HARRISBURG, Pa (WHTM) — On January 28, the Navy held a keel authentication ceremony for one of its newest warships, the U.S.S. Harrisburg (LPD 30). When launched and commissioned, it will be the Navy’s 14th San Antonio class-amphibious transport dock ship. (We’ll explain that in more detail later.)
So, how many ships named U.S.S. Harrisburg has the Navy had?
City of Paris (British Passenger Liner, 1889) At anchor, circa the late 1880s or the early 1890s. This ship, a trans-Atlantic Blue Ribband winner when new, was transferred to American registry and renamed Paris in 1893. She served as USS Yale in 1898. Rebuilt and renamed Philadelphia in 1901, she again had Navy service in 1918-1919, as USS Harrisburg (ID # 1663). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
USS Yale (1898) Photographed while serving as an auxiliary cruiser during the Spanish-American War. This ship also served during 1918-1919 as USS Harrisburg (ID# 1663). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
U.S.S Yale (1898) In Cuban waters during the Spanish-American War. This ship also served during 1918-1919 as USS Harrisburg (ID# 1663). Courtesy of Alfred Cellier, 1977. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
SS Philadelphia (American Passenger Liner, 1889) Probably photographed prior to World War I. This ship served as USS Harrisburg (ID # 1663) in 1918-1919. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Carl T. Osburn. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph 
SS Philadelphia (American Passenger Liner, 1889) Painted in camouflage in 1917, while operating as a troop transport. This ship served as USS Harrisburg (ID # 1663) in 1918-1919. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
S.S. Philadelphia (American Passenger Liner, 1889) Navy Armed Guard gun crew exercising with a 4/40 gun mounted on board the ship, June 1917. The stern of another armed merchantman is in the background. Philadelphia served as USS Harrisburg (ID # 1663) in 1918-1919. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
USS Harrisburg Description: (ID # 1663) probable identification In Brest harbor, France, 1918, with a steam lighter alongside. Photographed from the waterfront at U.S. Naval Air Station, Brest. Absence of a mainmast amidships and a camouflage pattern differing from that on her sister, USS Plattsburg (ID # 1645), strongly indicates that this ship is Harrisburg. This image is cropped from Photo # NH 41734. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
U.S. Naval Air Station, Brest, France Description: Men working with an aircraft-propeller powered boat on the station waterfront, 1918. A blimp is on patrol in the left distance, below the crane boom. Camouflaged transport in the left background is probably USS Harrisburg (ID # 1663). See Photo # NH 41734-A for a cropped version of this image, emphasizing that ship. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
The semaphore of the Park au Dric. General view. Brest, France during World War I. Ship in distance may be USS HARRISBURG. Sailors sit looking out towards the water. September 25, 1918. 
USS Harrisburg Description: (ID # 1663) Moored in port with a barge alongside, circa 1918. Note her pattern camouflage. The original image was printed on postal card (AZO) stock. See Photo # NH 103919-A for a view of the reverse of the original print, with the handwritten inscription: The Ship that brought Me home – Liverpool England and (in another hand and ink type) July 1919. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2006. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
U.S.S. Harrisburg Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in New York Harbor while the ship was engaged in transporting U.S. servicemen home from France, circa 1919. The tug Columbia is in the right foreground. Courtesy of Alfred Cellier, 1977. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
Reverse of a postal card format photographic print of the ship taken circa 1918, bearing the handwritten inscription The Ship that brought Me home – Liverpool England and (in another hand and ink type) July 1919. See Photo # NH 103919 for a view of the front of the original print, showing the ship. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2006. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
S.S. Philadelphia (American Passenger Liner. Originally the British S.S. City of Paris of 1889) At Naples, Italy, in July 1922. This ship served as USS Yale in 1898 and as USS Harrisburg (ID # 1663) in 1918-1919. At the time of this photograph, Philadelphia was under Italian ownership. She was scrapped in 1923. Collection of Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. 
U.S.S. Harrisburg (LPD 30) 
Cutaway illustration of the U.S. Navy’s San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship (LPD). The amphibious transports are used to transport and land Marines, their equipment, and supplies by embarked air cushion or conventional landing craft or amphibious vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical take off and landing aircraft in amphibious assault, special operations, or expeditionary warfare missions. (Courtesy: U.S. Navy)
The answer is kind of interesting. There has been only one other Navy ship named U.S.S. Harrisburg, and during her 35 years at sea, she had that name for just over a year. She was not a warship, though she did have guns mounted on her for a time, and in fact, she was not even built for the U.S. Navy.
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According to the Navy History and Heritage Command, the ship started life as an ocean liner named City of Paris. She was a steel-hulled three-masted schooner built in 1888 in Clydebank, Scotland for the Inman Line. She was one of the first transatlantic liners with twin propellers. In July 1893 she set the record for the Southampton-New York crossing.
That same year she was transferred to the American registry, and renamed simply Paris.
When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 the Navy leased the Paris from the American Line and was given a new name, U.S.S. Yale. She patrolled around Puerto Rico, capturing the Spanish merchant ship Rita, and got shot at by Spanish ships off San Juan. She then transported troops to and from Puerto Rico for the Army. She was decommissioned on September 2, 1898, and returned to the American Line, which changed her name back to Paris.
On May 21, 1899, she ran aground off England, in a set of treacherous rocks called the Manacles, off the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. (There are a lot of shipwrecks there, which makes it a popular dive spot.) It took until July 11 to get her loose and take her to Belfast, Ireland, for an extensive refit. She left Belfast with new engines, two funnels instead of her original three, and a new name-Philadelphia.
When the United States entered World War I, the Navy again acquired the ship from the American Line. It was at this time she was renamed U.S.S. Harrisburg. She made four voyages to Europe carrying troops and supplies during the war; after the war ended, U.S.S. Harrisburg made six additional trips to bring “the doughboys” back home. She was returned to the American Line in September of 1919.
The career of the ship was near its end. In 1922 she was sold to the New York-Naples Steamship Company, then scrapped in 1923.
Now, on to the new U.S.S. Harrisburg (LPD 30). She will be an amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform/dock, which is where the LPD designation comes from. She will be the 14th San Antonio class vessel in the fleet.
The main mission of amphibious transport dock ships is, as the name suggests, transport. They take Marines, their equipment, and their vehicles to combat zones. Vehicles, in this case, include aircraft; the ship includes a hanger and landing deck for VTOL airplanes and helicopters.
These are big ships. They have a length of 684 feet, beam (width for non-nautical types) of 105 feet, and a draft of 23 feet. (Just, by comparison, the largest battleships ever built by the United States, the Iowa class, had a length of 861 feet.) Their maximum speed is “in excess of” 22 knots. They carry a crew of 28 officers and 333 enlisted and can carry a landing force of 66 officers and 633 enlisted.
What used to be called a keel laying is now often called a keel authentication. The reason? Many modern ships don’t have keels in the old sense of a single massive piece of wood or metal stretching from bow to stern, serving as the base from which the ship is built up. Modern ships are usually modular assemblies, and the Authentication ceremony comes when the first two modules of a ship are joined together. Though the methods of assembly have changed, one important tradition continues-the ship’s sponsor. This is a female civilian who is invited to “sponsor” a vessel, bestowing good luck to the ship and its sailors. For the U.S.S. Harrisburg, the sponsor is Alexandra Curry, wife of Middletown mayor Jim Curry, who had her initials etched into the keel plate by welders.
