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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

LSD-30 Fort Snelling

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation (2) - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (2) - Navy Expeditionary Medal (4-Cuba, 2 Lebanon)
Second Row - National Defense Service Medal (2) - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Cuba, 2-Dominican Republic, 5-Lebanon, 1-Grenada) - Humanitarian Service Medal (1-Beirut Lebanon Evacuation)
Thomaston Class Dock Landing Ship:
  • Laid down, 17 August 1953, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
  • Launched, 16 July 1954
  • Commissioned USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30), 24 January 1955, CDR. H. Marvin-Smith in command
  • Decommissioned, 28 September 1984
  • Custody transferred to MARAD, 7 September 1989
  • Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 24 February 1992
  • Final Disposition, sold by MARAD for scrapping to Peck Recycling, Richmond, VA., for $268.707
    Specifications:
    Displacement 8,899 t.(lt), 11,525 t(fl)
    Length 510'
    Beam 84'
    Draft 19'
    Speed 21 kts.
    Complement 304
    Troop Accommodations 300
    Armament (as built) 8 twin 3"/50, 6 twin 20mm AA guns
    Boat Capacity (Well Deck) 21 LCM(6)s
    Aircraft up 8 helicopters
    Propulsion 2 steam turbines, 2 shafts, 23,000 SHP
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Fort Snelling 111k Fort Snelling (LSD-30) underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine April 1957.     		Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Fort Snelling 79k Fort Snelling (LSD-30) with her well deck flooded takes aboard LCU-1487, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine July 1957.     		Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Fort Snelling 61k Fort Snelling (LSD-30) off loading an LCU at Red Beach, Lebanon, 16 July 1958.
    US Navy photo from DANFS.     		Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Fort Snelling 44k Two photos of Fort Snelling (LSD-30)'s well-deck and flight deck filled with US Army vehicles during Power Pack Operations in the Dominican Republic, mid-September 1966. Wayne Schipper, BMCM USN Ret.
    Fort Snelling 101k Fort Snelling (LSD-30)moored pierside at Guantanemo Bay, Cuba, 20 February 1971. © Richard Leonhardt
    Fort Snelling 86k Fort Snelling (LSD-30) moored pierside at Guantanemo Bay, Cuba, 21 February 1971. © Richard Leonhardt
    Fort Snelling 87k Fort Snelling (LSD-30) underway, date and place unknown. .
    Fort Snelling 78k Fort Snelling (LSD-30) at Barcelona, Spain, 6 April 1977. Note the SPS-6 air search radar antenna on the mast. Thomaston-class LSDs were the last active ships fitted with this radar set. El Paso (LKA-117) is alongside. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    Fort Snelling 108k Fort Snelling (LSD-30) at Barcelona, Spain, 6 April 1977, El Paso (LKA-117 is just visible inboard of Fort Snelling. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    View the Fort Snelling (LSD-30)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center web site
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    The LSDs of the US Navy
    Back to the Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Amphibious Ship Type Index Back To The Dock Landing Ship (LSD) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 10 March 2006