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USS Tortuga (LSD-46)
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For other ships with the same name, see USS Tortuga.
USS Tortuga (LSD-46) is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to be named for the Dry Tortugas, a group of desert coral islets 60 miles (97 km) west of Key West, Florida.
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![]() USS Tortuga (LSD-46) in February 2001, off the coast of the Caribbean island of Curacao. | |
History | |
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Name | USS Tortuga |
Namesake | Dry Tortugas |
Ordered | 26 November 1984 |
Laid down | 23 March 1987 |
Launched | 15 September 1988 |
Christened | 19 November 1988 |
Commissioned | 17 November 1990 |
Homeport | Little Creek, Virginia |
Motto | Tough, Tall, Tenacious |
Status | in active service |
Badge | ![]() |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship |
Displacement |
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Length | 610 ft (190 m) |
Beam | 84 ft (26 m) |
Draft | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
Propulsion | 4 Colt Industries, 16-cylinder diesel engines, 2 shafts, 33,000 shp (25,000 kW) |
Speed | over 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Boats & landing craft carried | 5 LCACs or 21 LCM-6s |
Troops | Marine detachment: 402 + 102 surge |
Complement | 22 officers, 391 enlisted |
Armament |
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Tortuga was laid down on 23 March 1987, by the Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans, Louisiana. The threat of Hurricane Gilbert in the Gulf of Mexico forced an early launching of the ship, as a precautionary measure, on 15 September 1988. On 19 November 1988, Mrs. Rosemary Parker Schoultz, the ship's sponsor, presided over the christening ceremony, breaking the traditional bottle of champagne over the bow of the ship.[1] Tortuga was commissioned on 17 November 1990.