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U.S.S. FORT SNELLING
(LSD-30)THE FIGHTING FORT
Click to view crew list
The USS FORT SNELLING (LSD-30), a Thomaston-class dock landing ship, was commissioned on 24 JAN 1955. Built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USS FORT SNELLING was homeported at Little Creek, Virginia and spent her entire service career as an East Coast "Gator Freighter". FORT SNELLING routinely deployed to the Caribbean and Mediterranean, as well as contingency operations in Beirut, the Dominican Republic, the search for the lost atomic bomb off of Palomares, Spain and the Invasion of Grenada. USS FORT SNELLING served her country for 29 years, 8 months and 4 days, until decommissioned on 28 SEP 1984. The hulk of FORT SNELLING was scrapped in 1995.
The USS FORT SNELLING (LSD-30) deployment history and significant events of her service career follow:
LSD-30 Deployments - Major Events
Add a LSD-30 Shellback Initiation | Add a LSD-30 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUG | 1953 | - | Keel Date: 17 AUG 1953 at Ingalls Shipbuilding Pascagoula MS | ||
JUL | 1954 | - | Launch Date: 16 JUL 1954 | ||
JAN | 1955 | - | Commissioned: 24 JAN 1955 | ||
SEP | 1956 | - | APR | 1957 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1956 | - | DEC | 1956 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1957 | - | OCT | 1957 | Caribbean |
SEP | 1957 | - | OCT | 1957 | Mediterranean |
AUG | 1959 | - | OCT | 1959 | Caribbean |
JAN | 1961 | - | JAN | 1961 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
JAN | 1961 | - | SEP | 1963 | Somalia |
MAR | 1962 | - | AUG | 1962 | Mediterranean |
OCT | 1962 | - | DEC | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
SEP | 1963 | - | OCT | 1963 | Search for remains of Nucular Submarine Threasher |
JUN | 1964 | - | SEP | 1964 | Caribbean |
NOV | 1964 | - | NOV | 1964 | Steel Pike |
JAN | 1965 | - | JAN | 1966 | Mediterranean |
MAR | 1965 | - | JUN | 1965 | Caribbean |
APR | 1965 | - | APR | 1965 | Dominican Republic Landing |
OCT | 1965 | - | MAY | 1966 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1966 | - | APR | 1966 | Search for lost Atomic bombs Palomares Spain |
JAN | 1966 | - | JUN | 1967 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1966 | - | SEP | 1966 | Dominican Republic with.drawal |
OCT | 1966 | - | Shellback Initiation - 29 OCT 1966 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
OCT | 1966 | - | NOV | 1966 | Ascension Island -- pickup Space Module |
OCT | 1966 | - | Shellback Initiation - 10 OCT 1966 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
OCT | 1966 | - | Shellback Initiation - 29 OCT 1966 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
FEB | 1967 | - | MAR | 1967 | Springboard |
FEB | 1968 | - | MAY | 1968 | Caribbean |
NOV | 1970 | - | MAR | 1971 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1971 | - | MAR | 1972 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1971 | - | MAR | 1972 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1972 | - | JAN | 1975 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUL | 1972 | - | SEP | 1972 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
JUN | 1973 | - | DEC | 1973 | Mediterranean |
NOV | 1976 | - | MAY | 1977 | Mediterranean |
JAN | 1977 | - | JAN | 1978 | Mediterranean |
APR | 1978 | - | APR | 1978 | collision with USNS Waccamaw April 3rd. |
APR | 1979 | - | MAY | 1979 | Caribbean |
JUN | 1979 | - | DEC | 1980 | Dry Dock |
JAN | 1980 | - | JUL | 1980 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
JAN | 1980 | - | JAN | 1984 | Caribbean |
JAN | 1981 | - | JAN | 1981 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
FEB | 1981 | - | APR | 1981 | Guantanamo Bay |
JUN | 1981 | - | SEP | 1981 | Hoduras |
JAN | 1982 | - | MAR | 1982 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
JAN | 1982 | - | APR | 1982 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
OCT | 1982 | - | MAY | 1983 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
OCT | 1983 | - | NOV | 1983 | Grenada |
OCT | 1983 | - | MAY | 1984 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
OCT | 1983 | - | OCT | 1983 | Grenada |
SEP | 1984 | - | Decommissioned: 28 SEP 1984 |
LSD-30 General Specifications
Class: Thomaston-class dock landing ship
Complement: 304 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 8899 tons
Length: 510 feet
Beam: 84 feet
Draft: 19 feet
Final Disposition: Sold for scrap 25 August 1995
USS FORT SNELLING (LSD-30)
Fort Snelling (LSD-30) was launched 16 July 1954 by Ingalls Shipbuilding
Corp.
Pascagoula
Miss.; sponsored by Mrs. Robert F. Briscoe
wife of Vice
Admiral Briscoe; and commissioned 24 January 1955
Commander H. Marvin-Smith
in command.
Homeported at Norfolk
Va.
Fort Snelling carried out an intensive
exercise schedule along the east coast and in the Caribbean
almost always
with Marines embarked for amphibious training. She made her first deployment
to the Mediterranean in 1956
returning the next year again to serve with
the 6th Fleet. During her 1958 deployment
she was at sea bound for the
island of Rhodes when on 14 July she was notified to land her Marines at
Beirut
Lebanon
the next day. Thus
Fort Snelling took part in the
immediate response of the U.S. Navy to the Middle Eastern crisis of summer
1958. Several times more before leaving the Mediterranean she returned to
the coast of Lebanon to support the Marines ashore. Through 1959 and 1963
Fort Snelling continued her training operations with marines in the
Caribbean and on the Carolina coast.
Fort Snelling was decommissioned 28 September 1984 and
transferred to the Maritime Administration 7 September 1989. Her name was
struck from the Naval Vessel Register 24 February 1992 and she was sold
25 August 1995.
[Note: The above USS FORT SNELLING (LSD-30) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS FORT SNELLING (LSD-30) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]