USS Hermitage ( LSD - 34 ) USS " Hermitage " ( LSD - 34 ) was a of the United States Navy . She was named for The Hermitage , President Andrew Jackson ' s estate just outside of Nashville , Tennessee . " Hermitage " was laid down on 11 April 1955 , by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp . , Pascagoula , Miss . ; launched on 12 June 1956 ; sponsored by Mrs . Alfred M . Pride , wife of Vice Admiral Alfred M . Pride , and commissioned on 14 December 1956 , Captain Leonard A . Parker in command . Service history . While on shakedown in the Caribbean Sea | Caribbean , " Hermitage " was informally inspected by Admiral Arleigh Burke , then Chief of Naval Operations . After training operations out of Naval Station Norfolk , she sailed for the Mediterranean Sea in late August to join the 6th Fleet . " Hermitage " participated in exercises with NATO units and visited Sicily , Crete , Turkey , Italy , Greece , and Spain before returning to the States on 16 November 1957 . Operations primarily with fast amphibious helicopter assault equipment and tactics occupied her until November 1959 . With a cargo of Presidential helicopters embarked , " Hermitage " sailed to Karachi on 2 December via the Atlantic , Mediterranean , Suez Canal , and Red and Arabian seas to furnish transportation for President Dwight D . Eisenhower on his Asian and European tour . Mission successfully completed , she returned home via Barcelona on 17 January 1960 . " Hermitage " sailed on 28 November as flagship for Admiral A . L . Reed , COMSOLANT , for a good will cruise to South America and Africa . In the midst of this important cruise , " Hermitage " was diverted on 19 January 1961 to carry grain to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help the United Nations combat starvation in that country . Relieved as flagship on 3 May by , " Hermitage " returned to Virginia on 16 May and soon resumed her pattern of operations and exercises off the Virginia Capes and in the Caribbean . When the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba threatened war in October 1962 , " Hermitage " sailed to Guantanamo Bay to transport Marines to that threatened base and underline America ' s determination to maintain her position there . A second cruise to the Mediterranean from May to October 1963 took " Hermitage " to Naples , Athens , Genoa , Cannes , Sardinia , Malta , and Rota , Spain as well as other ports in the 6th Fleet ' s area . After an assignment in February 1964 to the Caribbean Ready Squadron 12 based in Panama , early in May " Hermitage " undertook a logistics lift to Bermuda , and Sydney and Halifax , Nova Scotia , and in the fall took part until late November in the Navy - Marine Corps peacetime exercise " Operation Steel Pike I " , visiting ports of Málaga and Gibraltar . In June 1965 she participated in a three - month deployment to the Caribbean area during the later stages of the Dominican Republic crisis , making practice amphibious landings at Vieques Island . After completion of overhaul in February 1966 followed by refresher training and amphibious training , " Hermitage " transported a marine battalion to the Caribbean in May . Through 1967 she continued in her assignment to the Atlantic Fleet . NDD " Ceará " ( G - 30 ) . " Hermitage " was decommissioned on 2 October 1989 . She was transferred to the Brazilian Navy as NDD " Ceará " ( G30 ) the same day . The ship was sold outright to Brazil and struck from the US Naval Vessel Register on 24 January 2001 .