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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive



Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Alpha - Romeo
NAAR
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 (3) - Navy Expeditionary Medal (Cuba)
Bottom Row - National Defense Service Medal (2) - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Lebanon, Cuba, Dominican Republic) - Humanitarian Service Medal (Beirut Lebanon evacuation)


Thomaston Class Dock Landing Ship:
  • Laid down, 7 September 1954, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
  • Launched, 10 November 1955
  • Commissioned USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), 8 June 1956, CAPT. S. Filippone in command
  • Decommissioned, 2 October 1989
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 13 December 1989
  • Custody transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Title transferred from MARAD the State of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Largo, FL., 13 June 2001
  • Final Disposition, sunk as an artificial reef, 17 May 2002 six miles off the Florida Keys, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
    Specifications:
    Displacement 8,899 t.(lt), 11,525 t(fl)
    Length 510'
    Beam 84'
    Draft 19'
    Speed 20 kts.
    Complement
    Officers 18
    Enlisted 330
    Troop Accommodations 325
    Armament (as built)
    four twin 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    four twin 40mm gun mounts
    six twin 20mm AA gun mounts
    Boat Capacity (Well Deck)
    three LCUs or nine LCM-8's or fifty AAV's/LVTP-7's amphibious tractors
    Aircraft Capacity helicopter landing area
    Propulsion
    two D-type boilers, 600psi.
    two steam turbines
    two propellers, 24,000shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Spiegel Grove
    10123225
    388k
    Namesake
    Spiegel Grove, Fremont, OH. - estate of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States, 2015.
    Photo by Dale Hargrave
    Spiegel Grove
    10123226
    30k Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) ready for launching, 10 November 1955, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
    Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. photo.
    Dale Hargrave
    Spiegel Grove
    10123227
    67k Mrs. Webb C. Hayes, wife of President Hayes's grandson, christens Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), 10 November 1955, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
    Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. photo.
    Dale Hargrave
    Spiegel Grove
    10123228
    64k Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) slides down the builder's ways as she is launched, 10 November 1955, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
    Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. photo.
    Dale Hargrave
    Spiegel Grove 245k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) moored at Genoa, Italy, 21 April 1957 Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Spiegel Grove 32k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) under way, date and location unknown. © Richard Leonhardt
    Spiegel Grove 29k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) under way, date and location unknown.  
    Spiegel Grove 505k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Charles Lamm
    Spiegel Grove
    10123230
    227k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) underway off Norfolk, VA., date unknown.
    ©Nobe Smith
    NIcholas Tiberio
    Spiegel Grove 72k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) drops anchor in the port of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, during her goodwill tour as part of Task Force 88 (Solant Amity II), circa April 1961 to January 1962.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, August 1963.
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Spiegel Grove 147k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) leads USS Raleigh (LPD-1) while sailing in formation during training exercises in the Caribbean Sea in 1967-68. Photo by Masao Aochi
    Spiegel Grove 67k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) under way in 1968, location unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Robert Hurst
    Spiegel Grove 65k
    Spiegel Grove 96k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) with stern gate down during amphibious operations in 1968, location unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Robert Hurst
    Spiegel Grove 180k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) at anchor in the Kithira Strait in the eastern Mediterranean Sea with the rest of her Amphibious Ready Group, 25 June 1976. Photo taken from the Soviet DDG Krasny Krim (191). Eugene Ivkin
    Spiegel Grove 49k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) loading a prototype Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), either JEFF A or JEFF B in her well, circa late 1978, Gulf of Mexico.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1979.
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Spiegel Grove 101k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) operating in the Gulf of Mexico, while conducting trials with an experimental Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), JEFF B hovercraft, circa 1978-79.
    US Navy photo.
    Robert Hurst
    Spiegel Grove 108k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) with stern gate down during amphibious operations loading a LCAC, date and place unknown. Robert Hurst
    Spiegel Grove 71k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), at Barcelona, Spain, 15 March 1980. Note gun armament has been reduced to three twin 3"/50 mounts, and fire control systems removed. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    Spiegel Grove 80k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), at Barcelona, Spain, 15 March 1980. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    Spiegel Grove 69k USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), at Barcelona, Spain, 15 March 1980. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    Spiegel Grove 50k An experimental Bell Aerospace JEFF(B) prototype amphibious assault landing craft underway off the coast of Florida early in 1984, with a cargo including an M60 MBT and two 155 mm howitzers. She is on her way to rendezvous with USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) for docking trials
    US Navy photo from "Modern Military Hovercraft" published by Purnells
    Robert Hurst
    Spiegel Grove 311k A Bell Aerospace JEFF(B) prototype amphibious assault landing craft approaches the docking well of the stationery USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), while operating off the Florida coast in early in 1984.
    US Navy photo from "Modern Military Hovercraft" published by Purnells
    Robert Hurst


    For more photos and information about USS Spiegel Grove, see:
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
  • MARAD Vessel History Database
  • Photos of ex-USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) being sunk as an artificial reef off Key Largo, FL., 2003
  • Spiegel Grove Association

  • 1
    Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Filippone, Saverio, USN, (USNA 1937)8 June 1956 - 8 March 1957
    02CAPT. McDowell, Ellis Hole, USN (USNA 1937)8 March 1957 - 20 March 1958
    03CAPT. Clark, Alto Benjamin, USN (USNA 1938) 20 March 1958 - 2 July 1959
    04CAPT. Lindon, Elbert Crawford (Spud), USN (USNA 1939)2 July 1959 - 16 July 1960
    05CAPT. Moore, Raymond Atkinson, USN (USNA 1938) :RADM16 July 1960 - 8 August 1961
    06CAPT. Boyer, William Grant, USN8 August 1961 - 3 August 1962
    07CAPT. Hawthorne, Robert Earle, USN (USNA 1943)3 August 1962 - 29 May 1963
    08CAPT. Foley, Peter Joseph, USN29 May 1963 - 12 April 1964
    09CAPT. Dupzyk, Robert Richard (Pat), USN (USNA 1940)12 April 1964 - 8 May 1965
    10CAPT. Cummins, Lawrence Delworth, USN (USNA 1944)8 May 1965 - 7 December 1966
    11CAPT. York, Daniel August, USN 7 December 1966 - 20 April 1968
    12CAPT. Nordberg, Delbert Ward, USN (USNA-1947)20 April 1968 - 24 June 1969
    13CAPT. Witham Jr., Burton Brooks, USN24 June 1969 - 21 September 1970
    14CAPT. Kinnear II, George Espy Ridgeway (Gus), USN :ADM21 September 1970 - 2 April 1971
    15CAPT. Anderson, Forrest Prentice, USN (USNA 1953)2 April 1971 - 14 August 1972
    16CDR. Miller, Richard Archibald, USN (USNA 1950) :VADM14 August 1972 - 21 February 1974
    17CDR. Avila Jr., John, USN21 February 1974 - 26 March 1976
    18CAPT. Bush, Vernon Royce, USN (USNA 1956) 26 March 1976 - 14 April 1978
    19CDR. Van Slyke Jr., James Corbett, USN14 April 1978 - 19 May 1980
    20CDR. McKay Jr., John Norman, USN19 May 1980 - 8 October 1982
    21CDR. Summerlin, Thomas Wiley, USN8 October 1982 - 19 January 1985
    22CDR. McCarthy, Richard John, USN 19 January 1985 - 20 April 1988
    23CDR. Martin, Robert Stanley, USN20 April 1988 - 31 May 1989
    24CDR. Potopsingh, Flavius Constant, USN31 May 1989 - 2 October 1989
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 13 May 2022