Sailors secure target stands on the aircraft elevator during a gun shoot aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli somewhere in the eastern Pacific Ocean, June 2, 2025. (Kaleb Schultz/U.S. Navy)
The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli is on its way to Japan, where it will replace the USS America as the lead vessel of the Navy’s sole amphibious ready group outside the United States.
The Tripoli departed its longtime homeport of San Diego on May 19 and is crossing the Pacific toward Sasebo Naval Base in Nagasaki prefecture, where it will become flagship of Amphibious Squadron 11’s amphibious ready group, the Hawaii-based U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a news release Tuesday.
The amphibious ready group regularly conducts regional deployments with the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. While under the America’s command, the group includes the dock landing ship USS Rushmore and transport dock ships USS San Diego and USS New Orleans.
“This crew has been diligently preparing to forward deploy since last year,” Capt. Eddie Park, the Tripoli’s commander, said in the release. “I am fully confident in the crew’s abilities to execute any mission assigned to us.”
The rotation was first announced on Feb. 14, but no timeline was provided then due to operational security. No other ships are slated to rotate, Lt. Cmdr. Katie Koenig, a Pacific Fleet spokeswoman, told Stars and Stripes at the time.
Meanwhile, the America, which first arrived at Sasebo in December 2019, will return to San Diego, its previous homeport. The America, Tripoli and other ships in their class are small flattops typically carrying F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters, MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors and MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters.
As of Sunday, the Tripoli was in the Eastern Pacific, while the America and the 31st MEU were operating in the Philippine Sea, based on imagery posted to Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.
“The Tripoli is ready to defend U.S. interests abroad and strengthen our long-standing partnership with Japan,” Park said in the release. “I am extremely proud to lead this hard-working and motivated team of Sailors and Marines overseas to support security, stability and prosperity in this vital region.”
Commissioned in 2020, the Tripoli is the second America-class amphibious assault ship, following its sister carrier, the America, commissioned in 2014. Two more in the class — the USS Bougainville and USS Fallujah — are under construction by Ingalls Shipbuilding.
Among Tripoli’s improvement over its predecessor are a larger hangar deck, expanded command-and-control facilities, an upgraded medical bay and additional aviation support spaces, according to the Navy.
