USS Gunston Hall (LSD-5)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Gunston Hall.
USS Gunston Hall (LSD-5) c. the late 1940s.
History
United States
NameUSS Gunston Hall
NamesakeGunston Hall
BuilderMoore Dry Dock Company
Launched1 May 1943
Commissioned10 November 1943
Decommissioned7 July 1947
Recommissioned5 March 1949
DecommissionedMay 1970
StrickenMay 1970
FateSold to Argentina, 1970
Argentina
NameARA Cándido de Lasala (Q-43)
Decommissioned1981
FateSold for scrap
General characteristics
Displacement
  • 7,930 tons (loaded),
  • 4,032 tons (light draft)
Length457 ft 9 in (139.5 m) overall
Beam  72 ft 2 in (22.0 m)
Draft
  •     8 ft 2½ in (2.5 m) fwd,
  •   10 ft ½ in (3.1 m) aft (light);
  •   15 ft 5½ in (4.7 m) fwd,
  •   16 ft 2 in (4.9 m) aft (loaded)
Propulsion2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 Skinner Uniflow Reciprocating Steam Engines, 2 propeller shafts - each shaft 3,700 hp, at 240 rpm total shaft horse power 7,400, 2 11 ft 9 in diameter, 9 ft 9 in pitch propellers
Speed17 knots (31 km/h)
Range
  • 8,000 nmi. at 15 knots
  • (15,000 km at 28 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried
  • 3 ×
    LCT
    (Mk V or VI)
  •   each w/ 5 medium tanks or
  • 2 × LCT (Mk III or IV)
  •   each w/ 12 medium tanks or
  • 14 ×
    LCM
    (Mk III)
  •   each w/ 1 medium tank
  •   or 1,500 long tons cargo or
  • 47 × DUKW or
  • 41 × LVT or
  • Any combination of landing vehicles and landing craft up to capacity
Capacity22 officers, 218 men
Complement23 officers, 267 men
Armament
  • 1 ×
    DP
    gun;
  • 2 ×
    AA
    guns;
  • 2 × 40 mm twin AA guns;
  • 16 × 20 mm AA guns
Aircraft carriedmodified to accommodate helicopters on an added portable deck

USS Gunston Hall (LSD-5) was an Ashland-class dock landing ship in the United States Navy, named in honor of Gunston Hall, the estate of George Mason (1725–1792), one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Originally designated APM-5, Gunston Hall was launched 1 May 1943 by the Moore Dry Dock Company, Oakland, California, sponsored by Mrs. Harvey S. Haislip; and commissioned 10 November 1943.

Gunston Hall earned nine battle stars for World War II service and another nine battle stars during the Korean War. Sold to Argentina in 1970 and renamed ARA Cándido de Lasala (Q-43). Served in Argentine Navy. In 1981 she was decommissioned and struck.

History

World War II

After intensive shakedown along the

Marines and Army
troops ever closer to the Japanese home islands.

Through the rest of 1944, the versatile landing ship took part in the initial assault invasions of

Battle for Leyte Gulf
, one of history's greatest naval engagements. While not actually involved in an invasion effort, Gunston Hall trained troops and shuttled supplies and men from the rear islands to the staging areas.

In 1945 Gunston Hall participated in the initial

Kerama Retto until 1 July to repair small craft. She was untouched by the enemy's fierce kamikaze
attacks although she saw several other American ships hit and crippled.

Gunston Hall terminated her

Kwajalein and Pearl. Gunston Hall decommissioned 7 July 1947 at Terminal Island in San Francisco Bay
.

Arctic operations

USS Gunston Hall (LSD-5) underway, soon after recommissioning in March 1949.

Conversion under project SCB 29 as an "Arctic LSD" at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, gave Gunston Hall a reinforced hull and a greatly extended heating and ventilation system which would permit her to operate effectively in the Arctic.[1] She recommissioned at Puget Sound 5 March 1949 and, after shakedown, sailed north to participate in Operation Miki in the Arctic Circle and later returned for Operation Micowex. Next training and development operations along the West Coast occupied her until the outbreak of war in Korea.

Korean War

With elements of the

Yokosuka 3 August. Disembarking the Marines, she took aboard 30 stretcher cases and returned to Osaka, Japan. On 10 September Gunston Hall sailed from Japan to participate in the amphibious operation at Inchon, Korea, 15 September. After the Marines had landed midway up the peninsula, threatening to cut the communist supply lines to their troops at the tip of the peninsula, Gunston Hall made several shuttle trips to bring reinforcements. As the Korean War settled into its long and bloody pattern of near stalemate, Gunston Hall continued to shuttle troops and supplies between Japan and Korea. During an overhaul in the summer of 1952, she was fitted with a helicopter landing and launching platform large enough to accommodate nine "whirly-birds", the newest element in amphibious warfare
.

The Gunston Hall was a busy ship during the war due to her many capabilities to carry landing craft, tanks, trucks, etc., along with their Army and Marine troops. She served several tours of duty as the mother ship for small mine sweepers in Wanson Harbor in North Korea. The Koreans always expected the United Nations to make a landing there, although they never did, and so kept the harbor fortified. The Koreans sowed the mines at night, and the small mine sweepers cut the mines and blew them up during the day. Also participating in the Wanson Harbor operations were such ships as the battleships Iowa and Wisconsin which along with numerous destroyers bombarded the coast line.

In April 1952 the Gunston Hall carried 15,000 prisoners in five trips from the major prison island of

Cheju-do
so as to split up the prison population in anticipation of demonstrations on May Day. The prisoners consisted of both North Koreans and Chinese and were guarded by ROK soldiers stationed around the well deck.

When armistice ended the actual fighting in Korea, Gunston Hall sailed to Cheju-Do, Korea, 4 September 1953. Remaining there until 22 September, she served in

prisoners of war
. She then settled into a schedule of annual cruises in the Western Pacific, which took her from San Diego to various Asian ports, interspersed with Arctic resupply cruises.

Vietnam operations

Gunston Hall was part of one of the Navy's greatest postwar humanitarian efforts in 1955 as she joined TG 90 (

North Vietnamese decided to cast their lot with the South rather than live under a Communist government. Since badly depleted French forces could not hope to effect the transfer of so many people, the U.S. Navy detailed nearly 100 ships to carry refugees and equipment from Haiphong to Saigon in a 9-month period. Gunston Hall made five coastal runs carrying heavy barges between 2 January and 26 February 1955. In all, the Navy evacuated 310,848 North Vietnamese as well as 68,757 tons[vague
] of cargo and over 8,000 vehicles. Hard-pressed sailors feeding and clothing the ragged refugees were rewarded when many of the 184 children born during the Haiphong–Saigon passage were named after Navy vessels.

Cuba Missile Crisis

Gunston Hall's pattern of WesPac cruises and Arctic resupply missions was broken a second time in 1962. During the

missiles
and the crisis passed, Gunston Hall transited the Canal again returning San Diego 15 December.

Vietnam War

PACV
c. 1967.

The veteran LSD sailed for the western Pacific 26 March 1963. After operations which carried her to Japan, Okinawa, Korea,

7th Fleet. Arriving in Subic Bay
on 30 November, she was under way again a week later for Vietnam to support the fight to thwart Communist aggression.

Relieved 8 January 1965, she headed for Hong Kong, en route to Japan, arriving Yokosuka on the 24th. She visited Korea and Okinawa before returning to the battle zone. She unloaded cargo at Da Nang through 18 February, then headed to Okinawa for more supplies. She continued this pattern of duty shuttling between Pacific ports and Vietnam until departing Yokosuka for home on 6 June.

Reaching San Diego on 22 June, she prepared to return to the Orient. Sailing 6 August, she visited Hawaii, Okinawa, and Japan before returning to the West Coast 7 October.

After operations out of San Diego, Gunston Hall again turned her prow toward the setting sun 16 May 1966. She reached

Navy Patrol Air Cushion vehicles
on 15 December for transportation to San Diego. Back home early in January 1967, Gunston Hall prepared for future action.

ARA Cándido de Lasala (Q-43)

ARA Cándido de Lasala

Gunston Hall was sold to Argentina in 1970, under Military Assistance Program, renamed ARA Cándido de Lasala (Q-43), and used by the Argentine Navy to support the Marines. On 23 December 1974, in the English Channel, an explosion in her boiler room killed 2 sailors and injured 3.[2] She was decommissioned in 1981.

References

  1. ^ Roberts, U.S. Navy Ship Design Project Numbers
  2. ^ "Blast on Argentine Warship In English Channel Kills 2". The New York Times. AP. 24 December 1974. Page 40, column 8. Retrieved 5 April 2024.

Sources

External links

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