Thomaston-class dock landing ship

The Thomaston class was a class of eight dock landing ships built for the United States Navy in the 1950s.

Class overview
Name: Thomaston class
Builders: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi[1]
Operators:
Preceded by: Casa Grande class
Succeeded by: Anchorage class
Built: 1953–1956
In commission: 1954–
Completed: 8
Active: 1
Retired: 7
General characteristics
Type: Dock landing ship
Displacement: 11,800 long tons (11,989 t) full load
Length: 510 ft (160 m)
Beam: 84 ft (26 m)
Propulsion: 2 × 600 psi boilers, 2 × geared turbines, 2 shafts, 24,000 shp (17,897 kW)
Speed: 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)+
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 3 × LCU or 9 × LCM-8 or 50 × AAV/LVTP-7 amphibious tractors
Troops: 325
Complement: 348 (18 officers, 330 enlisted)
Armament: 4 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal Mk.33 AA guns (2 twin mounts)
Aviation facilities: Helicopter landing area

The class is named after a town of Thomaston, Maine, which was the home of General Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War to serve under the United States Constitution.[2]

Design

The Thomaston class was the third class of U.S. Navy dock landing ships. The class was designed and approved in the early 1950s. Compared to the Ashland and Casa Grande-class dock landing ships of World War II, the ships of this class were about a third larger and five knots faster.[3] The class was designed to be able to transport:

The dock was covered by removable segments that were able to carry the weight of two medium helicopters. Both cranes could lift weights of up to 50 tons. The machinery spaces were located underneath the dock, in contrast to the earlier Ashland class, where the machinery spaces were located to port and starboard of the dock.

Originally, all ships were armed with eight 3"/50 caliber gun Mark 33 twin mounts. The number was later reduced.

Spiegel Grove was a trial ship for the Jeff(A) and Jeff(B) landing craft in the mid-1980s. Jeff(B) was then developed into the Landing Craft Air Cushion. All ships were decommissioned by the U.S. Navy between 1983 and 1990, Alamo and Hermitage were sold to Brazil in 1989–1990.[4]

Ships in class
Ship Name Hull number Commissioned Decommissioned Fate
Thomaston LSD-28 17 September 1954 28 September 1984 Sold for scrap, 28 July 2011
Plymouth Rock LSD-29 29 November 1954 30 September 1983 Sold for scrap, 25 August 1995
Fort Snelling LSD-30 24 January 1955 28 September 1984 Sold for scrap, 25 August 1995
Point Defiance LSD-31 31 March 1955 30 September 1983 Sold for scrap, 28 July 2011
Spiegel Grove LSD-32 8 June 1956 2 October 1989 Sunk as an artificial reef, 2002
Alamo LSD-33 24 August 1956 28 September 1990 Transferred to Brazil, 12 November 1990; decommissioned in 2012
Hermitage LSD-34 14 December 1956 2 October 1989 Transferred to Brazil, 2 October 1989; decommissioned in 2016
Monticello LSD-35 29 March 1957 1 October 1985 Sunk as a target, 14 July 2010
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References
  1. Bundschuh, Randy. "USS Thomaston (LSD-28) Characteristics". Retrieved 2007-12-15.
  2. "Thomaston". Naval Historical Center. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
  3. Paul H. Silverstone: U.S. Warships since 1945. Ian Allan Ltd. Shepperton, Surrey (UK), 1986, p. 98. ISBN 0-7110-1598-8
  4. Stefan Terzibaschitsch: 50 Jahre amphibische Schiffe der U.S. Navy, Leonberg, Germany 1995, p. 37.


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