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

USNS Taurus (T-LSV-8)
ex
USNS Taurus (T-AK-273) (1959 - 1963)


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
National Defense Service Medal - Vietnam Service Medal (1) - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal


Casa Grande Class Landing Ship Dock:
  • Laid down, 8 November 1944, as Fort Snelling (LSD-23) at Gulf Shipbuilding Corp., Chickasaw, AL.
  • Contract canceled, date unknown
  • Uncompleted hull purchased in October 1945 by Gulf Atlantic Transportation Co.
  • Sold, 22 December 1956 to TMT Trailer Ferry Inc. for conversion to a Roll-on Roll-off ferry for service between Florida and Cuba
  • Completed in 1956 as SS Carib Queen
  • Repossessed by the US Government, 4 March 1958 at Jacksonville, FL.
  • Laid up, 17 March 1958, in the Maritime Administration's National Defense Reserve Fleet, at Wilmington, N.C.
  • Acquired by the US Navy, 15 January 1959, and assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS)
  • Classified as a Cargo Ship and placed in service as USNS Taurus (T-AK-273)
  • Reclassified as a Landing Ship Vehicle (T-LSV-8), 1 January 1963
  • Placed out of service in September 1968 at Yokosuka Japan
  • Custody transferred to MARAD, 25 June 1969 for disposal
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 4 June 1969, to Union Minerals and Alloys Corp., New York NY., (PD-X-830 dated 1 May 1969) for $456,000.00. Withdrawn and delivered to Union Minerals & Alloys Corp., 25 June 1969
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 22 June 1971
    AK Specifications:
    Displacement 9,950 t.(fl)
    Length 476'
    Beam 72'
    Draft 19'
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement 69
    Propulsion
    two Westinghouse steam turbines
    two Babcock and Wilcox oil fired D-type boilers, two drum, single furnace, single uptake, 250psi
    double Fairbanks Morse Main Reduction Gears
    two turbo-drive 300Kw 120V/240V D.C. Ship' Service Generators
    twin propellers, 7,000shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Fort Snelling (LSD-23)
    Taurus 813k Fort Snelling (LSD-23) under construction at Gulf Ship Building Corp., Chickasaw, AL. yard, 21 August 1945. View of stern looking forward. Note typical naval stern gate and raised anti-aircraft gun and fire control tubs on both wing walls. Well deck, wing wall bulkheads, stern gate hydraulics and interior planking are incomplete. Photo Courtesy of State Archives of Florida Don Wagner
    Merchant Service
    Taurus 227k Gulf Atlantic Transportation Company's passenger-auto ferry SS Carib Queen ready for a starboard launch at Gulf Shipbuilding Corp. shipyard at Chickasaw, AL., 25 July 1946. Photo Courtesy of State Archives of Florida. Don Wagner
    Taurus 326k Stern view of SS Carib Queen ready to launch. 25 July 1946. Note typical LSD stern has been converted to a completely enclosed stern with doors. The shape of the prow has also been modified from original LSD design. The athwartship funnels still identify the vessel as a former Landing Ship, Dock. Photo Courtesy of State Archives of Florida Don Wagner
    Taurus 112k SS Carib Queen trading card issued late fifties by John Wood & Son Tobacco. (This edition: 6th, ca. 1959/60). Drawing by G.J. Frans Naerebout. Tommy Trampp
    USNS Taurus (T-LSV-8)
    Taurus 144k
    Namesake
    Taurus (Latin for "the Bull") is one of the constellations of the zodiac, which means it is crossed by the plane of the ecliptic. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere's winter sky. It is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to at least the Early Bronze Age when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced various bull figures in the mythologies of Ancient Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
    Taurus as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.
    Tommy Trampp
    Taurus 39k USNS Taurus (T-LSV-8) under way, date and location unknown. James Melton
    Taurus 185k USNS Taurus (T-LSV-8) at anchor, circa the late 1950s or early 1960s.
    US Navy Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 90564
    Robert Hurst

    USNS Taurus (T-LSV-8) / (T-AK-273)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Amphibious Ship Type Index Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Dock Landing Ship (LSD) Photo Index Back To The Cargo Ship (AK) Photo Index Back To The Vehicle Landing Ship (LSV) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 5 July 2019