Casa Grande Class Dock Landing Ship; laid down 7 April 1945 at Boston Naval Shipyard, Boston MA; Launched 18 July 1945; Commissioned USS Whetstone (LSD-27), 12 February 1946; Decommissioned 20 October 1948 at San Diego CA; Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group; Recommissioned 25 June 1950; Decommissioned 2 April 1970; Struck from the Naval Register 1 September 1971; Custody transferred to MARAD; Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet; Final Disposition, disposed of by MARAD exchange, 17 February 1983.

Specifications:
    Displacement - 4,490 t.(lt), 9,375 t.(fl)
    Length - 457' 9"; Beam 72' 2"
    Draft - 18'
    Speed - 15kts
    Complement - 326
    Boats (Well Deck Capacity) - 18 LCMs
    Aircraft - modified c. 1953 to accommodate 9 helicopters on added flight deck
    Armament - 1 5"/38 DP gun mount, 2 twin 40mm gun mounts, 2 quad 40mm gun mounts, 16 single 20mm gun mounts
    Propulsion - two geared turbines, 2 shafts, 7,400 SHP.

    Named for Whetstone Point, Md., first fortified in 1776. Those beginnings ultimately became Fort McHenry, the strongpoint that defended Baltimore, Md. harbor from a determined British assault during the War of 1812. The equally determined and successful resistance put up by the defenders of Fort McHenry inspired a young lawyer, Francis Scott Key, to pen the words for a song that eventually became the National Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner."

    (LSD-27: dp. 9,375 (f.), 1. 457'9", b. 72'2", dr. 18'0" (max.), s. 15 k., cpl. 326, trp. 284, a. 1 5", 12 40mm., 24 20mm.; cl. Casa Grande)

    Whetstone (LSD-27) was laid down on 7 April 1945 at the Boston Navy Yard, Iaunched on 18 July 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Worthington S. Bitler, the wife of Capt. W. S. Bitler on duty at the Boston Navy Yard and commissioned on 12 February 1946, Comdr. G. R. Keating in command.

    Following the ship's shakedown, Whetstone underwent post-shakedown availability at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard before heading for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal between 26 and 30 April 1946, the new dock landing ship reached San Diego on 11 May.

    For the next few months, Whetstone -- attached to Transport Division 11, Transport Squadron 1 -- operated in the waters of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, conducting intra-area lifts of boats and equipment between Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, Adak, Sitka, Seattle and San Francisco. In addition, she also called at Port Angeles, Wash., and San Diego during that time.

    She subsequently departed San Francisco on 18 February 1947 bound for the Far East. Reaching Shanghai, China, on 9 March, the LSD remained at that Chinese port until the 22d, when she got underway to shift down the coast to Hong Kong. Whetstone supported the American occupation and assistance efforts in not only Chinese waters but Japanese as well, the ship touching at Shanghai once more, as well as at Sasebo and Kobe, Japan, before she set course for the Palaus on 15 April 1947.

    Whetstone returned to the waters off the Asian mainland, however, via Peleliu and Manus, the next time visiting the waters of North China -- reaching Tsingtao China on 15 July. She subsequently departed that port on the 22d, conducting voyages between Guam, Yokosuka, and Iwo Jima before setting course for Pearl Harbor via the Marshalls. After taking aboard a pair of seaplane wrecking derricks, YSD-40 and YSD-62 at Kwajalein, Whetstone headed for Hawaii.

    Reaching Pearl Harbor on 12 September, Whetstone remained there only long enough to drop off the two self- propelled derricks and take aboard a garbage lighter, YG-54, before she was underway again; her destination: San Diego. After delivering her charge, Whetstone operated off the west coast of the United States into late 1948, frequenting the waters off the coast of California. She participated in exercises and maneuvers off Oceanside, Calif., the site of the Marine Corps
base at Camp Pendleton. She was soon to be a victim of the post-World War II reduction of military strength. On 20 October 1948, Whetstone was decommissioned and placed in reserve at San Diego.

    Her sojourn in mothballs was a short one, though, for the North Korean assault on South Korea, hurled across the 38th parallel on 25 June 1950, caused a drastic naval build-up. Many World War II-vintage men-of-war were taken out of reserve and activated for service; some ships whose postwar careers had been very short -- like Whetstone -- were also placed on active duty. Accordingly, Whetstone was recommissioned on 2 December 1950.

    During the Korean conflict, Whetstone proved her worth in support of UN operations in that war, conducting two deployments to Korean waters -- first from April to November of 1951 and second from December of 1952 to the end of the hostilities in July 1953.

    In the first deployment, she took part in a notable operation -- the recovery of a Soviet-built MiG 15 fighter. On 9 July word was received in the upper echelons that a MiG had been downed in the shoal waters off the mouth of the Chongchon River. The initial plot proved inaccurate, however, and planes from the British aircraft carrier HMS Glory sighted the MiG a few miles offshore, 33 miles north of the estuary of the Taedong River.

    "Risky and navigationally difficult" to reach, the site lay less than 10 minutes' flight time from enemy air bases. Nevertheless, the risks to be run seemed acceptable -- especially in view of the fact that no MiG's had thus been available for inspection to see what made them "tick." Whetstone loaded a special crane-equipped utility craft ( LCU ) at Inchon -- the port at which the LSD had arrived, from Sasebo, Japan, on 12 June -- and sailed for Cho Do Island on the 19th of July. The multinational effort proceeded apace despite the initial grounding of the LCU on a sand bar and, by the evening of the 22d, had proceeded to a successful conclusion. Whetstone's sistership Epping Forest (LSD-4) took the LCU and its precious cargo aboard and sailed for Inchon.

    Whetstone remained in Korean waters, operating out of Sasebo, into September and returned again to those climes twice in November. She sailed for the United States on 5 December and reached San Diego, Calif. via Wake Island, two days before Christmas of 1951.

    The tank landing ship remained at San Diego undergoing post-deployment availability until 5 February, when she shifted to Port Hueneme. She operated locally in southern Californian waters -- touching at San Diego, Aliso Canyon, Long Beach, San Pedro and Port Hueneme -- into the summer of 1952. Visiting Bangor, Wash., from 14 July to 7 October, Whetstone departed that port on the latter day, bound for San Diego.

    She lingered on the west coast until 1 December, when she set sail for the western Pacific. Touching briefly at Pearl Harbor en route, Whetstone reached Yokosuka, Japan, on 22 December and spent Christmas in that port before she shifted to Sasebo on the 28th, reaching her destination on the last day of the year

    Whetstone subsequently returned to Inchon two days into the new year, 1953, and remained there until the 8th, when she got underway to shift to Cho Do. The dock landing ship shuttled between Japan and Korean ports, frequenting Sasebo, Yokosuka, Wonsan, Inchon, Tokchokto, Nagoya, and the operating areas off the western coast of Korea through the summer of 1953 and the armistice that ended hostilities.

    Whetstone operated in the Far East into late September 1953; she sailed for the west coast of the United States on 30 September and, after stopping at Kwajalein and Pearl Harbor en route, reached San Diego on 26 October. There, she spent the remainder of the year.

    During her next Western Pacific (WestPac) tour, Whetstone returned to the Far East, touching at familiar ports. She also took part in Operation "Passage to Freedom," the movement of North Vietnamese to the South after the partition of the country in observance of the Geneva accords that ended the French-Viet Minh hostilities. For that evolution, the dock landing ship departed Yokosuka on 14 August and reached Haiphong on the 22d. She subsequently touched at Saigon and Tourane, as well as Haiphong -- the firstnamed port four times, the second twice, and the lastnamed six.

    Completing her participation in that humanitarian operation on Armistice Day (11 November) 1954, Whetstone departed Haiphong on that date, bound for Hong Kong and Subic Bay in the Philippines.

    For the remainder of the 1950's and into the 1960's, Whetstone deployed regularly to the Far East and WestPac areas, there participating in numerous amphibious exercises, maintaining herself in a high state of readiness. During those years, non-military events highlighted her tours both at home and afar. In April 1961, for example, she rescued two San Diego businessmen from their capsized sailboat off Point Loma, Calif.; that July, she went to the aid of the burning merchantman SS Steel Traveler in Inchon harbor. In the latter, the efforts of the dock landing ship's fire and rescue party saved the crippled ship.

    In February 1962, Whetstone deployed to Christmas Island to participate in operations with Joint Task Force (JTF) 8. Upon completion of that deployment, the ship returned home and conducted refresher training out of San Diego. Later that year, in October, November, and December, Whetstone deployed to the Atlantic and Caribbean areas, participating in the "quarantine" operations ordered in the wake of the discovery of offensive Soviet missiles on Cuban soil. During that time, she served in Task Forces 53 and 128. Upon the abating of the crisis, Whetstone resumed normal operations; she deployed once again on a WestPac tour that December.

    Over the next few years, Whetstone's regular WestPac tours were enlivened by operations that reflected the increasing tempo of American involvement in the war in Vietnam. During her 1964 deployment, the Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred, ushering in a new phase of the conflict. It would not be long before Americans -- heretofore employed only as advisors -- would be taking active combat roles on a large scale against the communist insurgents (Viet Cong) and their North Vietnamese allies.

    From 7 August to 2 October, Whetstone steamed as part of TF 76 in the South China Sea, earning the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for her contingency operations. As the Vietnam buildup continued into 1965 the veteran dock landing ship was called upon to help transport men and materiel across the Pacific.

    Whetstone departed San Diego on 11 February 1965 bound, ultimately, for Vietnam with elements of the 3d Marine Division (3d MarDiv) embarked for transportation to Okinawa. She arrived at her destination on 8 March, disembarked her passengers, and sailed for Japan, touching briefly at Yokosuka before she returned to Okinawa to embark elements of the 5th MarDiv for transportation to Vietnam.

    Reaching Chu Lai on 27 March, Whetstone offloaded her passengers brought from Okinawa and embarked different Marine elements for transport up the Vietnamese coast to the Hue-Phu Bai area of operations. After offloading at Hue, the dock landing ship shifted to Danang, where she soon commenced what was to become a six-week tour of duty as "boat haven" for Naval Support Activities (NavSuppAct), Danang, arriving on the last day of the month of March.

    During her six-week stay, Whetstone made good use of her drydocking capability, performing major repairs on 41 small boats and craft -- mostly LCM (Landing Craft, Medium) and LCU (Landing Craft, Utility). Those craft served as the keys to keeping open the flow of logistics onto the beach from the many merchant ships at anchor in Danang harbor.

    Leaving Danang in her wake on 13 May, Whetstone arrived at Subic Bay for liberty and upkeep two days later, but Typhoon "Irma" forced the ship to execute a change in plans: five out of her allotted ten-day period was spent riding out "Irma's" fury. Departing Subic Bay on the 25th, Whetstone visited Hong Kong for five days of "rest and recreation" slated to start on the 27th. Unfortunately, the proximity of yet another typhoon -- "Judy" -- caused the dock landing ship to put to sea on the 28th and 29th to evade the storm. The ship left Hong Kong on 1 June -- it had been an abbreviated port visit!

    Whetstone returned to the waters of Vietnam, dropping anchor at Qui Nhon to start two months as "boat haven" in support of the U.S. Army's Qui Nhon Support Command. Two boat repair divisions -- consisting of Whetstone sailors and Army soldiers -- worked 12-hour shifts, 24 hours a day, to repair Army landing craft in Whetstone's capacious well-deck aft. The display of Army-Navy cooperation facilitated the vital offloading of ships delivering cargo to Qui Nhon. At the end of the time spent at the port, Whetstone received a plaque, commemorating her hard work, from the U.S. Army's 1st Logistical Command.

    Whetstone hauled a load of Army LCM's to Camranh Bay on 31 July and then headed for Japanese waters, reaching Sasebo on 7 August for an eight-day port visit. The dock landing ship then returned briefly to Hong Kong -- the weather proved more favorable that time than previously -- before she sailed for Danang to commence the last major assignment of that WestPac tour.

    Whetstone took part in the lift of elements of the combat veterans of the 5th MarDiv from Danang to Okinawa. For the leathernecks, most of them coming straight from action in the field to the ship, the hot meals and bunks on board Whestone proved a welcome change from life in the field. The ship subsequently arrived at Okinawa on 6 September to offload her troops.

    Reaching Yokosuka on 11 September, Whetstone underwent six days of upkeep there before her departure from WestPac. She sailed for home on 17 September and reached Pearl Harbor on the 27th. Pushing on, two days later, the dock landing ship reached her home port of San Diego on 6 October -- thus ending a deployment of 238 days' duration.

    For the remainder of 1966, Whetstone remained in port, preparing for a shipyard overhaul slated to commence in January.

    Shifting subsequently to Seattle, Wash., Whetstone spent four and one-half months undergoing an extensive yard overhaul. Major changes were effected to her communications facilities, while her engineering plant received extensive repairs. Upon returning to her home port later that spring on 26 May 1967, Whetstone was prepared for a summer of hard training in preparation for her deployment to WestPac in the autumn. Refresher training followed -- evolutions that apparently revealed defects in the ship's propulsion systems, the ship underwent further yard work, this time at Long Beach. Following her return to San Diego on 2 September, the dock landing ship completed the remainder of her refresher and amphibious training and prepared for her WestPac deployment date of 31 October 1967.

    Arriving in WestPac in early December, Whetstone lifted 11 Marine helicopters from Okinawa to Danang before she joined Task Group 76.5, Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) "Bravo." Embarking units of the Marine Special Landing Force (SLF), composed of men from the 3d Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Whetstone participated in two major amphibious operations during that deployment.

    The first was "Fortress Ridge" (21-24 December 1967) -- SLF "Bravo" made an unopposed landing and swept through the marshy, sandy region north of the city of Cua Viet. Encountering several pockets of enemy resistance, the marines called in air strikes, naval gunfire support and the fire from helicopter gunships -- as well as artillery -- to subdue the resistors. Killing 10 communist soldiers in the operation, the marines suffered the loss of 10 men and the wounding of 28.

    Later in the deployment, Whetstone took part in Operation "Badger Catch," from 23 to 26 January 1968. Members of SLF "Bravo" went ashore from landing craft and helicopters to clear the Cua Viet River region of the enemy troops that had recently preyed upon Navy coastal convoys resupplying Marine activities along the coasts. After the landing -- unopposed, as in "Fortress Ridge" -- "Bravo" units teamed with elements of the 3d MarDiv in a sweep inland. At the cost of 32
leathernecks dead and 146 wounded, the marines succeeded in bagging at least 100 dead by the end of January.

    Besides the amphibious operations, Whetstone made two hazardous coastwise supply runs -- one to Hue and the other to Dong Ha -- utilizing LCM's embarked in the ship's well deck. Ultimately, on 16 March, Thomaston (LSD-28) relieved Whetstone as an element of the ARG, releasing the latter for further support operations in the form of lifts of war materiel from support bases to various areas further inland.

    The versatile Whetstone subsequently served one more deployment in Vietnamese waters in 1969, rounding out nearly two decades of naval service before returning to the United States. Decommissioned on 2 April 1970, Whetstone was struck from the Navy list on 1 September 1971 following transfer to the Maritime Administration (MarAd) for custody and lay up in July 1970. The dock landing ship remained in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, in MarAd custody, into the mid-1970's. As of 1 October 1979, the erstwhile amphibious craft was awaiting disposition, via a cash Navy sale. She had been on the sale list since April 1976.

    Although Whetstone was built too late to participate in World War II, she earned four battle stars for Korean service and seven for Vietnam.

Transcribed by Patrick Long

Award	Date(s) of Awards
Armed Forces Expeditionary	08-NOV-1962 - 05-DEC-1962 (Cuba 24 Oct 1962 - 31 Dec 1962) 08-AUG-1964 - 28-SEP-1964 (Vietnam 01 Jul 1958 - 03 Jul 1965)
Meritorious Unit Commendation	01-JUN-1969 - 20-SEP-1969
[ no image ] Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation - Gallantry	28-MAR-1966 - 13-MAY-1966 01-JUN-1966 - 30-JUN-1968 02-DEC-1967 - 03-DEC-1967 13-DEC-1967 25-DEC-1967 - 20-FEB-1968 02-MAR-1968 - 16-MAR-1968 26-MAR-1968 - 28-MAR-1968 02-MAY-1968 - 05-MAY-1968
Vietnam Service	04-JUL-1965 - 09-JUL-1965 27-MAR-1966 - 13-MAY-1966 01-JUN-1966 - 03-AUG-1966 28-AUG-1966 01-DEC-1967 - 04-DEC-1967 12-DEC-1967 - 16-DEC-1967 24-DEC-1967 - 20-FEB-1968 01-MAR-1968 - 18-MAR-1968 26-MAR-1968 - 30-MAR-1968 03-APR-1968 - 07-APR-1968 28-APR-1968 - 08-MAY-1968 23-MAY-1969 - 27-MAY-1969 05-JUN-1969 - 30-JUN-1969 02-JUL-1969 - 20-JUL-1969 09-AUG-1969 - 30-SEP-1969

    Originally developed as part of the answer of how to get heavy new armor ashore, the claim to fame for the LSD turned out to be its ability to provide on the spot drydock service for battle damaged small craft of all kinds.

    Putting people and weapons ashore on a hostile beach has always been the basic business of amphibious warfare. The essential idea behind an amphibious assault is that of putting a military formation ashore in the face of enemy opposition, in good condition and with the tools it needs to accomplish its mission. In the years before World War II, this was a relatively uncomplicated matter. Landing forces were fairly small. Their task was usually that of raiding or of seizing a small beachhead. Their weapons were usually limited to what they could carry; "heavy weapons" for a landing force meant machine guns, mortars, and "pack" artillery which could be broken down and carried ashore by their crews. Some experiments were conducted in the United States and England between the World Wars with landing craft designed to carry artillery pieces and the small tanks of the period. Actual production of landing craft did not begin until about 1939. These early craft were small, light types, carried on davits and loaded from transports at the landing point.

    All this changed by World War II, as the "new" science of amphibious warfare developed at an accelerated pace. Instead of involving the movement of small, lightly-armed raiding parties, it was seen that victory in Europe and the Pacific would require the overwater transportation of entire armies, together with the hitherto undreamed-of-weight weaponry and equipment demanded by modern warfare. To put, for instance, even one of the new armored divisions ashore meant moving hundreds of heavy tanks and self-propelled guns, as well as the hundreds of other vehicles needed to keep the division supplied with ammunition, fuel, and food.

    By 1940 the British had begun development of tank landing craft, or TLC (later designated LCT). Flat-bottomed, ramped craft capable of carrying several tanks, the TLC proved more seaworthy than expected, but were still slow and incapable of making long ocean passages or of coping with heavy seas. The larger LST was still, at this time, encountering design difficulties and early production was not foreseen.

    The LST was an excellent idea - but it did have the disadvantage of having to approach the enemy beach in order to unload its cargo, thus exposing a relatively expensive ship (as opposed to landing craft) to direct enemy fire. Smaller landing craft offered the advantage of being far more expendable and made smaller targets; and, while building them was easy enough, the problem was how to get them within range of the beachhead. The answer as envisioned, was the design of a ship to carry loaded TLC rapidly to distant destinations in any weather. Craft the size of the TLC however, could not be davit-launched as could their small predecessors; the Mark III TLC, for instance was 190 feet long, with a displacement of 300 tons. This problem could be solved by adopting the floating-drydock principle, first used by the French in the early part of the century in the design of the submarine mothership Kangourou. Arrangements were made with the U. S. Navy's Bureau of Ships for design of a dock-type ship capable of carrying three loaded Mark III TLC. The preliminary design, produced in November 1941, emphasized simplicity and ease of construction. In the following month eight of these new ships were authorized for the U.S. Navy; seven more were ordered for the Royal Navy. First classified as Mechanized-Artillery Transports, or APM, on July 1, 1942, the designation Landing Ship Dock, or LSD was adopted.

    Essentially a self-propelled seagoing floating drydock, the LSD's unique feature was her central well deck in which landing craft or other small craft were carried. When her well deck was flooded and her stern gate opened, her cargo of small craft could then float in or out under their own power. By the time the LSD began to enter service in 1943 and 1944, the LST was also being commissioned in large numbers and tank transportation was no longer the problem it had been. But the LSD was used to good advantage in the Pacific by the U. S. Navy and in the Atlantic and Mediterranean by the British, transporting landing craft and serving as mobile drydocks for repair of other battle damaged vessels.

    The LST certainly achieved a greater degree of notoriety than did the LSD during WWII for who can deny what a spectacular sight these ships were as they rammed the beach, opened their giant doors and disgorged scores of tanks. What is more, LSTs were built in far larger numbers than LSDs. While stateside yards turned out hundreds of LSTs, only 27 LSDs were completed before the end of hostilities, a few being launched too late in the war to join in combat operations. Why such a disparity in numbers? The LSD was a full size ship, the typical WWII version measuring some 457 feet in length with a beam of 72 feet and displacing 4,500 tons. Her slab-sided appearance not-withstanding, the LSD was not a simple ship to build or operate thanks to the complexities of her inner workings and the fact that she was one of the few specifically designed amphibious warfare ships big enough to be powered by steam plant driven turbines. The LST, on the other hand, was a far easier vessel to build with its overall length of 328 feet and 1,625 ton displacement. Their two 1,700 hp diesel engines allowed for even greater engineering simplification.

    As it turned out, the first eight LSDs contracted to the Moore Dry Dock Company of Oakland, California, ended up in the hands of the U. S. Navy. Additional contracts were led to Newport News Shipbuilding for eleven ships of the same design, the first seven of which were planned for delivery to the British. The plan was later changed; however, so that only the first four ships went to the Royal Navy while the U.S. Navy took the remaining seven. For the sake of avoiding confusion, it should be noted that names were given to all of these ships before their launchings and this is why, as it will be noted later, the first seven ships laid down by Newport News were
given "H.M.S." names, the latter three then undergoing name changes back to American names midway through their construction.

    Although approved during December, 1941, the keel for the first LSD was not laid until seven months later on June 22, 1942, this due, no doubt, to production efforts in the first months of the war geared to defense and survival rather than optimistically constructing amphibious warfare ships clearly designed for offensive operations. Six months later the strange looking new ship was ready for launching and on December 21, 1942, to the cheers of enthusiastic yard workers, one Mrs. Jabez Lowell broke the proverbial bottle of champagne against the hull of the USS Ashland (LSD-1). It had earlier been decided to name the first group of LSDs (most smaller amphibious warfare ships such as LSTs receiving only numbers) after the famous homes of famous Americans. Ashland, for instance, for the estate home of the famous statesman Henry Clay at Lexington, Kentucky.

    Seventeen days short of one year after her keel laying, the new USS Ashland was completed and ready for her commissioning ceremony on June 5, 1943. As the first ship of a new type, to say that her strange lines brought many curious stares would be an understatement. She looked like something that had gotten away from her builders too soon. What made the Ashland so strange in appearance was her huge docking well, a cavernous opening 44 feet wide and 396 feet long which ran from the stern to clear up under the bridge, ending near the bow. Almost one hundred feet longer than a football field, the Ashland's well deck was only 61 feet short of the ship's 457 foot overall length. In it would fit 27 LCVPs, 18 LCMs with one LCVP in each, three LCUs, one LSM-or anything small enough to fit its nose through the stern opening (during the Korean war another LSD would take aboard a destroyer escort for dry dock repairs). The LSD was also designed so that it could be equipped with a removable "superdeck" of steel grating that could span the width and almost the entire open length of the well deck. Made up of six-ton sections, the pieces would typically be lifted off the pier one at a time by one of the ship's two 25-ton swivel cranes and set down amidships. They would then be picked up by a six-ton traveling bridge crane (moving on tracks down either side of the ship) which would haul the piece toward the stern and set it in its appropriate place. On the superdeck could go 350 tons worth of invasion cargo-tanks, cars, trucks, DUWKs, 66 amphibious tanks or any other type of cargo that needed to be moved from point A to B. Tanks and vehicles on the superdeck could simply be lowered by crane into waiting landing craft in the well deck or, in the case of amphibious tractors, could be lowered directly into the partially submerged well deck where they would simply drive off the stern and head for the beach. The possibilities were almost endless and it was realized from the beginning that the new Ashland and her sisters to follow would be very versatile and handy ships to have around-not just during infrequent major amphibious landings but for general transport and day-to-day odd jobs that arise particularly including small craft maintenance. In fact, this is exactly what LSDs became far better know for; their ability to take smaller craft aboard for on the spot dry dock repairs. Each LSD was equipped to change screws, shafts and other parts of smaller craft by virtue of a fully equipped machine shop as well as a complete wood shop for working on the smaller, wooden hulled landing craft and PT-boats.

    As mentioned earlier, the LSD was designed for steam power, an engine room being located in the wings amidships on both sides of the docking well. Ashland and her seven sisters built in Oakland were equipped with Skinner eight-cylinder reciprocating uniflow steam engines of 7,000 horsepower each. Later LSDs starting with those launched by Newport News during 1944 would, however, switch to steam turbine power of the high-pressure impulse reaction, single flow Parsons type. LSDs could make 15-16 knots, easily putting them in the "fast transport" category.

    The most fascinating aspect of the LSD is, of course, her ability to squat down in the water and flood her well deck up to a depth of about 10 feet. Exactly how is it done? Perhaps the following wartime account by a reporter observing operations aboard the USS Lindenwald (LSD-6) best explains how it is all done:

    "It takes 330 men and 18 officers to man this LSD and they're all busy when her snubby bow approaches the embarkation area. Though operations look simple, they are extremely complex. According to the skipper, 'It takes an hour and a half to ballast her down until there's enough water in the docking well to float the small craft. So we start while we're still underway.'

    "As the ship plows along, you can see preparations being made. Men with telephone gear stand at six different stations around the ship to report ballasting progress. Each phone connects with the ballast-control center-a tiny shelter on the starboard wing well, lined with huge panels of wavering dial needles reminiscent of the control room in a submarine. The trembling deck underfoot tells you the big pumps are pulling sea water into the ship's 36 tanks, located along the keelson, under the wooden planked floor of the docking well." 'We watch like hawks' explains the skipper, 'to keep from having any half-full tanks with free surface-where water can slosh around. If the ship is rolling in a heavy sea swell, free surface water will slosh steeper than the roll and keep the roll going-an invitation to capsize.' "The engineering officer on the wing wall orders the 45-foot steel stern gate to open a crack, and the first sea spills in around its lower edges as the ship settles in the sea. Slowly, the well fills like a bathtub. Before the destination is reached, 7,000 tons of salt water will flood the docking well. Actually, 3,500 tons are enough to float the 40-foot LCMs sitting snugly side by side, and they soon bob like corks, their steel sides screeching as they rub together in the swell. Gears whirl and down goes the gate, folding neatly in half, the doubling back under the stern. Boat engines roar. A blue, smoky, exhaust haze fills the docking well. Three at a time the boats emerge from the pungent fumes, through the open stern of the mothership."

    The exhaust haze to which the wartime report refers was undoubtedly enhanced by the covering superdeck which tended to keep exhaust gases trapped within the well deck. It should be noted, however, that early operations with the first LSDs saw the ships sortie without superdecks in place. The same reporter went on to witness the process of taking the LSD's landing craft back aboard.

    "Upon the after end of the port wing wall stands the docking officer, holding a power megaphone with which he calls signals. Like the LSO on an aircraft carrier, it is his responsibility to bring each of the boats aboard again safely. Only he "talks" them in like this: 'Number six aboard center; seven and eight follow port and starboard'. In they come, the first LCM roaring right down the center of the mothership right up to her bow. Two others follow, flanking it, until they are wedged in and secured. The loading proceeds, three at a time, until the last of the little craft have disappeared into the dark maw of the big ship. Then the stern gate closes part way, to allow the ocean inside the ship's belly to seep back out where it belongs as the ship deballasts underway.

    Reloading landing craft was a pretty smooth operation in a calm sea, but in a rough sea, the task could become treacherous. Rolling in rough water, it took skilled crewmen aboard both the ship and the boats to handle and secure the five ton landing craft. Typically, as they would enter the heaving docking well, they would whirl and spin, bashing the ship's bulkheads and each other as the action of the confined sea water tossed them around like corks in a typhoon. To make matters worse, were such rough water operations being undertaken in an actual combat area where the ship might be endangered by, say, air attack (indeed, LSDs accounted for several kamikazes downed during the later stages of the Pacific war), the skipper often made the decision to order the landing craft to back in. This would allow them to make a quicker getaway should the need arise. Although to the untrained eye, the pandemonium of bringing the landing craft back aboard in
a rough sea might have seemed like mass confusion - men scrambling along the wing walls, climbing over each other to grab lines and make them fast - the operation was typically well orchestrated. It had been practiced many times. If the captain wanted to get his ship out of the area, everything would be timed to the last second. As the first boats would come aboard, the LSD would begin to deballast at once - forward tanks first. If all went well, the forward end of the docking well would be progressively tipped up and dry, the first boats grounded seconds after being lashed in place thus preventing them from banging about.

    The skipper of one LSD once pointed out another minor advantage of this unique ship's abilities. "Plenty of times after deballasting, nice big fresh fish are left flopping around the docking well. We've had lots of fresh sea bass for supper as a result."

    After the commissioning of the Ashland in June, 1943, the next Moore-built LSD to enter service was the USS Belle Grove in August followed by CarterHall, Epping Forrest, Gunston Hall, Lindenwald, Oak Hill and White Marsh in the following months. White Marsh (LSD-8), the last of her type built by Moore, was launched in July, 1943 and commissioned in late January, 1944. About the same time Moore was preparing to launch LSD-5, the USS Gunston Hall, in May, 1943, Newport News Shipbuilding launched the first of their LSDs, the HMS Eastway followed by HMS Highway, HMS Northway and finally the HMS Oceanway which was launched in December 1943 and commissioned in late March 1944. These four ships participated in a number of British operations including the invasions of Normandy and Southern France. After the war, HMS Eastway ended up in the hands of the Greeks who first used her in commercial service as the Hyperion and then later as the HHMS Nafkratoussa, flagship of the Greek Navy's landing forces.

    After the first four built-for-Britain ships, Newport News went on to build more LSD's of what would come to be known as the Casa Grande Class. Starting with Casa Grande (LSD-13), the additional ships included, in order of their launching, Rushmore, Shadwell, Cabildo, Catamount, Colonial and Comstock (LSDs 14 through 19). The last two ships were completed too late in the war to see any action, the Colonial being moored at San Francisco and the Comstock on her shakdown when the Japanese surrendered. Cabildo and Catamount were able to see the later stages of action in the Pacific only by virtue of the fact that the ever efficient Newport News Shipbuilding had delivered the two ships some six months ahead of schedule, a rather amazing feat when one considers that the construction of these ships had been tacked on to an already full building schedule.

    Eight more LSDs were contracted for during the war years, seven of which were completed and delivered. Donner (LSD-20) and Fort Mandan (LSD-21) were built by the Naval Shipyard at Boston during early 1945 and were both in commission by October of that year. Rather than being assembled and launched in the conventional manner, these two ships were assembled in a drydock and simply floated out upon completion.

    Gulf Shipbuilding of Chickasaw, Alabama received contracts for LSDs 22, 23 and 24, but the war was drawing to a close. LSD-22, the USS Fort Marion, was launched in May, 1945 but was not completed until January, 1946, six months after Japan's surrender. She was nevertheless commissioned and went on to enjoy a long and distinguished career serving into the 1970s. LSD-23 was originally given the name Fort Snelling but was completed as a merchant ship and christened TMT Carib Queen in 1956 after sitting derelict for 10 years. Two years later the ship was repossessed by the Government and acquired by the Navy. She was renamed the USNS Tarus and became part of the MSTS civil service manned fleet. LSD-24, given the name Point Defiance was also cancelled during August 1945 and what little had been laid of her keel was simply scrapped. The USS San Marcos (LSD-25), the single example of that type was built by the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Laid down in September 1941 and commissioned in mid April 1945, she had just arrived off Okinawa with her first war cargo when the Japanese surrendered in August. This ship, too, went on to enjoy a lengthy career with the U. S. Navy and then was finally transferred to the Spanish Navy in mid 1971 where she currently serves as the Galicia.

    The last two war-built LSDs, numbers 26 and 27, were also built by the Boston Naval Shipyard, but were launched too late in the war to participate in combat operations. Both of these ships, the USS Tortuga (LSD-26) and the USS Whetstone (LSD-27), went on, however, to enjoy long service lives with the Navy.

    For administrative purposes, those LSDs constructed during WWII were classed as follows: LSDs 1 through 8 were called the Ashland Class, 13 through 15 were called the Casa Grande Class and 16 through 27 were the Cabildo Class. It should be pointed out; however, that differences between the WWII ships were minor although post war modifications which continued up until the early 1970s eventually produced a group of ships where no two were configured exactly alike.

    The Navy thought so much of the capabilities of the LSD that in the early 1950s it was decided to build a new class of eight ships. Along with the lead ship of the Thomaston class, the USS Thomaston (LSD-28) which was launched in September 1954, the seven additional ships included Plymouth Rock (LSD-29), Fort Snelling (LSD-30), picking up the name from the WWII LSD-23 which had been cancelled, Point Definace (LSD-31), also picking up the name of the cancelled LSD-24, Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), Alamo (LSD-33), Hermitage (LSD-34) and Monticello (LSD-35). Monticello, as the first ship in the new class, was launched in March 1957. The principle of operation for these ships was exactly the same as with those ships constructed in WWII. They did, however, sport redesigned, superstructures as well as sleeker and more eye pleasing hull lines. Clearly, it was  not hard to improve the looks of those ships built during the war. The well deck on these new ships was five feet shorter in length than the WWII ships (391' versus 396') but was four feet wider (48' versus 44'). The class could be identified from the earlier ships in their main lifting cranes and smoke stacks being offset from one side to the other. The lifting capacity of the two big cranes carried aboard each ship was also increased from 35 tons to 50 tons. All eight of the ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, and all are still in active service with the Navy. With an overall length of 510 feet and displacing 6,880 tons, the new ships could make a top speed of 23 knots, a considerable improvement over their predecessors.

    A decade later, the Navy once again decided to build new LSDs. Authorized in 1965-66, this would be the five ship class named after the lead ship, the USS Anchorage which was launched in 1965 by Ingalls but not commissioned until March 1969. The remaining four ships of the class were built by General Dynamics at their Quincy, Massachusetts facility, all being launched during 1966-67 and commissioned between 1970-72. Differing somewhat in superstructure and side view appearance from the Thomaston Class, the five Anchorage Class ships (Portland, Pensacola, Mount Vernon and Fort Fisher) were, at 553 feet in length, 43 feet longer than the earlier ships and could carry a slightly heavier load with a well deck measuring 430' x 50'. The ships are easily distinguished from earlier LSDs by their enclosed twin 3-inch gun mounts on either side just ahead of the bridge.

    For a type that has served so well for so long, it now seems likely that the LSD building program has reached the end of the line. If, in fact, large amphibious operations remain a viable concept, by the time the newest of the LSDs are ready for retirement, ships along the lines of the Tarawa Class of General Purpose Amphibious Assault Ships will probably have stepped in to fill the gap. But for the next two decades, anyway, the LSD should remain a viable part of the nation's offensive strike capability.