The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
|
| Previous: Landing Ships | Table of Contents | Next: Langley, U.S. Seaplane Tender |
|
ONI 226 |
| Tonnage | 4500 tons light displacement 7930 tons fully loaded 13,490 tons ballasted down for unloading |
| Dimensions | 457'9" by 72'0" by 14'5" 139.5m by 21.9m by 4.4m |
| Maximum speed | 17 knots |
| Complement | 290 |
| Armament | 1 3"/50 AA gun 8 20mm Oerlikon AA guns |
| Machinery |
2-shaft reciprocating 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers |
| Bunkerage | 500 tons fuel oil 12,000 gallons (45,000 liters) gasoline |
| Range | 8000 nautical miles (15,000 km) at 15 knots |
| Capacity |
3 LCT,
14 LCM, 47 DUKW, 41 LVT,
or 1500 tons of vehicles plus 2 LCPL |
| Passengers |
240 |
| Modifications |
Late 1944: Light antiaircraft increased to 16
20mm guns. U.S. units also
had 1 5"/38 DP gun, 2x4 and
2x2 40mm Bofors AA guns. |
Landing Ships,
Dock, or LSDs, were
fairly large (4500 tons) oceangoing vessels used in amphibious
invasions. They were derived from the Popper Ferry, a 1920
design for a barge transporter for use on the Danube River, redesigned
by the British in 1942 and constructed in American shipyards. Each had
a dock in its stern that could be
flooded by ballasting down the stern of the ship.
This gave the LSD the ability to transport,
load, and launch several smaller landing
craft.
The ships were considerably faster, roomier, and more seaworthy
than LSTs, reducing the likelihood of a bad
trip. First used in combat at Tarawa,
they revolutionized the offloading of tanks
on a beachhead by allowing them to be transported preloaded into LCMs.
It was discovered in the field that LSDs
were also extremely useful for the maintenance and repair of landing
craft,
which
suffered tremendous wear and tear every time they were run up on a
beach. As a
result, several LSDs
were redesignated
as landing
craft repair ships.
A few more were redesignated
as PT boat repair
ships. A total of 25 of these ships were built, of which four went to
the British as Lend-Lease. The
design was continually refined and there was much variation between
individual ships. Those units constructed at Oakland are sometimes listed
separately as the Ashland
class while the units constructed on the East Coast (including all the
Lend-Lease units) are listed as the Casa
Grande class.
LSDs
are the direct ancestor of the
amphibious assault ships
in modern navies.
| Ashland
|
Completed 1943-6-5 (Oakland) |
|
| Belle Grove
|
Completed 1943-8-9 (Oakland) | |
| Carter Hall |
Completed 1943-9-18 (Oakland) | |
| Epping
Forest |
Completed 1943-10-11 (Oakland) | |
| Gunston Hall |
Completed 1943-11-10 (Oakland) | |
| Lindenwald |
Completed 1943-12-9 (Oakland) | |
| Oak Hill |
Completed 1944-1-5 (Oakland) | |
| White Marsh |
Completed 1944-1-29 (Oakland) | |
| Rushmore |
Arrived 1944-8-12 |
|
| Casa Grande |
Arrived 1944-8-14 |
|
| Shadwell |
Arrived 1944-9-1 |
|
| Cabildo |
Arrived 1945-5 |
|
| Catamount |
Arrived 1945-5 |
References
Friedman
(2002)
Leighton and
Coakley (1955)
NavSource.org
(accessed 2008-11-3)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2006-2010 by Kent G. Budge. Index
