USNI News

By Mallory Shelbourne

14 February 2025

Source: https://news.usni.org/2025/02/14/uss-tripoli-moving-to-japan-to-serve-as-forward-deployed-big-deck

USS Tripoli (LHA-7) departs Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., April 7, 2022. US Navy Photo

The newest America-class amphibious assault ship will head to its new home in Japan later this year, USNI News has learned.

USS Tripoli (LHA-7) will switch homeports from Naval Base San Diego to Sasebo, Japan, and become the Navy’s forward-deployed big-deck amphibious warship in the Indo-Pacific, Naval Surface Force said in a Thursday news release.

“The forward presence of Tripoli supports the United States’ commitment to the defense of Japan, enhances the national security of the United States and improves its ability to protect strategic interests,” the release reads. “Tripoli will directly support the Defense Strategic Guidance to posture the most capable units forward in the Indo-Pacific Region.”

In turn, USS America (LHA-6) will shift its homeport to Naval Base San Diego. America has been forward-deployed to Sasebo since December 2019.

“The security environment in the Indo-Pacific requires that the U.S. Navy station the most capable ships forward,” Naval Surface Force said in the release. “This posture allows the most rapid response times for maritime and joint forces, and brings our most capable ships with the greatest amount of striking power and operational capability to bear in the timeliest manner.”

America is currently out on patrol with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit that is based out of Okinawa, Japan. The big-deck is the capital ship of the America Amphibious Ready Group, which also includes amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD-47) and amphibious transport dock USS San Diego (LPD-22).

Tripoli has been based in San Diego since September 2020, shortly after the ship entered naval service that summer. The big-deck deployed for the first time in 2022 to the Indo-Pacific and tested the so-called “lightning carrier” concept with the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II.

Both America and Tripoli field the F-35Bs and the MV-22B Ospreys. 

Neither Tripoli nor America have a well deck to launch amphibious craft.