The Yellowstone class was a class of four destroyer tenders in service with the United States Navy from 1980 to 1996.

Quick Facts Class overview, General characteristics ...

Class overview
Name	Yellowstone-class destroyer tender
Builders	National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Samuel Gompers class
Succeeded by	None
Built	1977 - 1982
In commission	1980 - 1996
Completed	4
Scrapped	3, 1 sunk as target
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer tender
Displacement	20,263 tons
Length	642 ft (196 m)
Beam	85 ft (26 m)
Draft	27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion	Steam Turbines
Speed	20 knots
Complement	87 Officers 1508 Enlisted
Armament	6 .50 caliber machine guns, 2 20mm cannons, 2 40mm grenade launchers

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The Yellowstone class was a repetition of the preceding Samuel Gompers class, so that sometimes all ships are put in one class.^[1] All ships were commissioned in 1980 to 1983 to replace the ageing Dixie class. However, the end of the Cold War in 1990 led to the retirement of the Yellowstone class after only 13 to 16 years of service. After spending about another 15 years in the Reserve Fleet, three ships were scrapped and one was sunk as a target.^[2]