USS Pocono (AGC-16/LCC-16) | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Pocono |
Namesake | Pocono Mountains |
Builder | North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina |
Laid down | 30 November 1944 |
Launched | 25 January 1945 |
Acquired | 15 February 1945 |
Commissioned | 29 December 1945 |
Decommissioned | 19 June 1949 |
Recommissioned | 18 August 1951 |
Decommissioned | 16 September 1971 |
Stricken | 1 December 1976 |
Fate | Sold for scrapping, 3 December 1981 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Adirondack-class command ship |
Displacement | |
Length | 459 ft 2 in (139.95 m) |
Beam | 63 ft (19 m) |
Draft | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
Propulsion | Geared turbine, 1 shaft, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW) |
Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement | 490 |
Armament |
|
USS Pocono (AGC-16) was an Adirondack-class amphibious force command ship named after a range of Pocono Mountains in eastern Pennsylvania. 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.
An amphibious force flagship, Pocono's keel was laid down on 30 November 1944 and the vessel was launched on 25 January 1945 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, of Wilmington, North Carolina, sponsored by Miss Mary V. Carmines of Messick. The ship was acquired by the Navy on 15 February 1945, towed to Boston for fitting out and commissioned on 29 December 1945.
Pocono departed Boston on 18 March 1946 for Key West, Florida, en route to Guantanamo Bay for shakedown. The ship then proceeded to Washington, D.C., via Norfolk, and arrived in the US capital on 7 May.
During the next few years, she operated off the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Trinidad. Early in 1948, she was flagship of Admiral W. H. P. Blandy, Commander Atlantic Fleet.
Pocono decommissioned at Norfolk on 19 June 1949 and moved to Bayonne, New Jersey, where she entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
Pocono was recommissioned on 18 August 1951 to serve as flagship for Commander, Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet. She operated in this capacity in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the U.S. until 1956. On 31 October 1956, during the Suez Crisis, the Commander-in-Chief, Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, embarked in Pocono, and remained on board until 13 December.
In September 1957 Pocono served as flagship for a 38-ship amphibious task force in NATO exercise "Deepwater" off the coast of Turkey.
In early 1958 Pocono served as flagship for operation "Packard X", an Atlantic Fleet amphibious exercise at Onslow Beach, North Carolina. On 23 June 1958 she departed the U.S. bound for the Mediterranean. She was diverted to Beirut, Lebanon, where she controlled the landing that assisted that nation. During her three-month stay in Beirut, she performed such functions as air control and command communications. Because of the Lebanon Crisis the regular six-month Mediterranean deployment was extended to nine months, with Pocono returning to Norfolk on 20 March 1959.
On 11 January 1960 Pocono again departed Norfolk for the Mediterranean where she participated in four amphibious landing exercises, including a joint NATO landing at Porto Scudo, Sardinia, before returning to Norfolk on 14 June. She participated in Caribbean landing exercises in July 1960 and February 1961. On 11 April 1961 she departed for the Mediterranean, and participated in several amphibious landings, including a joint NATO landing at the Gulf of Saros, Turkey, before returning to Norfolk on 12 October.
After an extensive overhaul she departed 10 April 1962 for the Caribbean, and 23 July for the Mediterranean. When the Cuban Missile Crisis arose, Pocono was recalled to the United States. She carried the flag of Commander, Amphibious Forces, Atlantic, and remained in operational readiness in Norfolk. For the rest of 1962, 1963, and through most of 1964 Pocono remained in the U.S. In early 1964 she participated in two landing exercises at Onslow Beach. On 11 October she deployed for "Steelpike I", which included an assault with helicopter landings at Huelva Bay, Spain. She returned to Norfolk on 25 November.
Pocono departed Norfolk on 21 May 1965 en route to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to aid in the peace-keeping operation there. She provided the platform from which Vice Admiral John S. McCain directed the naval forces' support of this operation. From late 1965 through early 1968 Pocono participated in further operations in the Caribbean and off the east coast of the U.S., returning to Norfolk on 24 February 1968.
Decommissioned on 16 September 1971, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1976. Pocono was sold for non-transportation use 3 December 1981 to Union Minerals & Alloys of New York, New York and scrapped.
The second USS La Salle (LPD-3/AGF-3) was built as a Raleigh-class amphibious transport dock and entered service with the United States Navy in 1964. La Salle was named for the city in Illinois that was in turn named after René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. La Salle saw service in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and throughout international waters in the Middle East and Europe. The vessel served as a command ship for Joint Task Force Middle East and as flagship for the Sixth Fleet. In 2005 the ship was decommissioned and sunk as a target ship off the Atlantic coast of the United States in 2007.
USS Trenton (LPD-14) was an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the capital of New Jersey. In 2007, it was sold to the Indian Navy and renamed INS Jalashwa.
USS Shreveport (LPD-12) was an Austin-class amphibious transport dock. It was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city in Louisiana. Her keel was laid down on 27 December 1965 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 22 October 1966 sponsored by Mrs. Andrew McBurney Jackson, Jr., and commissioned on 12 December 1970.
The third USS Adirondack (AGC-15) was laid down on 18 November 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina; launched on 13 January 1945, sponsored by Mrs. E. L. White; transferred to the Navy on 4 February 1945; towed to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for conversion; and commissioned on 2 September 1945, the day Japan surrendered on board the battleship Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay.
USS Little Rock (CL-92/CLG-4/CG-4) is a Cleveland-class light cruiser and one of 27 completed for the United States Navy during or shortly after World War II. She is one of six to be converted to guided missile cruisers and the first US Navy ship to be named for Little Rock, Arkansas. Commissioned in mid-1945, she was completed too late to see combat duty during World War II and was retired post-war, becoming part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in 1949.
USS Barton (DD-722), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral John Kennedy Barton.
USS Liddle (DE-206/APD-60), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, in service from 1943 to 1946. She was recommissioned from 1950 to 1959 and from 1961 to 1967, before being sold for scrap.
USS Macdonough (DLG-8/DDG-39) was a Farragut-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Commodore Thomas Macdonough, the 4th ship of the United States Navy to be named for him.
USS Rankin (AKA-103/LKA-103) was a Tolland-class attack cargo ship in service with the United States Navy from 1945 to 1947 and again from 1952 to 1971. She was finally sunk as an artificial reef in 1988.
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 Mount Olympus (AGC-8) was a Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship, named for the highest peak in the Olympic Mountains of the State of Washington. She was designed to be an amphibious forces 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 Taconic (AGC-17/LCC-17) was an Adirondack class amphibious force command ship of the U.S. Navy named after the Taconic Mountains in New York. She was laid down in December 1944 and decommissioned in January 1969.
USS Rich (DD-820/DDE-820) was a Gearing-class destroyer in the United States Navy during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. She was the second ship named in honor of Lieutenant Ralph McMaster Rich (1916–1942), who was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership as a naval aviator aboard USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway.
USS Arneb (AKA-56/LKA-56) was an Andromeda-class attack cargo ship named after Arneb, the brightest star in the southern constellation Lepus. She served as a commissioned ship for 27 years and 3 months, the longest time in commission of any AKA.
USS Donner (LSD-20) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named for the Sierra Nevada Donner Pass, where the Donner Party became snowbound in the winter of 1846–47.
USS Terrebonne Parish (LST-1156), originally USS LST-1156, affectionately nicknamed the "T-Bone" by her early crew, was a Terrebonne Parish-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy in 1952. The lead ship in her class, she was named for Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, the only U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name. The ship was later transferred to Spain and renamed Velasco (L-11), and was scrapped in 1994.
USS Suffolk County (LST-1173) was a De Soto County-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during the late 1950s. Named after counties in Massachusetts and New York, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Mattabesset (AOG-52) was a Patapsco-class gasoline tanker in service with the United States Navy from 1945 to 1968. She was scrapped in 1969.
USS Truckee (AO-147) was a Neosho-class fleet oiler of the United States Navy in service from 1955 to 1994. The ship was named after the Truckee River in the U.S. states of California and Nevada.
USS Walworth County (LST-1164), previously USS LST-1164, was a United States Navy landing ship tank (LST) in commission from 1953 to 1971, and which then saw non-commissioned Military Sealift Command service as USNS Walworth County (T-LST-1164) from 1972 to 1973.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.