The ''Casa Grande'' class was a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

dock landing ship A dock landing ship (also called landing ship, dock or LSD) is an amphibious warfare ship with a well dock to transport and launch landing craft and amphibious vehicles. Some ships with well decks, such as the Soviet Ivan Rogov class, also hav ...

s used by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

and the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Nineteen ships were planned, but two, and were cancelled before being completed.

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 tank The Landing Craft, Tank (LCT) (or Tank Landing Craft TLC) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of ve ...

s (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 , the LSDs were capable of only .

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.

Ships

United States Navy

Royal Navy

Gallery

File:USS Catamount;10121701.jpg, An LCVP bucks in the well of USS ''Catamount'' (LSD-17) during

mine clearance Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By cont ...

operations off

Chinnampo Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is the second largest city by population and an important seaport in North Korea, which lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

, in November 1950 File:USS Fort Marion;10122203.jpg, LVTs embarking British commandos leave USS ''Fort Marion'' (LSD-22) for the beach at Sorye Dong, Korea, on 7 April 1951 File:USS Casa Grande;10121302.jpg, USS ''Casa Grande'' (LSD-13) discharging LCU-1491 from her well deck, circa 1957 File: USS San Marcos with USS Donner.jpg, USS ''San Marcos'' (LSD-25, front) with USS ''Donner'' (LSD-20, rear) File:USS Shadwell (LSD-15) in Mobile Bay (02) 2014.jpg, Decommissioned USS ''Shadwell'' (LSD-15) in Mobile Bay as a Fire Research asset, 2014

Notes

References

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External links

Casa Grande class at Uboat.net

"Mother of Minesweepers."
''Popular Mechanics'', February 1952, pp. 97–104. {{Casa Grande-class dock landing ships Ship classes of the Royal Navy Ship classes of the French Navy