Cabildo, early 1950s, before addition of flight deck | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Cabildo |
Namesake | The Cabildo in New Orleans, Louisiana |
Awarded | 1 July 1943 |
Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia |
Laid down | 24 July 1944 |
Launched | 22 December 1944 |
Commissioned | 15 March 1945 |
Decommissioned | 31 March 1970 |
Stricken | 15 October 1976 |
Honors and awards |
|
Fate | Sunk as a target, September 1985 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Casa Grande-class dock landing ship |
Displacement |
|
Length | 457 ft 9 in (139.52 m) |
Beam | 72 ft (22 m) |
Draft | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
Propulsion | 2 steam turbines, 2 shafts |
Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Boats & landing craft carried | 3 LCTs in 392 ft (119 m) × 44 ft (13 m) Well deck |
Troops | Accommodation for 240 combat troops |
Complement | 326 |
Armament |
|
Aviation facilities | 1 helicopter landing pad |
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.
Cabildo was laid down on 24 July 1944 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia; launched on 22 December 1944, sponsored by Miss A. B. Pendleton; and commissioned on 15 March 1945.
Cabildo sailed from New York City on 6 May 1945 for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on 8 June. She carried out her duties of docking and repairing small craft, transporting amphibious craft, and operating boat-pools at Guam and Okinawa in July. After carrying boats to the Philippines in August, Cabildo reported in Wakanoura Wan, Honshū, on 11 September. Here she loaded Javanese, Dutch, and Australians, rescued from Japanese prison camps, who she carried to Okinawa. Laden with men of the Army Engineers, she arrived at Manila on 3 October, then sailed for Japan, where she acted as receiving and repair ship at Sasebo and Yokosuka until 19 April 1946. Cabildo returned to the west coast on 12 May 1946, and was decommissioned on 15 January 1947.
Recommissioned at San Diego on 5 October 1950, she took part in atomic weapons tests in the Marshalls — "Operation Greenhouse" — in which she was one of the first ships to become radioactive. After extensive decontamination she sailed, on 21 November 1951, from San Diego for duty in Korean waters. She lifted soldiers and marines from Japan to Korea, and from Korea's east coast to the Inchon battle lines, and during a part of her tour served as flagship and tender to Mine Squadron 3 in its dangerous operations. While with this group in April off Wonsan, Cabildo received a direct hit from a shore battery, suffered a few casualties, but was able to continue her mission. The battleship Iowa later arrived to cover her.
Returning to San Diego on 2 September 1952, Cabildo prepared for another extended Far Eastern deployment from 3 July 1953 to 23 April 1954. In 1955 she was fitted with mezzanine and helicopter decks, and from that time operated extensively with Marine units in developing the vertical envelopment concept of amphibious warfare. Cabildo's west coast operations alternated with two tours of duty in the Far East from January 1956 to July 1958. Clearing San Diego on 11 February 1959, she carried craft and an underwater demolition team detachment to the Aleutians before continuing to Japan. After duty in Japanese and Formosan waters, she returned to Long Beach on 5 June 1959. Amphibious exercises at Okinawa highlighted her 1960 deployment, which began on 16 February and continued through the major portion of the year.
In the spring of 1963, the ship sailed back to the West Coast and her home port of Long Beach via the Panama Canal after serving as part of the Navy's Cuban Missile Blockade. In the fall of 1963, she was deployed to Asia and visited Pearl Harbor, Subic Bay and Japan. During this period she made six trips to Okinawa and also sailed to Guam and the Kwajalein Atoll. During her Asian tour of duty she was in a collision at sea when most of the Electronic Parts Storeroom was lost as it spilled into the ocean.
In April 1964 she headed back to her home port of Long Beach. Several months later she went into dry dock for upgrades and spent 6 months in Portland Oregon.
During this time period, the ship had visited every major city and port on the West Coast of America's mainland.
In 1965, she and the USS Galveston were available for naval gunfire support and 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines in Van Tuong which was the artillery unit in direct support. USS Vernon County embarked elements of the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines (Battalion Landing Team) (BLT) 3, under Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. Muir, USMC, at Chu Lai, and sailed south along the coast to An Thuong, where she put the troops ashore in phase one of Operation Starlite.
Cabildo was decommissioned on 31 March 1970 at Long Beach, CA, and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. She was struck from the Naval Register on 15 October 1976, and used as a fleet target, sunk by grounding at San Nicholas Island in September 1985.
Cabildo received two battle stars for service in the Korean War and six battle stars for the Vietnam War.
USS Vancouver (LPD-2) was a Raleigh-class amphibious transport dock, named after the city of Vancouver, Washington, which was in turn named after the famous north-west explorer George Vancouver. Vancouver's was commissioned 11 May 1963 and served during the Vietnam War and 1991 Gulf War. She was decommissioned 27 March 1992, placed in reserve and stricken 8 April 1997. Title was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration 29 November 2001. Vancouver was towed for scrapping in Brownsville, Texas, in April 2013.
USS Anchorage (LSD-36) was the lead ship of the Anchorage-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. In the ship's 34 years of service, she completed 19 deployments in the western Pacific and became the most decorated dock landing ship on the west coast.
USS Tortuga (LSD-26) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship in the United States Navy. She was the first Navy ship to be named for the Dry Tortugas, a group of desert coral islets 60 miles west of Key West, Florida, which were discovered in 1513 by Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon.
USS Paul Revere (APA/LPA-248) was the lead ship of the Paul Revere class of attack transport in the United States Navy. She was named for the early patriot and Founding Father, Paul Revere (1735–1818). She later served in the Spanish Navy as Castilla (L-21).
USS Alamo (LSD-33) was a Thomaston-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for the Alamo, site of the 1836 Battle of the Alamo.
USS Union (AKA-106) was a Tolland-class attack cargo ship of the United States Navy, the fourth ship of her name. She served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
USS Ashland (LSD-1) was the lead ship of her class—the first dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the first Navy ship to be named for Ashland, the estate of Henry Clay, in Lexington, Kentucky.
USS Gunston Hall (LSD-5) was an Ashland-class dock landing ship in the United States Navy, named in honor of Gunston Hall, the estate of George Mason (1725–1792), one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Originally designated APM-5, Gunston Hall was launched 1 May 1943 by the Moore Dry Dock Company, Oakland, California, sponsored by Mrs. Harvey S. Haislip; and commissioned 10 November 1943.
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 Henrico (APA-45) was a Bayfield-class attack transport that served with the United States Navy in World War II, and subsequently in the Korean War, Cold War and Vietnam War.
USS Okanogan (APA/LPA-220) was a Haskell-class attack transport that saw service with the US Navy in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. She was of the VC2-S-AP5 Victory ship design type and named after Okanogan County, Washington.
USS Vernon County (LST-1161) was a United States Navy, Terrebonne Parish-class tank landing ship in commission from 1953 to 1973. She saw extensive service in the Vietnam War before being transferred to the Venezuelan Navy, where she became Amazonas (T-21).
USS Belle Grove (LSD-2) was an Ashland-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of Belle Grove Plantation, the birthplace of President James Madison (1751–1836) in Port Conway, Virginia.
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 Casa Grande (LSD-13) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument near Coolidge, Arizona.
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 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.
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 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 Whetstone (LSD-27) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named in honor of Whetstone Point, at end of peninsula between the old Basin of downtown Baltimore. The peninsula which also later contained the residential communities of South Baltimore, Federal Hill and Locust Point is bordered by the |Northwest Branch and the Middle and Ferry Branches on the Patapsco River, which is also Baltimore Harbor. Location of Revolutionary War fortifications of Fort Whetstone from the 1770s and the previous site of later Fort McHenry reconstructed beginning in 1798 was named for James McHenry, third Secretary of War under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. The star-shaped fort which defended Baltimore, Maryland from British assault with a two-day bombardment in 12–14 September 1814, during the War of 1812. The poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" when set to music inspired the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" written as a poem by Francis Scott Key from an off-shore truce ship downriver.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.