USS Green Bay (LPD-20)
USS "Green Bay" (LPD-20) is a . She is the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city and bay of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The contract to build her was awarded to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana, on 30 May 2000 and her keel was laid down on 11 August 2003. "Green Bay" was christened on 15 July 2006 and commissioned on 24 January 2009. Rose Magnus, the wife of Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert Magnus, served as the ship's sponsor. "Green Bay" is assigned  to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and her home port was Naval Base San Diego, until 2015 when she was forward deployed to United States Fleet Activities Sasebo in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan. The ship's name has resulted in a close connection to the people of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and their professional football team, the Green Bay Packers. The ship's flight deck is named "Lambeau Field" after the name of the Packers' stadium. Green Bay businesses and residents presented the ship with a truckload of Packerland memorabilia for her 2009 commissioning. AV-8B Harrier testing. In 2009, Air Test and Evaluation  Squadron 31 (VX-31) and "Green Bay" tested the feasibility of using the "San Antonio"-class LPDs for AV-8B Harrier IIs V/STOL attack aircraft in emergency situations. The AV-8Bs were used in numerous tests for the "San Antonio"-class's aviation certification, as well testing the effect of exhaust heat on the flight deck. Service history. The ship went on her first deployment in February 2011 with the three-ship Amphibious Ready Group. The group, comprising 4,000 sailors and Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, deployed for seven months to the United States Fifth and Seventh Fleet areas in the Asian  region. In March 2011, "Green Bay" was scheduled to assisted in Operation Tomodachi, the relief efforts after the massive 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. She was instead rerouted into Operation Enduring Freedom areas and never made it to Japan. In May 2013, "Green Bay" returned from an eight-month deployment to the Middle East and Asia as part of the Amphibious Ready Group, along with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. In January 2015, "Green Bay" was forward deployed to the 7th Fleet replacing in the Amphibious Ready Group homeported at United States Fleet Activities Sasebo. References. This article  contains information from the Naval Vessel Registry and various other U.S. Navy Web sites.