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U.S.S. SHADWELL
(LSD-15)PRESS ON REGARDLESS
Click to view crew list
USS SHADWELL (LSD-15) - a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship
In Commission 1944 to 1947LSD-15 Deployments - Major Events
Add a LSD-15 Shellback Initiation | Add a LSD-15 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DEC | 1941 | - | JAN | 2009 | Dec. 2017, the USS Shadwell is being prepared to be scraped |
JAN | 1944 | - | Keel Date: 17 JAN 1944 at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Newport News VA | ||
MAY | 1944 | - | Launch Date: 24 MAY 1944 | ||
JUL | 1944 | - | Commissioned: 24 JUL 1944 | ||
OCT | 1944 | - | Shellback Initiation - 15 OCT 1944 - Pacific Ocean | ||
SEP | 1950 | - | SEP | 1950 | Recommisioned |
MAY | 1951 | - | SEP | 1951 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
MAY | 1951 | - | SEP | 1951 | Artic Circle |
JAN | 1952 | - | JAN | 1955 | Antarctic Circle |
AUG | 1952 | - | SEP | 1953 | Newfoundland |
MAY | 1955 | - | Shellback Initiation - 15 MAY 1955 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
MAY | 1957 | - | SEP | 1957 | Mediterranean |
JUL | 1958 | - | JAN | 1959 | Dry Dock |
MAR | 1959 | - | APR | 1960 | LST 15 Estanbul Turkey. Carry President Eisenhouwers Copters |
MAR | 1961 | - | OCT | 1961 | Mediterranean |
JUN | 1961 | - | SEP | 1961 | Caribbean |
OCT | 1961 | - | JAN | 1962 | Dry Dock |
MAY | 1962 | - | OCT | 1962 | Mediterranean |
OCT | 1962 | - | OCT | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
NOV | 1962 | - | DEC | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
SEP | 1963 | - | FEB | 1964 | Mediterranean |
JUN | 1964 | - | JUN | 1964 | Dry Dock |
SEP | 1964 | - | OCT | 1964 | Operation Steelpike One |
OCT | 1964 | - | MAR | 1965 | Mediterranean |
APR | 1965 | - | JUL | 1965 | Dominican Republic |
MAR | 1966 | - | JUL | 1966 | Mediterranean |
APR | 1967 | - | AUG | 1967 | Mediterranean |
MAR | 1968 | - | NOV | 1968 | Mediterranean |
MAR | 1969 | - | OCT | 1969 | Mediterranean |
MAR | 1970 | - | Decommissioned: 9 MAR 1970 | ||
NOV | 1988 | - | DEC | 2009 | Fire Research Detachment Little Sands Island Moble Bay Al. |
LSD-15 General Specifications
Class: Casa Grande-class dock landing ship
Complement: 326 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 4490 tons
Length: 457 feet 9 inches
Beam: 72 feet 2 inches
Draft: 18 feet
Final Disposition: U.S Naval Reserve firefighting training ship Mobile Bay Mobile Alabama
USS SHADWELL (LSD-15)
Initially named Tomahawk
then renamed Waterway upon assignment
to the United Kingdom
LSD-15 was reassigned back to the United States and
named Shadwell. She was laid down on 17 January 1944 by the Newport
News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.
at Newport News
Va.; launched on 24
May 1944; sponsored by Miss Mary Greenman; and commissioned on 24 July 1944
Lt. Comdr. William K. Brooks in command.
After shakedown
Shadwell sailed from Hampton Roads on 26 August
1944. She transited the Panama Canal on 1 September and headed for San Diego
where she laid over for a docking period. After almost a month at San Diego
she departed on 2 Octoher to join the Pacific Fleet. Upon arrival
Shadwell
was employed in the transportation of heavy amphibious equipment between
the islands of the southern Pacific. During this time
she visited Tulagi
and Guadalcanal in the Solomons
Espiritu Santo on the New Hebrides Manus
in the Admiralties
and Hollandia and Aitape on New Guinea.
On 28 December 1944
Shadwell embarked elements of the 1060th Engineer
Battalion
United States Army and sailed from New Guinea with Task Force
78. Though her convoy came under continual submarine
surface
and air attack
so efficient were the screening units that Shadwell's guns remained
silent throughout the entire voyage to Lingayen Gulf
Luzon
P.I. However
on 9 January 1945 (Lingayen D-day)
Shadwell's gunners proved their
worth by splashing a Zeke. Shadwell returned immediately to the staging
area at Hollandia
New Guinea
embarked additional troops of the 1060th
Army Engineers
then departed for Leyte
P.I. At Leyte
she joined Task
Group 78.8
which soon made for Lingayen.
On the evening of 24 January 1945
the task group was sailing south of Siquijor
Island
in the Philippines
when it was attacked by three torpedo bombers.
Two were splashed bv the convoy's combat air patrol but the third escaped
into the darkness. It soon returned
swooping down from the hills on the
island
and pressed home its attack. The convoy's antiaircraft guns brought
the enemy down
but not before he was able to release his torpedo. The air-dropped
"fish" struck Shadwell just forward of amidships on the
starboard side
tearing a hole in her bottom 60 feet wide. The landing ship
was taking water badly and soon began to sink. The convoy steamed on while
two destroyers stood by to evacuate her crew if necessary. Shadwell's
crew worked frantically to save their sinking ship and
by morning
their
efforts were rewarded. Shadwell was steaming under her own power
steering for Leyte by trick wheel. Of the more than 500 men aboard Shadwell
at the time
there were no fatalities and only three casualties
all only
slightly injured.
Temporary repairs were made at Leyte and
when she was deemed seaworthy
Shadwell steamed on to Manus in the Admiralty Isiands. There she
went into drydock and underwent further temporary repairs before crossing
the Pacific for permanent repairs. On 4 May
she reached Bremerton
Wash.
and entered the Navy Yard. Just over two months later
she departed the
yard to rejoin the fleet
sailing on 11 July. She stopped over at San Francisco
Calif.
on the 14th and 15th
fueled and took on ballast
then set course
for Hawaii. On 23 July
she anchored in Maalaea Bay
off Maui and
the next
day
shifted to Pearl Harbor. On the 28th
Shadwell set sail for the western
Pacific specifically Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls. She arrived there
on 6 August and departed on the following day
bound for Samar in the Philippines.
En route to Samar
she was diverted twice
first to Saipan
then to Guam
where she arrived on 13 August. Shadwell departed that same day to
join the 3d Fleet and
on the 17th
two days after the cessation of hostilities
she joined TG 30.8. Ten days later
the landing ship arrived in Sagami Wan
off Tokyo Bav
and. two days thereafter
moored in the bay itself. Shadwell
remained moored at Tokyo through May 1946
operating the boat pool there.
Returning to the United States in mid-1946
Shadwell underwent preinactivation
overhaul and
on 10 July 1947
was placed out of commission
in reserve.
She was berthed at Orange
Tex.
as a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
On 20 September 1950
Shadwell recommissioned at Orange
Tex.
and
she operated for the next five years in the western Atlantic and Caribbean.
Ranging as far north as Labrador
Greenland
and Newfoundland
Shadwell
participated in several Arctic circle expeditions and exercises including
"Bluejay" and "Convex" in 1951 and "Pinetree"
in 1953. The remainder of her time was spent along the eastern seaboard
and in the Caribbean.
In 1956. after one Caribbean operation
Shadwell departed Norfolk
for a tour of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Thus she began
a schedule of deployments
alternating Atlantic-Caribbean duty with cruises
in the Mediterranean
which lasted until she was decommissioned in 1971.
Ten times
during the intervening 15 years
Shadwell cruised the
"middle sea" and visited its ports of call. In 1959
Shadwell
became the first helicopter-carrying dock landing ship. In 1961
she underwent
Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul. She was in the Atlantic
supporting the Cuban quarantine in October 1962. In February 1964. she participated
in the amphibious exercise "Quick Kick V" on the coast of South
Carolina. Seven months later
during the passage to her sixth Mediterranean
deployment
Shadwell took part in Operation "Steel Pike"
executed off the coast of Spain. In January 1968
she was in the Caribbean
engaged in Operation "Spring Board."
During August 1968
Shadwell departed the Mediterranean after a five-month
deployment. She entered Little Creek
Va.
on the 19th to begin inactivation
overhaul. Eight months later
on 9 March 1970
she was placed out of commission
in reserve. On 9 September
Shadwell was transferred to the James
River
Va.
group of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Through 1974
she
remains berthed at James River.
[Note: The above USS SHADWELL (LSD-15) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS SHADWELL (LSD-15) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]