USS Colonial

Last updated

USS Colonial (LSD-18) underway c1970.jpg
USS Colonial (LSD-18) underway, circa 1970
History
Flag of the United States.svgUnited States
NameUSS Colonial
Namesake Colonial National Historical Park in Virginia
Awarded1 July 1943 [1]
Laid down1 August 1944 [1]
Launched28 February 1945
Commissioned15 May 1945
Decommissioned1970
Stricken15 October 1976
FateSold for scrap, 8 September 1993
General characteristics
Displacement
  • 7,930 tons (loaded),
  • 4,032 tons (light draft)
Length457 ft 9 in (139.5 m) overall
Beam  72 ft 2 in (22.0 m)
Draft
  •    8 ft 2½ in (2.5 m) fwd,
  •   10 ft ½ in (3.1 m) aft (light);
  •   15 ft 5½ in (4.7 m) fwd,
  •   16 ft 2 in (4.9 m) aft (loaded)
Propulsion2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 Skinner Uniflow Reciprocating Steam Engines, 2 propeller shafts – each shaft 3,700 hp, at 240 rpm total shaft horse power 7,400, 2 11 ft 9 in diameter, 9 ft 9 in pitch propellers
Speed17 knots (31 km/h)
Range
  • 8,000 nmi. at 15 knots
  • (15,000 km at 28 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried
  • 3 × LCT (Mk V or VI)
  •   each w/ 5 medium tanks or
  • 2 × LCT (Mk III or IV)
  •   each w/ 12 medium tanks or
  • 14 × LCM (Mk III)
  •   each w/ 1 medium tank
  •   or 1,500 long tons cargo or
  • 47 × DUKW or
  • 41 × LVT or
  • Any combination of landing vehicles and landing craft up to capacity
Capacity22 officers, 218 men
Complement
Armament
Aircraft carriedmodified to accommodate helicopters on an added portable deck

USS Colonial (LSD-18) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of the Colonial National Historical Park, which comprises Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown in southeastern Virginia.

Contents

Colonial was launched on 28 February 1945 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Va., sponsored by Mrs. L. L. Dean; and commissioned on 15 May 1945.

1945–1952

Colonial cleared Norfolk on 26 July 1945 for the Panama Canal, San Francisco and Pearl Harbor, arriving 5 September. Between 11 September and 26 December, she had duty ferrying landing craft among the Pacific Islands and to Okinawa. She sailed from Pearl Harbor 29 December for the Panama Canal and Norfolk, arriving 23 January 1946.

Colonial participated in amphibious training out of Norfolk, conducting local, east coast, and Caribbean operations, and voyaging from Cuba and Puerto Rico as far north as Newfoundland until 15 August 1950, when she cleared Norfolk for Far Eastern duty. Calling at San Diego en route to Kobe, Colonial landed men and tanks of the 1st Marine Division at Inchon in September, and troops and equipment at Wonsan and Iwon in December. Colonial was one of the last ships to leave Hungnam in the evacuation of that area. [2] She acted as "mother ship" for minesweepers on the Korean east coast for a month during this tour, returning to San Diego, her new home port, 27 August 1951. Here she was overhauled and had underway training before returning to Japan and Korea for duty from 17 January to 4 November 1952. During this tour she supported minesweepers working in Wonsan Harbor, and took part in amphibious training.

1953–1970

From the close of the Korean War into 1960, Colonial continued to alternate local operations and training out of San Diego with periodic deployments to the Far East. She transported Marines to Korea from 5 August to 9 September 1953, returning to the western Pacific in October for a tour which ended in July 1954. After aiding in the development of the vertical envelopment concept of amphibious assault employing helicopters, she returned to the Orient early in 1955 for a tour of duty which included participation in the evacuation of the Tachen Islands.

In the summer of 1956, Colonial served as a floating laboratory in experiments with balloon-launched rockets (rockoons). The Naval Research Laboratory's Operation San Diego High had the objective of studying x-rays and Lyman-alpha UV radiation produced in the upper atmosphere by solar flares. For ten days in July, from a location 350 miles southeast of San Diego, each morning a balloon carrying an instrumented Deacon rocket was launched from the helicopter deck of Colonial. The destroyer USS Perkins would pursue the balloon as it drifted downwind. Observatories watching the sun from New Mexico, Tokyo, San Francisco, and Mexico City would notify the scientists aboard Colonial as soon as a flare was observed. They in turn would signal Perkins to launch the rocket – through the balloon – up to the ionosphere. The operation had extensive coverage in the April 1957 issue of the National Geographic Magazine , with a journalist and a photographer on the ship. [2]

Colonial returned to the Far East in 1957. On 30 May she went to the rescue of a grounded Chinese freighter. On her 1958–59 deployment, she provided repair parts and skilled hands for the American merchant tanker Wang Buccaneer, disabled at sea in January.

Colonial served in several campaigns in the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1968.

Colonial was decommissioned in 1970 at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Vallejo, California, and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Mare Island. She was struck from the Naval Register on 15 October 1976, and transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD), 29 July 1992. The ship was sold for scrapping on 8 September 1993, for $353,725, to California Imports and Exports and towed to Shanghai, China for scrapping.

Awards

Colonial received seven battle stars for Korean War service and six campaign stars for Vietnam War service.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Duncan</i> (DD-874) Gearing-class destroyer

USS Duncan (DD-874) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy, the third named for Captain Silas Duncan USN (1788–1834). The ship was laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corporation at Orange, Texas on 22 May 1944, launched on 27 October 1944 by Mrs. D. C. Thayer and commissioned on 25 February 1945. The ship was sunk in 1980.

USS <i>Cabildo</i>

USS Cabildo (LSD-16) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for The Cabildo in New Orleans, the old town hall and now a historical museum, where the formal transfer of the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States took place.

USS <i>Mount McKinley</i> US Navy amphibious force command ship

USS Mount McKinley (AGC-7/LCC-7) was the lead ship of the Mount McKinley class of amphibious force command ships. She was named after the highest mountain in North America. She was designed as an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations.

USS <i>Oglethorpe</i> Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Oglethorpe (AKA-100) was an Andromeda-class attack cargo ship in service with the United States Navy from 1945 to 1968. She was scrapped in 1969.

USS <i>Winston</i> Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Winston (AKA-94/LKA-94) was an Andromeda-class attack cargo ship in service with the United States Navy from 1945 to 1957 and from 1961 to 1969. She was scrapped in 1979.

USS <i>Alshain</i> Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Alshain (AKA-55) was an Andromeda-class attack cargo ship in the service of the United States Navy. She was named after the star Alshain in the constellation Aquila, and served as a commissioned ship for 11 years and 9 months.

USS <i>Pledge</i> (AM-277) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Pledge (AM-277) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and then was transferred to the North Pacific Ocean. She survived the world war and was awarded one battle star, but, during the Korean War, she struck a mine and was sunk. She received the Presidential Unit Citation for her Korean service.

USS <i>Redstart</i> Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Redstart (AM-378/MSF-378) was an Auk-class minesweeper commissioned by the United States Navy for service in World War II. Her task, as a fleet minesweeper, was to clear mines as the fleet proceeded into battle areas.

USS <i>Ruddy</i> Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Ruddy (AM-380) was an Auk-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. She was the only U.S. Navy ship named for the North American ruddy duck.

USS <i>Impeccable</i> (AM-320) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Impeccable (AM-320) was an Auk-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally ordered as HMS Brutus (BAM-7) for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy under Lend-Lease, but was acquired and renamed by the United States Navy before construction began. She was commissioned in 1944 and served in the Pacific before being decommissioned in 1947. After the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, Impeccable was recommissioned in 1952 and served off Korea through 1952. She was decommissioned for the final time in October 1955 and placed in reserve. She was sold for scrapping in 1974.

USS <i>Waxbill</i> (MHC-50) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Waxbill (MHC-50/AMCU-50/AMS-39/YMS-479/PCS-1456) was a YMS-1-class minesweeper of the YMS-446 subclass acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of removing mines placed in the water to prevent ships from passing.

USS <i>Kite</i> (AMS-22) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Kite was a YMS-1-class minesweeper of the YMS-135 subclass built for the United States Navy during World War II.

USS <i>Litchfield County</i>

USS Litchfield County (LST-901) was a LST-542-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named after Litchfield County, Connecticut, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

USS <i>Epping Forest</i>

USS Epping Forest (LSD-4/MCS-7) was an Ashland-class dock landing ship acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II for duty in the Pacific Theater. Her task was to carry and land amphibious landing craft and other equipment and to recover and repair landing craft when possible. Named for an estate in Lancaster County, Virginia where Mary Ball Washington, mother of George Washington, was born, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

USS <i>Bexar</i> Haskell-class attack transport in the US Navy

USS Bexar (APA-237/LPA-237) was a Haskell-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1945 to 1970. She was scrapped in 1982.

USS <i>Oak Hill</i> (LSD-7)

USS Oak Hill (LSD-7) was an Ashland-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of Oak Hill, the Virginia estate of President James Monroe (1758–1831).

USS <i>Catamount</i>

USS Catamount (LSD-17) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of the Catamount Tavern in Old Bennington, which served as headquarters for Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys while making their plans against the New Yorkers and the British. The Catamount was also the meeting place of Vermont's only form of government then: the Vermont Council of Safety.

USS <i>Comstock</i> (LSD-19) U.S. Navy dock landing ship

USS Comstock (LSD-19) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the first navy ship named in honor of the Comstock Lode in Nevada, discovered in 1859, which was one of the richest deposits of precious metals known in the world.

USS <i>Fort Marion</i> Casa Grande-class dock landing ship

USS Fort Marion (LSD-22) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida, which was named Fort Marion from 1821 till 1942.

USS <i>Wantuck</i>

USS Wantuck (APD-125) was a United States Navy high-speed transport in commission from 1944 to 1957.

References

  1. 1 2 "COLONIAL (LSD 18)". Naval Vessel Register . U.S. Navy. 28 December 2001. Retrieved 18 April 2008.
  2. 1 2 "USS Colonial (LSD-18)". Stratocat.com.ar. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.