{"id":255649,"date":"2025-09-26T08:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T08:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/255649\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T08:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T08:01:12","slug":"the-mini-aircraft-carrier-uss-america-moves-back-to-san-diego-in-joyous-return-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/255649\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cmini\u201d aircraft carrier USS America moves back to San Diego in joyous return \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sailors in their service white uniforms streamed off the USS America and into the arms of loved ones Thursday at Naval Base San Diego in a homecoming that carried an extra touch of emotion.<\/p>\n

The 840-foot amphibious assault ship re-established San Diego as its home port after spending six years forward deployed in Sasebo, Japan, where it trained with allies and helped keep the peace in the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

The America, once a familiar sight in San Diego, will soon undergo $200 million in maintenance and upgrades at General Dynamics-NASSCO in Barrio Logan. The Navy did not indicate that the \u201cmini\u201d aircraft carrier will eventually move back to Japan.<\/p>\n

\"MakingMaking her way down San Diego Bay on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, the USS America (LHA 6) pulls into Naval Base San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

The $3.4 billion ship is a first-in-class \u201camphib\u201d that helped expand the Navy\u2019s ability to use a variety of aircraft when it began operating out of San Diego in September 2014.<\/p>\n

These aircraft collectively transport, project and protect the America, which typically carries nearly 2,600 sailors and Marines. It is known as a \u201cmini\u201d because it is roughly 250 feet shorter than the Navy\u2019s famous Nimitz-class carriers.<\/p>\n

\"TamilTamil Dimitui, along with her mother, Judi Dimitui of Paradise Hills, took a selfie photo with her sister, Gwen Salazar, who was on board the USS America (LHA 6). After serving in Japan as her homeport for the past six years, the USS America will now be based in San Diego.\u00a0 (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

In December 2019, America shifted its home port to Japan, a strategically important U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific. The two countries\u2019 militaries often train together, primarily to be ready to respond should China invade Taiwan or try to close international sea lanes.<\/p>\n

The America has been conducting two major patrols per year, a heavy operational tempo that contributes to the sort of maintenance issues that will be fixed at NASSCO.<\/p>\n

The ship was on deployment from May to August, then spent time in Pearl Harbor before pushing on to San Diego.<\/p>\n

\"AfterAfter serving in Japan as her homeport for the past six years, the USS America will now be based in San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Operating from a foreign port can be a challenge, because \u201cyou don\u2019t have huge infrastructure like a base in San Diego or in Norfolk,\u201d Capt. Ethan Rule, the commander of America, told The San Diego Union-Tribune Thursday when the ship pulled in.<\/p>\n

Rule also noted that the shift in homeports has been difficult for the families of crew members because many had to move more than 6,000 miles.<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t the main point of discussion Thursday. All the chatter was about the returning sailors.<\/p>\n

\"OnOn Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, the USS America (LHA 6) pulls into Naval Base San Diego, and Ashley Gonzalez passes their two sons and her husband, Isaac Gonzalez, who is returning to San Diego from Japan. After serving in Japan as her homeport for the past six years, the USS America will now be based in San Diego.\u00a0 (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

James Wakin of Napa searched the ship\u2019s rails for his son Devin, whom he had not seen since April.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s my fishing buddy, so it\u2019s been hard that he\u2019s been away,\u201d Wakin said.<\/p>\n

A short time later, sailor Gwen Salazar waded into the crowed to greet her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d she said with a broad smile. \u201cI haven\u2019t been in San Diego in six years.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, still smiling, that she couldn\u2019t go out to celebrate. \u201cI\u2019m on duty tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OnOn Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, Delladeris Perez and Frankie Cornelio searched to spot their sailor, Aslid Vasquez. The couple were among several family and friends who waved to their sailors on board the USS America (LHA 6) as she pulled into Naval Base San Diego. After serving in Japan as her homeport for the past six years, the USS America will now be based in San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 25, 2025 at 3:55 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sailors in their service white uniforms streamed off the USS America and into the arms of loved ones…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":255650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,728,1802,50,3549,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-255649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-military","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-top-stories-sdut","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115269552466409472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}