WAVY’s Navy Ship Salute is a feature on WAVY News 10 Today. Each month, in partnership with the U.S. Navy, WAVY-TV 10 will profile a different ship based at the world’s largest Navy base: Naval Station Norfolk. The series aims to better introduce our viewers to some of the largest floating taxpayer assets there are, as well as life aboard a U.S. Navy ship.
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship, one of six of its type currently commissioned in the U.S. Navy.
She was first commissioned in 1989 after being built at Avondale Shipyard in Bridge City, Louisiana. It is the second ship to be named for the plantation home George Mason, in Mason Neck, Virginia.
Mason, who was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates during the Revolutionary War, is most well-known for penning the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
“It was the model for the Federal Bill of Rights, and its influence descended to the French Declaration of Rights of man, subsequent European governments, and the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights,” according to the Navy.
USS Gunston Hall is 610 feet long and has more than 300 sailors serving onboard. She’s powered by four Colt Industries, 16-cylinder diesel engines giving her the power and capacity to carry aircraft as well as amphibious assault vehicles, tanks and more.
“We have about 400 Marines. We take them to wherever we need to take them and we offload them on any beach, anytime anywhere,” said Cmdr. Christopher Van Loenen.
The ship hasn’t been deployed since 2022. However Van Loenen said they will soon embark on a multi-national exercise where they will embark foreign Marines on board.
The ship has three cranes on board to load the ship, rated at 15, 20 and 60 tons respectively.
“Crane operation signals, we just use hand signals,” said BM1 Gregg Swartzenberg with the deck department.
Of course, safety is a priority too.
Every sailor must learn how to apply a tourniquet.
“They all have to know how to stop an arterial bleed in the event that they come across a sailor or marine on board the ship that has suffered an injury that is life threatening,” said Lt. John Kennedy, D.O.