USS ''Spiegel Grove'' (LSD-32) was a of 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 ...
. She was named for
Spiegel Grove
Spiegel Grove, also known as Spiegel Grove State Park, Rutherford B. Hayes House, Rutherford B. Hayes Summer Home and Rutherford B. Hayes State Memorial was the estate of Rutherford B. Hayes, the nineteenth President of the United States, locate ...
, the home and estate in
Fremont, Ohio
Fremont is a city in and the county seat of Sandusky County, Ohio, United States, located along the banks of the Sandusky River. It is about 35 miles from Toledo and 25 miles from Sandusky. It is part of the Toledo metropolitan area. The populat ...
of
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 β January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governo ...
, the 19th President of the United States.
Career
''Spiegel Grove'' was laid down on 7 September 1954, by the
Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 employees, the second largest ...
Corp.,
Pascagoula, Miss., launched on 10 November 1955; sponsored by Mrs.
Webb C. Hayes, and
commissioned on 8 June 1956.
''Spiegel Grove'' sailed for
Hampton Roads and arrived at
Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 July 1956. She headed for the
Guantanamo Bay area on her shakedown cruise on 26 July 1956 and returned on 15 September. The ship was in the yard during October 1956; then in November she participated in amphibious exercises off
Onslow Beach, North Carolina.
On 9 January 1957, ''Spiegel Grove'', with other ships of
Transport Amphibious Squadron 4 (TransPhibRon 4), sailed from
Morehead City, North Carolina
Morehead City is a port town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007. It forms part of the Crystal Coast.
Hist ...
, with elements of the
6th Marines
The 6th Marine Regiment (also referred to as "6th Marines") is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The regiment falls under the command of the 2nd Marine Division of th ...
embarked, for a tour with the
6th Fleet in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
. She returned to Norfolk on 3 June and operated along the east coast for the remainder of the year. In November, she transported 364
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armΔre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
troops to
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
. In January 1958, the LSD was deployed with her squadron to the 6th Fleet on an extended tour which did not end until 6 October. On 22 October, ''Spiegel Grove'' was assigned to
PhibRon 10, the new Fast Squadron. The years 1959 and 1960 saw the LSD participating in numerous operations along the east coast and in the
Caribbean.
''Spiegel Grove'' stood out of Norfolk in April 1961 with
Task Force 88 (TF 88) for "
Solant Amity II", a good-will tour to the African coast. The force carried tons of medical supplies, food and disaster supplies, toys, books, and seed. During the four-month cruise, the ships visited Gambia,
Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
, the
Malagasy Republic, the Seychelles Islands,
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...
, Kenya, the
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tran ...
, Togo, and Gabon before returning home on 8 September. She then entered
Horne Brothers Shipyard,
Newport News, Virginia, for an overhaul that was not completed until early January 1962.
![USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) underway c1965](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/USS_Spiegel_Grove_%28LSD-32%29_underway_c1965.jpg)
''Spiegel Grove'' conducted refresher training and then spent March and April in amphibious exercises in the Caribbean. In May, she took part in operations supporting Malcolm
Scott Carpenter
Malcolm Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 β October 10, 2013) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, and aquanaut. He was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury ...
's manned space flight in
Mercury-Atlas 7
Mercury-Atlas 7, launched May 24, 1962, was the fourth crewed flight of Project Mercury. The spacecraft, named ''Aurora 7'', was piloted by astronaut Scott Carpenter. He was the sixth human to fly in space. The mission used Mercury spacecraft No ...
. In July and August, she returned to the Caribbean for "
Phibulex 2-62". On 1 December 1962 a tender availability period was begun to prepare the ship for "
Solant Amity IV". The LSD loaded supplies during January 1963 and sailed, on 15 February for her second good-will tour which lasted until late May. The ship steamed over 21,000 miles (39,000 km) and visited nine countries before returning home. ''Spiegel Grove'' next deployed to the Caribbean from July to September with
PhibRon 8.
The landing ship has spent the greater part of her active service participating in amphibious exercises along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean. ''Spiegel Grove'' was deployed to the
6th Fleet from January to June 1964, 3 November 1966 to 11 May 1967; and from 17 April to 9 October 1971. She participated in "
Operation Steel Pike
Operation Steel Pike was the largest peacetime amphibious landing exercise in history, conducted by the United States Navy and Marine Corps and taking place on the coast of Spain in October to November 1964.
The operation involved 84 naval ships ...
I" off Spain in October 1964 and made a
midshipman cruise to England and Denmark in 1970. On 22 July 1974, she participated in the evacuation of American citizens from Cyprus along with several other ships of the U.S. Sixth Fleet. She repeated this service in 1976, this time in Lebanon, during "
Operation Fluid Drive Operation Fluid Drive was a non-combatant evacuation operation led by the United States to evacuate American citizens and other foreign nationals from Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War. On 20 June 1976, USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), USS ...
".
In 1983, she won the
Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award
The Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award is presented annually by the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Operations to one ship in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and one in the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Generally the recipient is the ship with the highest score in ...
for the Atlantic Fleet.
The
24th Marine Expeditionary Unit
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU) is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) with a strength of about ...
participated in Eastern Wind in August 1987 in the area of Geesalay,
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: ππππππππ; ar, Ψ§ΩΨ΅ΩΩ
Ψ§Ω, aαΉ£-αΉ’Ε«mΔl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
. At sea, ''Spiegel Grove'', , and took part as
Amphibious Squadron 32/Commander Task Unit 76.8.2 from 2β9 August 1987.
Post-commission career
''Spiegel Grove'' was decommissioned 2 October 1989 and her name struck from the
Navy list
A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval autho ...
on 13 December 1989. The vessel was transferred to the
United States Maritime Administration
The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the U.S. Maritime Service and the U.S. Merchant Marine. Det ...
in the
James River "mothball" fleet.
In 1998, title passed to the state of Florida, with the plan of sinking the hull to make an
artificial reef
An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing.
Many ...
off
Key Largo
Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by ...
. To achieve this, the EPA had to increase the acceptable amount of
PCB
PCB may refer to:
Science and technology
* Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant
* Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics
* ...
(a toxic chemical substance) remaining in future wrecks from 2 ppm to 50 ppm. On 13 June 2001, ''Spiegel Grove'' was transferred to the State of Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Largo, Fla., by the
Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issue ...
, so that the ship could be sunk as an artificial reefing and to become a tourist attraction for divers.
Sinking for reef
Red tape and financial problems delayed the sinking of USS ''Spiegel Grove'' for several years, but the ship was finally moved from Virginia to Florida in May 2002. The total preparation and reefing cost was $1 million. The ship sank prematurely on 17 May 2002.
During the planned sinking, volunteer work crews dropped her 12-ton anchors and flooded her ballast tanks with water. But the ex-''Spiegel Grove'' settled too soon and suddenly started rolling to her starboard side, forcing workers to abandon ship β and their equipment. She sank several hours ahead of schedule, ending up upside-down on the sea bottom and leaving her bow protruding slightly out of the ocean and her stern resting on the ocean floor.
On 10β11 June 2002, at an additional cost of 250,000 dollars, the ship was rolled onto her starboard side by
Resolve Marine Group which pumped air into the port side hull tanks to displace at least 2,000 tons of water, used air bags with 350-400 tons of buoyancy, and two tugboats.
On 26 June 2002 the wreck was finally opened to recreational divers. In the next week, over a thousand divers visited the site. There were 50,000 dives a year done on the ship during just the first two years.
The ex-''Spiegel Grove'' is located on
Dixie Shoal, 6 miles (10 km) off the
Florida Keys in the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary in the Florida Keys. It includes the Florida Reef, the only barrier coral reef in North America and the third-largest coral barrier reef in the world. It also has ...
. For a scuba diver, this ship is long and wide; it is said that one can dive this wreck 100 times and still never see the entire thing.
Her top deck is about below the water's surface. The vessel's hull, which is a labyrinth inside, is as much as under water, and silt can get kicked up and reduce visibility inside to almost zero, which can cause disorientation.
The depth of the wreck requires that divers have an advanced diving certification.
In July 2005,
Hurricane Dennis
Hurricane Dennis was an early-forming major hurricane in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Dennis was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season. F ...
shifted the former USS ''Spiegel Grove'' onto her keel, right-side-up, which was the position originally intended when she was sunk.
Deaths
In April 2003, Eunice Lasala, 48, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, died from a medical condition after surfacing, after diving ''Spiegel Grove''.
On 20 April 2005, Tarik Khair-el-din, 44 of Indiatlantic, Florida, made it to the surface after running out of air but drowned, after diving ''Spiegel Grove''.
In February 2006, David Hargis, 48, of Kansas City, Missouri, died from a medical problem after making it back to the surface in distress, after diving ''Spiegel Grove''.
On 16 March 2007, three
divers
Diver or divers may refer to:
*Diving (sport), the sport of performing acrobatics while jumping or falling into water
*Practitioner of underwater diving, including:
**scuba diving,
**freediving,
**surface-supplied diving,
**saturation diving, a ...
(Kevin Coughlin, 51; Jonathan Walsweer, 38; and Scott Stanley, 55 β all from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
) died while attempting a
penetration dive inside the remains of ''Spiegel Grove''.
On 17 October 2013, Captain Joseph Dragojevich, 43, of Lake County Emergency Medical Services, Florida, went missing in a penetration dive deep inside the wreck, and was found the following day by rescue teams in a room inside ''Spiegel Grove'' far from any possible exit.
On 18 June 2015, Arne Berg, 65, of Dallas, Texas, surfaced after diving ''Spiegel Grove'' and became unresponsive. He was taken aboard a dive vessel, where crew members performed CPR. Berg was taken to shore at the Port Largo subdivision and transported to Mariners Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before noon.
On 24 April 2017, Robert Gaskins, 61, of Clinton, Michigan, became unresponsive on the wreck, then was brought back aboard the boat and then to shore at the Port Largo Homeowner's Park. Paramedics met the boat and transported him to Mariners Hospital in Tavernier, where he was pronounced dead.
On 8 May 2017, James Ringold, 52, of Lawrenceville, GA, was on a trip with his wife when other divers located him around 10:15 a.m. in about of water, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office in the Keys. Ringold, who was aboard the commercial dive vessel ''Rainbow Reef'', was unresponsive when he was found with his regulator out of his mouth in the vicinity of ''Spiegel Grove''. Ringold was brought onto the boat, where CPR was performed as he was brought to shore, according to investigators. Paramedics met the vessel and took Ringold to Mariners Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:41 a.m.
Gallery
File:Diver near an old gun mount, Spiegel Grove wreck, Key Largo, Florida.jpg, Diver near an old gun mount
File:Diver near on old gun mount, Spiegel Grove wreck, Key Largo, Florida.jpg, Diver near an old gun mount
File:Spiegel Grove wreck, large reel on deck, Key Largo, Florida.jpg, Diver photographing a large reel on deck
File:7846 aquaimages.jpg, Bow of USS ''Spiegel Grove''
File:US flag with diver on USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) wreck in 2007.jpg, Diver posing near flag on deck
File:Spiegel grove Flag.png, alt=uss spiegel grove us flag, The US Flag on the USS Spiegel Grove
References
*
External links
* in the
Naval Vessel Register
The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...
website of ''Spiegel Grove'' as a reef
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiegel Grove (LSD-32)
Thomaston-class dock landing ships
Cold War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States
Shipwrecks of the Florida Keys
Ships sunk as dive sites
Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi
1955 ships
Maritime incidents in 2002
Ships sunk as artificial reefs