USS Boxer (LHD-4)

40,650 tons

257.2 meters

33.5 meters

8.2 meters

104 officers, 1004 sailors, up to 2070 soldiers

2 propellers, 2 steam turbine driven; 70,000 shaft horsepower

20 nodes

2 Starter RAM, 2 starters Sea Sparrow, various gun

The USS Boxer ( LHD -4) is an amphibious assault ship of the United States Navy and is a member of the Wasp class.

History

LHD -4 was commissioned in 1988 and set in 1991 at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Kiel. When launching and christening in August 1993 the ship was completed about 70 percent. The expansion of the existing of over 21,000 tons of steel, 380 tons of aluminum and 254 kilometers of electric lines USS Boxer lasted until their transfer to the U.S. Navy in November 1994. On 11 February 1995, the ship was officially placed at the service of the U.S. Navy.

The first movement of the ship took place as part of an Amphibious Ready Group held until the end of 1997 and led the Boxers in the western Pacific and Indian oceans the. In 1998, the ship participated in the RIMPAC exercise in the Pacific. 2001 in turn was followed by a transfer to the Western Pacific. In 2003, the boxers participating in Operation Enduring Freedom. In early 2004, she spent three and a half months before the Iraq, 2005, she participated in the exercise Exercise Talisman Sabre in part with the Royal Australian Navy and in the exercise CARAT with Malaysian forces.

In May 2007, the Boxers finished a further nine months laying in the West Pacific and the Persian Gulf. Early 2009, followed by another trip to this region.

In the Indian Ocean, the Boxer was used after the attack on the Maersk Alabama to combat piracy off the Somali coast. Together with the frigate USS Halyburton (FFG -40 ) and the destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG -96) held in April in the vicinity of the cargo ship on standby. After the liberation of the captain of the Maersk Alabama by special forces this was taken after a short stay on the Bainbridge to the boxer to be there routinely medically examined.

Also, in April 2009 proposed exemption action of kidnapped German freighter Hansa also off Somalia by Stavanger embarked forces and helicopters of the GSG 9 of the Federal Police was supported by the boxer as a transport ship. The exemption was, however, stopped down to political will before their implementation.

In February 2011, the Boxers laid as the flagship of its battle group in the Indian Ocean, where she took part in exercises with friendly navies.