USS San Diego (LPD-22), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for San Diego, California. The city is the home of Naval Base San Diego, the Navy's largest base in the Pacific, and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, the United States Marine Corps' west coast recruit training center. The ship is designed to deliver a fully equipped Marine battalion of 699 officers and enlisted men.
Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England named the San Diego on 30 April 2004:
| “ | San Diego is home to a large number of the Pacific Fleet's ships. For decades our nation's sailors and Marines have begun their service to America at boot camps in San Diego. Thousands of military families and veterans have fallen in love with the area, and are fortunate enough to live and work in San Diego. USS San Diego will project American power to the far corners of the earth and support the cause of freedom well into the 21st century. | ” |
San Diego's keel was laid down on 23 May 2007, at Northrop Grumman's Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on 7 May 2010, and christened on 12 June, sponsored by Linda Winter, wife of former Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter.
On 1 October 2011, it was announced that San Diego had completed her builders trials, including tests of her defensive, communications, propulsion and other auxiliary systems, leaving only the repair of issues that arose in the builders trials and thereafter Navy Acceptance Trials before delivery. Her acceptance trials were completed on 17 November, ahead of her delivery to the Navy on 19 December.
On 12 March 2012, the ship's skipper, Commander Jon Haydel, was relieved for storing pornographic images on his work computer and misusing ship's resources. A subsequent investigation found that the ship's executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Wes House, had fostered an abusive and hostile work environment aboard the ship.
San Diego departed Pascagoula on 15 March 2012 and arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 19 March for a three-day layover on her way to San Diego. San Diego passed through the Panama Canal on 25 March.
She arrived in San Diego on 6 April.
San Diego was commissioned on 19 May 2012, in a ceremony at the Navy Pier (next to the USS Midway Museum) in San Diego, California.