USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7)

USS Guadalcanal in New York in 1992
History
United States
Name	Guadalcanal
Namesake	Battle of Guadalcanal
Ordered	21 December 1959
Builder	Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Laid down	1 September 1961
Launched	16 March 1963
Commissioned	20 July 1963
Decommissioned	31 August 1994
Stricken	31 August 1994
Identification	Callsign: NIEG Hull number: LPH-7
Motto	There When Needed
Nickname(s)	The Golden Guad
Fate	Sunk as target, 19 May 2005
General characteristics
Class and type	Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship
Displacement	19,395 tons
Length	602.3 ft (183.6 m)
Beam	84 ft (26 m)
Draught	27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion	2 × 600 psi (4.1 MPa) boilers, one 22 ft (7 m) diameter screw, 23,000 shaft horse power
Speed	23 knots (26 mph; 43 km/h)
Complement	685 (47 officer, 638 enlisted)
Armament	Initially: 2 × 2 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber DP guns, 8 cell Sea Sparrow BPDMS launchers, Later: 2 × Phalanx CIWS
Aircraft carried	11 - CH-53 Sea Stallions; 20 - CH-46 Sea Knights (representative, actual complement was mixed, including UH-1s and AH-1W Super Cobras)

USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7), the third Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship (helicopter), was launched by the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 16 March 1963, sponsored by Zola Shoup, wife of General Shoup, the former Commandant of the Marine Corps; and commissioned 20 July 1963. It was the second ship in the Navy to bear the name.