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U.S. Navy. Via Friedman (2002)
Tonnage | 4351 tons standard displacement |
Dimensions | 414'6" by 56' by 19' 126.3m by 17m by 5.8m |
Maximum speed | 19 knots |
Complement |
453 officers and men 732 troops |
Armament |
4 3"/50 dual-purpose guns |
Machinery |
2-shaft geared turbines (8000
shp) |
Cargo |
75,000 cubic feet 2100 cubic meters |
The Doyens were standard
Maritime Commission P1
passenger liners converted to attack transports (as standard type
P1-S2-L2.)
Their conversion apparently came at the direct request of President Roosevelt to
the Maritime Commission to construct a pair of small attack transports
modelled on the British LSI concept,
with added provisions for tanks.
They were the first purpose-built attack transports in the U.S. Navy
and tok an unusually long time to complete.
The Marine Corps was
unhappy with the design, which was about a third the size required to
land a regimental combat team. As
a result, the ships were sometimes described as Marine battalion transports. They were
ostensibly for use in the Caribbean, where their shallow draft would
have been useful, but were seen within the Roosevelt adminstration as
prototypes for operations in Europe. After modifications were made to
allow each ship to carry half a combat team, the Marines warmed to the
idea, liking the larger number of boats available to two small
transports versus a large transport, as well as the shallow draft and
easier cargo access.
None were lost in the Pacific.
Doyen
|
Completed 1943-5-22 (San Pedro) |
Feland
|
Completed 1943-6-21 (San Pedro) |
References
DANFS
Friedman (2002)
NavSource.Org
(accessed 2009-2-10)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index