Built by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, of San Diego, California, she was launched on 7 December 1974, and commissioned on 30 October 1976.

After 10 months away USS Roanoke finally returned to her homeport of San Francisco, California, in October.

[1] Between January 1991 and August 1993 she sailed on two deployments to the Persian Gulf supporting Operation Desert Storm.

Title to the ship was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration on 18 December 1998, and she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, at Suisun Bay, California.

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