Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive
Patches contributed by Mike Smolinski

USS Francis Marion (LKA-249)
ex
 USS Francis Marion (APA-249) (1961 - 1969)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Delta - Echo
 NADE
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon
Navy Expeditionary Medal (Cuba) - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Cuba)

USS Francis Marion (LPA-249) was transferred to Spain and renamed SPS Aragón (L-22)
Paul Revere Class Amphibious Transport:
  • Laid down as SS Prairie Mariner, a Maritime Administration type (C4-S-1A) hull, under a Maritime Administration contract, at New York Shipbuilding Corp, Camden, N.J.
  • Launched, 13 February 1954
  • Delivered to the Maritime Administration, 25 May 1954
  • Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, 6 January 1955
  • Acquired by the Navy, 16 March 1959
  • Commissioned USS Francis Marion (APA-249), 6 July 1961, CAPT. David S. Bill, Jr. in command
  • Redesignated Amphibious Transport (LPA-249), 1 January 1969
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 1 January 1980
  • Sold to Spain, 11 July 1980, under the Security Assistance Program, renamed SPS Aragón (L-22)
  • Decommissioned by the Spanish Navy in 2000
  • Final Disposition, as of 2002 in use as a training hulk by UOE ("Unidad de Operaciones Especiales", Special Operations Unit) at La Carraca, Cádiz, Spain
    Specifications:
    Displacement 16,828 t (fl)
    Length 563' 6"
    Beam 76'
    Draft 27'
    Speed 20 kts.
    Complement 414
    Troop Accommodations 1500
    Armament 4 3"/50 guns
    Propulsion two B&W WT boilers, 620 PSI WP, geared turbine powered, 19,250 HP
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Francis Marion (APA-249 / LPA-249)
    Francis Marion 191k
    Namesake

    Francis Marion was born in 1732 at Winyah, a plantation in St. John’s Parish, Berkeley County, S.C., near Georgetown. He gained his first military experience fighting Cherokee Indians in 1759 and 1761, during the French and Indian Wars. Elected to the South Carolina Provincial Congress in 1775, he was soon commissioned captain and helped defend Patriot positions in Charleston Harbor in 1776. Marion participated in the unsuccessful American campaign to take Georgia in 1779. When the British took Charleston in the following year and overran most of the State, Marion was commissioned a brigadier general and distinguished himself in organizing and leading a guerrilla band which soon won fame harassing British units and intimidating Tories. When the perplexed red coats sent their reliable troubleshooter Colonel Tarleton in pursuit of Marion, the crafty American won the sobriquet, “the Swamp Fox,” by slipping through the Carolina marshlands. He subsequently joined General Green and assisted in the skillful series of tactical maneuvers which exhausted the British Army under Cornwallis, ultimately causing him to abandon the Carolinas and head toward his doom at Yorktown. After peace returned, Marion served in the State senate until retiring from public life in 1790. He died 27 February 1790.
    Image from the University of San Diego, Department of History    		 Bill Gonyo
    Francis Marion 34k USS Francis Marion (APA-249), date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 .
    Francis Marion 70k USS Francis Marion (APA-249), date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Bob Martin
    USS Francis Marion web site
    Francis Marion 145k USS Francis Marion (LPA-249) moored pierside at Norfolk, VA., Fall 1976 Photo by Steven Loomis IC3, USNR
    Francis Marion 41k USS Francis Marion (LPA-249) moored pierside at Naval Base Guantanemo Bay, Cuba, Fall 1976 Photo by Steven Loomis IC3, USNR
    SPS Aragón (L-22)
    Francis Marion 92k Ex-USS Francis Marion (APA-249), seen here in Spanish service as SPS Aragón (L-22), Cadiz, Spain in 1984. Photo by Ignacio Lopez
    ex member Armada Espanola
    View the USS Francis Marion (APA/LPA-249)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    No Information Available
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Amphibious Ship Type Index Back To The Attack Transport (APA) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 7 March 2008