Thomaston class dock landing ship

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The Thomaston class dock landing ship is a class of United States Navy dock landing ships. There are eight ships of the Thomaston class:

• USS Alamo (LSD-33)
• USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30)
• USS Hermitage (LSD-34)
• USS Monticello (LSD-35)
• USS Plymouth Rock (LSD-29)
• USS Point Defiance (LSD-31)
• USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32)
• USS Thomaston (LSD-28)

The class of the ship is named after a town in Maine - Thomaston, which was the home of General Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War to serve under the United States Constitution.^[1]

The class was designed and approved in the early 1950s. The lead ship of her class, the first to be built was the Thomaston (LSD-28), which was laid down on 3 March 1953 at Pascagoula, Miss., by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 9 February 1954, sponsored by Mrs. Mathias B. Gardner; and commissioned on 17 September 1954, Captain Marion F. Ramirez de Arellano in command.

[edit] Ship Characteristics

• Displacement: 11,800 tons (full load)
• Length: 510 feet
• Beam: 84 feet
• Max Speed: 22-plus knots
• Power Plant: 2 - 600 psi Boilers, 2 geared turbines, 2 shafts, 24,000 total shaft horsepower
• Aircraft: Landing area only
• Landing Craft: 3 - LCU (or); 9 - LCM-8 (or); 50 - AAV/LVTP-7 amphibious tractors
• Armament: 4 - 3 inch / 50 cal MK 33 AA guns(2 twinmounts)
• Complement: Ship's company: 348 (18 officer, 330 enlisted); Troops: 325
• Builders: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss.^[2]

[edit] References

v • d • e Thomaston-class dock landing ship Thomaston | Plymouth Rock | Fort Snelling | Point Defiance | Spiegel Grove | Alamo | Hermitage | Monticello List of amphibious assault ships of the United States Navy