Belle Grove (LSD 2) - Naval Cruise Book

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HISTORY OF BELLE B iiilt by the Moore Drydock (lonipany of Oaklaiul California, the U. S. S. Belle Grove was launched 17 February 1943. Following the Navy ' s policy of naming Landing Ship Docks for homes of past presidents and places of historical interest. Belle named in honor of the Grove was birthplace of James Madison, fourth President of the United States. During World War 1! Belle earned six battle stars for participation in the following operations : Gilbert Islands, November 1943... Marshall Islands, occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro atolls, February 1944 . . . Marianas, capture and occupation of Saipan, Summer 1944 . . . Tinian capture and occupation . . . Leyte landings, November 1944 ... Iwo Jima assault and occupation, March 1945. She also earned the Navy Occupation Service Medal, Pacific, for service in occupied Japanese waters during the Fall of 1945 and the China Service Medal for the same period. Before sailing for Western Pacific waters in February, Belle spent four months in the San Francisco Naval Shipyard getting painted outside and inside, having some of her guns removed, her ribs strengthened and her bottom cleaned. She was burned and patched, given a whaleboat and hifi, her port engine was lighted and the bearings replaced, her cranes were tested and her welldeck planking was renewed. And then she had seatrials. The San Francisco lightship was circled and recircled. Finally after eight seatrials the engine knocks and bumps were quieted enough for her to leave the Golden Gate behind enroute to Christmas in Long Beach and a January session of underway training in San Diego. Belle is 72 feet in the beam and 458 feet long. She displaces 4, 490 tons and can do fifteen knots on a good day. THE PORTSIDE BEARING EATER

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FEBRUARY-JULY 196£)

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NAVY TIMES 21 MARCH . . . BELLE GROVE - 1st OF AMPHIBS - STILL DOING HER SHARE ON LINE CORONADO. Calif. - When the nation ' s military leaders decided that amphibious warfare definitely had a place during World War II, they authorized the building of a new class of ships. One of the oldest still in use is the dock landing ship, designed to carry troops and equipment and the craft needed to put them ashore on invasion beaches. The Belle Grove was the first of the Pacific Fleet ' s amphibious arsenal. She was authorized late in 1Q41. her keel was laid in Oakland Oct. 27, 191-2, and she was launched Feb. 17, 1943, just one year after the Amphibious Force became part of the Navy ' s war. When onlv 27 months old, the ship had already undergone her baptism of fire. Her first campaign was that of the Gilbert Islands, when her landing craft carried ashore the Marines that took the islands in bitter fighting. Participation in eight successful invasions of enemy-held territory during those 27 months earned the Belle Grove six battle stars. On New Year ' s Eve of 1945, a weary Belle Grove steamed into San Francisco. She had logged 67.000 miles in the battle-torn Pacific. After the war the amphibious pioneer was decommissioned and filed away in the mothball fleet. Korea and the shadow of hostilities there brought about her recommissioning, and she was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet. While on Mediterranean deployment in 1952, she participated in Operation Grand Slam, the first of the NATO exercises. A yard overhaul in Charleston, S.C, came for the Belle upon her return from the Mediterranean, and a transfer back to the Pacific Fleet followed. Since that time, she has been on several operational tours of the Western Pacific. Now. as the Amphibious Forces enter their 19th year, the aging warhorse is still with them. Outfitted with a landing platform, she combines her original ship-to-shore movements with vertical envelopment. Ihis capability, a modern concept, adds to her invasion effectiveness. NO MORE BLIMP DEFENSE AFT