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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

LSD-32 Spiegel Grove

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign: November - Alpha - Alpha - Romeo

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 (4-Cuba)
Bottom Row - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (3-Lebanon/1-Cuba/2-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 21 kts.
Complement 304
Troop Capacity 300
Armament (as built) 8 twin 3"/50 (8), 6 twin 20mm AA guns
Boat Capacity (Well Deck) 21 LCM(6)s
Aircraft up to 8 helicopters
Propulsion 2 steam turbines, 2 shafts, 23,000 SHP

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
32k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) underway, date and place unknown.	© Richard Leonhardt
29k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) underway, date and place unknown.	.
56k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) underway, date and place unknown.	.
72k	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.
49k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) loading a prototype Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), either *JEFF A* or *JEFF B* in her well, date and place unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1979.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
101k	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
108k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) with stern gate down during amphibious operations loading a LCAC, date and place unknown.	Robert Hurst
71k	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 Peña
80k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), at Barcelona, Spain, 15 March 1980.	Photo by Fabio Peña
69k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), at Barcelona, Spain, 15 March 1980.	Photo by Fabio Peña

Photos of ex Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) being sunk as an artificial reef off Key Largo, FL., 2003

View the Spiegel Grove (LSD-32)
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
Spiegel Grove.Com
Spiegel Grove Association
The Florida Keys, Key Largo - The Spiegel Grove Wreck
University of Indiana Artificial Reef Project - USS Spiegel Grove

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Last Updated 28 July 2006