Guam Shoot-ex, with feeling
The 23,000-ton submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS-39), ordered under the Nixon Administration and now just 42 years young, has been termed the worst cruise ship to ever call sail the Pacific. For the last half of her career, she has been forward deployed, first in the Med, then at Diego Garcia, and, since 2016, to Guam, with breaks for stateside maintenance.
APRA HARBOR, Guam (May 20, 2021) Sailors assigned to the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) man the rails while transiting Apra Harbor, May 20. Land returned home to Guam following an eight-month scheduled maintenance period at Mare Island Dry Dock in Vallejo, California. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jason Behnke)
The partially MSC-crewed vessel is still a “USS” rather than a “USNS” and carries topside weapons, which her Bluejackets qualified on last week in conjunction with the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Guam.
Photos: MCSN Arauz, MCSA Leary
