page_title: USS San Bernardino (LST-1189)
section_title: United States Navy service
hierarchical_section_title: USS San Bernardino (LST-1189) / Construction and career / United States Navy service
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Navy crewmen stand at the end of a causeway as the tank landing ship USS San Bernardino (LST-1189), with bow open, prepares to lower its ramp off Coronado, California (USA).
context_page_description: USS San Bernardino (LST-1189) was the eleventh of twenty Newport-class tank landing ships of the United States Navy which replaced the traditional bow door-design tank landing ships. The second USN ship to be named after the city in California, the ship was constructed by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California. The LST was launched in 1970 and was commissioned in 1971. San Bernardino participated in the Vietnam War, earning one battle star and took part in operations in the Middle East. The ship was decommissioned 1995 and transferred to the Chilean Navy. In Chilean service, the vessel was renamed Valdivia for a battle during the Chilean War of Independence. The LST was recommissioned that year and during its service, took part in humanitarian efforts following earthquakes in Chile in 2010. In 2011 the Chilean Navy took Valdivia out of service due to repairs to the ship no longer being economical.
context_section_description: The LST was ordered as the second hull of the third group in Fiscal Year 1967 and a contract was awarded on 15 July 1966. The ship's keel was laid down on 12 July 1969 by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company at their yard in San Diego, California. Named for a city in California, San Bernardino was launched on 28 March 1970, sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral Walter H. Baumberger. The vessel was commissioned at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 27 March 1971 and assigned to Amphibious Squadron 3, Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet and home ported in San Diego.
  For the remainder of 1971, San Bernardino operated along the coast of California, conducting routine operations. In 1972 San Bernardino opened 1972 by escorting four Indonesian vessels from the United States to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The LST returned to San Diego, via Acapulco, Mexico on 9 February. From April until June, the ship trained off the Californian coast and in the Hawaiian Islands. On 7 June San Bernardino departed on a voyage to South America. The tank landing ship visited Valparaíso, Chile; Callao, Peru; and Rodman Naval Station, Panama, before returning to San Diego on 17 July. San Bernardino spent the next two months performing routine operations before being deployed to the western Pacific as part of the 7th Fleet. San Bernardino departed San Diego on 21 September and arrived in Subic Bay on 19 October. From there, the LST participated in ZAMEX 9–72 on 23–24 October and joined the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) in the Gulf of Tonkin on 28 October, remaining with the unit until 14 November. The ARG was stationed off Da Nang, South Vietnam, in a constant state or readiness to respond to threats to Americans in the region. San Bernardino then sailed for Keelung, Taiwan and Subic Bay, rejoining the ARG in the Gulf of Tonkin on 15 December. On 17 December the ship was detached to assist USS Asheville and USS Tacoma to Subic Bay. The three ships arrived on 19 December after which San Bernardino was bound for Hong Kong for a short stay and returned to Subic Bay on 29 December and remained in port for the rest of the year. San Bernardino's deployment to the 7th Fleet continued until mid-April 1973. The ship returned to San Diego on 29 April. San Bernardino earned one battle star for service in the Vietnam War. San Bernardino continued routine operations along the Californian coast until mid June, remaining in port for five months. In early June, the LST was deployed to the western Pacific again, with stops at Pearl Harbor, Suva, Fiji, and Brisbane, Australia.
  In 1990 San Bernardino was deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of Amphibious Ready Group Bravo (ARG Bravo) during the Gulf War. ARG Bravo was based at Okinawa, Japan. ARG Bravo was to deploy the Regimental Landing Team 4 headquarters and a combat service support detachment in an amphibious landing. However, this did not happen and after arrival in the operations area, the landing team were deployed as a rear area security force. The ships of ARG Bravo were instead used as sea-based mobile logistics platforms until their departure in November 1991. The ship was decommissioned on 30 September 1995 from the United States Navy.
caption: USS San Bernardino during a landing exercise in 1979.
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