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U.S.S. SAN MARCOS
(LSD-25)FIGHTING TWO-BITS
Click to view crew list
USS SAN MARCOS (LSD-25) - a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship
In Commission 1971 to 1971LSD-25 Deployments - Major Events
Add a LSD-25 Shellback Initiation | Add a LSD-25 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SEP | 1944 | - | Keel Date: 1 SEP 1944 | ||
JAN | 1945 | - | Launch Date: 10 JAN 1945 | ||
JUN | 1954 | - | OCT | 1954 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
JAN | 1955 | - | JUN | 1955 | Mediterranean |
MAY | 1956 | - | JUL | 1956 | Antarctic Circle |
SEP | 1958 | - | MAR | 1959 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
AUG | 1959 | - | SEP | 1959 | Great Lakes |
JAN | 1961 | - | OCT | 1961 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
OCT | 1962 | - | DEC | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
FEB | 1963 | - | MAY | 1963 | Mediterranean |
MAR | 1963 | - | AUG | 1963 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1965 | - | JUN | 1965 | Mediterranean-Indian Ocean |
AUG | 1967 | - | FEB | 1968 | 10th Mediterranean Cruise |
JUN | 1968 | - | DEC | 1968 | Mediterranean |
APR | 1969 | - | JAN | 1971 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1970 | - | MAR | 1971 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1970 | - | Shellback Initiation - 1 JAN 1970 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
MAR | 1970 | - | AUG | 1970 | Mediterranean |
JUL | 1971 | - | Commissioned: 1 JUL 1971 | ||
JUL | 1971 | - | Decommissioned: 1 JUL 1971 |
LSD-25 General Specifications
Complement: 17 Officers and 237 Enlisted
Displacement: 7930 tons
Length: 457 feet 9 inches
Beam: 72 feet 2 inches
Draft: 8 feet 2 inches
Flank Speed: 17 knots
Final Disposition: Transferred to Spain 3 November 1960
USS SAN MARCOS (LSD-25)
San Marcos (LSD-25) was laid down on 1 September 1944 at the Philadelphia
Navy Yard
launched on 10 January 1945
and commissioned on 15 April 1945
Comdr. L. E. Ellis in command.
San Marcos
a landing ship dock
completed shakedown in early May
took on a cargo of landing boats; and
on the 19th
sailed for the Panama
Canal and Pearl Harbor. Arriving on 24 June
she transferred her cargo of
40 boats
loaded a similar cargo
and departed on the 29th. After taking
on dredging equipment at Guam
she anchored in Buckner Bay
Okinawa
on
12 August -- three days before the cessation of hostilities. On the 15th
she shifted to Naha
repaired LCT's through the 20th
then
proceeded to
Saipan. There
she loaded LCM(6)'s
LCVP's
and LCP(L)'s for use by occupation
forces in the Tokyo Bay area; and
on 4 September
she arrived in Japan
to offload her cargo and commence operation and maintenance of a boat pool.
In early December
she was reassigned to cargo operations; and
through
the end of the year
she ferried boats from Aomori to Yokohama.
In January 1946
San Marcos was assigned to Joint Task Force 1 (JTF
1) for Operation "Crossroads
" the series of atomic tests scheduled
for Bikini during the summer. She first shifted south to Okinawa; then
in February
moved east to Kwajalein
whence she helped to prepare the test
site. She remained in JTF 1 through the July tests
and
on 29 August
she
was detached. In early September
the ship moved from the Marshalls to Hawaii;
and
in October
she arrived at San Francisco.
Granted provisional radiological clearance
she resumed cargo operations
along the west coast in early November; and
by the end of the month
was
carrying supplies
boats
and vehicles to the Aleutians. In December
she
put into the Navy Yard at Bremerton; received final clearance in January
1947; and
in the spring
resumed cargo runs between the west coast and
the Aleutians. She terminated those operations in September and proceeded
to southern California where her capabilities as a temporarily converted
seaplane drydock were tested. In December
she commenced inactivation
and
on the 19th
was decommissioned and berthed with the San Diego Group of
the Pacific Reserve Fleet.
After the outbreak of war in Korea
San Marcos was ordered activated.
Recommissioned on 26 January 1951
she completed shakedown in March
was
assigned to the Atlantic Fleet's Amphibious Force
and
in May
sailed for
the Panama Canal and Little Creek
Va.
She arrived at the latter in late May and
soon thereafter
commenced arctic
summer resupply operations
under MSTS
to bases in Canada and Greenland.
With the fall
she moved to the Caribbean for fleet exercises. then returned
home. In November
she shifted to Baltimore for a shipyard overhaul
and
with the new year
1952
resumed active duty.
Caribbean exercises took her into March. In April she departed Norfolk
embarked fleet marines and their equipment at Morehead City
and headed
east for her first Mediterranean deployment. She transited the Straits of
Gibraltar in early May and operated with the 6th Fleet
ranging from the
south of Franee to Benghazi and Phaleron Bay
into October. She then recrossed
the Atlantic
and
after disembarking the marines in North Carolina
proceeded
to Little Creek. She resumed east coast operations with a joint Army-Navy
exercise in November.
During 1953
San Marcos conducted exercises and carried cargo along
the east coast and in the Caribbean and underwent overhaul at Boston. Winter
spring
and fall of 1954 saw a continuation of those operations including
a reserve training cruise
while the summer brought a return to arctic waters
for resupply missions. In January 1955
she proceeded again to the Mediterranean.
Completing that deployment in May
she resumed a schedule of east coast
Caribbean
and -- during the summers of 1956 and 1957 -- polar logistic
support operations. In September 1958
she again deployed to the Mediterranean
for a six-month tour with the 6th Fleet. She rejoined the 2d Fleet in March
1959; and
in May tested recovery methods for project "Mercury."
During the summer
she participated in Operation "Inland Seas
"
conducted in the Great Lakes and made possible by the opening of the St.
Lawrence Seaway. Amphibious force exercises and local operations occupied
the remainder of the year.
Throughout the 1960's and into the 1970's
San Marcos rotated regularly
between the 2d and 6th Fleets. While with the 2d
she participated in exercises
and carried cargo and personnel from New England to the Caribbean. Severing
of diplomatic relations and increased tension between the United States
and Cuba and political unrest in the Dominican Republic brought extended
operations in the Greater Antilles in early 1961. Those operations were
followed by duty in support of project "Mercury"; and
in September
she received modifications which added helicopter operations to her capabilities.
Then a five-month FRAM II overhaul in 1962 and 1963 modernized her equipment
and living spaces and improved her operational abilities in transporting
launching
and controlling assault craft; besides providing drydocking and
repair services to landing ships and craft.
Her annual -- excluding 1964 -- Mediterranean deployments brought participation
in fleet
binational
and multinational (NATO) exercises. In 1964
she deployed
only briefly
in September
to participate in Operation " Steel Pike
"
a large-scale amphibious operation held off the coast of Spain.
On 13 August 1970
the LSD returned to Little Creek to complete her last
Mediterranean tour. Local and Caribbean exercises took her into 1971
when
she was designated for transfer to the government of Spain. The first detachment
of her future Spanish crew arrived in mid-April; the remainder joined her
on 30 May. June was spent in familiarization activities and
on 1 July 1971
San Marcos was decommissioned
transferred
and recommissioned in
the Spanish Navy as Galicia.
[Note: The above USS SAN MARCOS (LSD-25) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS SAN MARCOS (LSD-25) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]