151221-N-XJ788-019 ARABIAN GULF (Dec. 21, 2015) Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Clairey Lovette, from Knoxville, Tenn., uploads rounds into an MK-38 Mod-2 25mm gun aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3). Kearsarge is the flagship for the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and, with the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Travis DiPerna/Released)
Named after the Mohican-class sloop of war USS Kearsarge who helped capture the Confederate raider CSS Sumter and sent the CSS Alabama to Davy Jones, today’s Kearsarge is the fifth vessel to carry that name.
Between then and now there was the USS Kearsarge (BB-5) which was launched during the Spanish American war and endured as late as 1955, USS Kearsarge (CV-12) an Essex-class aircraft carrier that was renamed Hornet prior to launch in WWII as a tribute to that lost carrier and another Essex— USS Kearsarge (CV-33) who served in Korea and Vietnam before being scrapped in 1974.
Today’s Big K, nearly the size of the old carriers and a good bit larger than either the namesake sloop or battleship, was commissioned 16 October 1993 at Pascagoula, she is home ported at Norfolk.
