San Bernardino II LST-1189

San Bernardino II

(LST-1189: dp. 8,400 (f.); 1. 522'3", b. 69'6", dr.
14'8"; s. 20 k.; cpl. 272; a. 2 3"; cl. Newport)

San Bernardino (LST-1189) was laid down on 12 July 1969 by National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, Calif., launched on 28 March 1970; sponsored by Mrs. Walter H. Baumberger, wife of Vice Admiral Baumberger; and commissioned at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 27 March 1971, Comdr. Francis L. Roach in command.

Assigned to Amphibious Squadron 3 Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet, the new tank landing ship got underway from Long Beach on 7 April 1971 and reached her home port, San Diego, the next day. For the remainder of 1971, she operated along the coast of California, conducting shakedown and various training exercises prior to commencing normal operations with the fleet.

San Bernardino opened 1972 by escorting four Indonesian MSC's from the United States to Pearl Harbor Hawaii. She returned to San Diego, via Acapulco Mexico, on 9 February. Until the beginning of April, she sailed the coast of California. On 3 April, she departed for Pearl Harbor and an amphibious exercise in the Hawaiian Islands. She completed the exercise on 14 April and, after three days in Pearl Harbor, weighed anchor for Long Beach on the 17th. After offloading marines at Long Beach on the 22d, she returned to San Diego.

She remained in San Diego until 7 June, when she departed on a voyage to South America. The tank landing ship visited Valparaiso, Chile, Callao, Peru
and Rodman, C.Z., before returning to San Diego on 17 July. San Bernardino conducted refresher training in late July and early August, and participated in another amphibious exercise in late August.

After a month of preparation, San Bernardino departed San Diego on 21 September to deploy to the western Pacific. She arrived in Subic Bay, R.P., on 19 October, participated in ZAMEX 9-72 on the 23d and 24th, and put to sea on the 27th. On the next day, she joined the Amphibious Ready Group in the Gulf of Tonkin and remained there until 14 November, when she sailed for Keelung, Taiwan. Following a return voyage to Subic Bay, she rejoined the Amphibious Ready Group in the Gulf of Tonkin on 15 December. Two days later, she was detached to assist Asheville (PG-84) and Tacoma (PG-92) to Subic Bay. Arriving on 19 December, she departed the same day, bound for Hong Kong. She returned to Subic Bay on the 29th and remained in port for the rest of the year.

San Bernardino's deployment to the 7th Fleet continued until mid-April 1973. At that time, she sailed east to the United States, arriving at San Diego on the 29th. She remained on the west coast, either in port at San Diego or cruising the coast, for the rest of 1973. San Bernardino spent the first five months of 1974 in port at San Diego. In early June, she sailed west again, stopping at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Suva Harbor, Fiji, and Brisbane, Australia. As of 30 June 1974 San Bernardino is in transit between Brisbane and Subic Bay.

San Bernardino earned one battle star for service in the Vietnam War.