporating the latest network-centric technology, Coronado became the most advanced command ship in the world.

Late 2003 saw a see-saw change for the ship. In November it was decommissioned, transferred to the Military Sealift Command and redesignated T-AGF-11. However, it was concluded shortly thereafter that the operations the ship engaged in required it to be a warship and thus it was transferred back to the Navy and recommissioned. However, the ship now has a large civilian complement within the crew which is from the MSC. In 2004, the 7th Fleet command ship, USS Blue Ridge, went into dry dock and Coronado temporarily assumed 7th Fleet command responsibilities. On 27 September 2004, Blue Ridge returned to duty as the command ship.