Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Casa Grande class dock landing ship

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Name
  
Casa Grande

Planned
  
19

Casa Grande-class dock landing ship

Builders
  
Newport News Boston Navy Yard Gulf Shipbuilding Philadelphia Naval Yard

Operators
  
Royal Navy  United States Navy  Spanish Navy  Hellenic Navy  French Navy  Republic of China Navy

Preceded by
  
Ashland-class dock landing ship

Succeeded by
  
Thomaston-class dock landing ship

The Casa Grande class was a class of dock landing ships used by the Royal Navy and the United States Navy during the Second World War. Nineteen ships were planned, but two, USS Fort Snelling and USS Point Defiance were cancelled before being completed.

Contents

Design

The 'Landing Ship Dock' or LSD developed from a British staff requirement for a type of self-propelled drydock to transport beaching craft over long distances, that would in turn deliver trucks and supplies onto the beach. A flooding deck aft capable of holding either two of the larger British Landing craft tanks (LCTs) or three of the new US LCTs was included in the designs. With the option of fitting extra decks, large numbers of vehicles could be transported, and loaded into landing craft via ramps. Despite an initial specification for a speed of 17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h), the LSDs were capable of only 15.6 knots (18.0 mph; 28.9 km/h).

Service

The British initially ordered seven of the class from US dockyards, numbered LSD-9 to 15. Only four were delivered, numbers 9 to 12, while 13 to 15 were retained by the US Navy, which ordered another twelve to the design, but only built ten. In total thirteen of the ships served with the US Navy, while four ships served with the Royal Navy.

Royal Navy

  • HMS Eastway (F140)
  • HMS Highway (F141)
  • HMS Northway (F142)
  • HMS Oceanway (F143)
  • US Navy

  • USS Casa Grande (LSD-13) (ex-HMS Portway, ex-Spear)
  • USS Rushmore (LSD-14) (ex-HMS Swashway, ex-Sword)
  • USS Shadwell (LSD-15) (ex-HMS Waterway, ex-Tomahawk)
  • USS Cabildo (LSD-16)
  • USS Catamount (LSD-17)
  • USS Colonial (LSD-18)
  • USS Comstock (LSD-19)
  • USS Donner (LSD-20)
  • USS Fort Mandan (LSD-21)
  • USS Fort Marion (LSD-22)
  • USS Fort Snelling (LSD-23) (cancelled, completed as USNS Taurus (T-AK-273))
  • USS Point Defiance (LSD-24) (cancelled)
  • USS San Marcos (LSD-25)
  • USS Tortuga (LSD-26)
  • USS Whetstone (LSD-27)
  • Spanish Navy

    Spanish ship Galicia (L-31), ex-USS San Marcos (LSD-25)

    Greek Navy

    Greek ship Okeanos (ex-HMS Oceanway (F143))

    French Navy

    French ship Foudre (ex-HMS Oceanway (F143), ex-Greek ship Okeanos)

    Republic of China Navy

    ROCS Chung Cheng (LSD-191) (ex-USS Comstock (LSD-19))

    References

    Casa Grande-class dock landing ship Wikipedia