USS Tortuga's (LSD 46) Web Site "Tough, Tall, and Tenacious" USS Tortuga (LSD 46) and USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) completed an exchange-of-command process April 12 in Sasebo, Japan, which officially welcomed Tortuga to the Forward-Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF). History (summary) - Tortuga was commissioned in 1990 in New Orleans, La. and has conducted similar multi-national bi-lateral training exercises such as Dynamic Mix ’98 in the Mediterranean, Sardinia ’98 off the coast of Sardinia and UNITAS 2000 off the coast of Argentina.  It deployed in 1996 to Liberia and in 2000 served as a maritime platform for Navy Construction Battalion and Marine Corps engineering personnel who helped the Venezuelans clear roads along the flood-ravaged Venezuelan coastline. Emergent relief has also been in Tortuga’s history as well as it responded to deliver aid after Hurricane Katrina in Sept. 2005.