Belle Grove (LSD 2) - Naval Cruise Book

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COMMANDER JOHNSTON Coniiiiander Johnston was commissioned Ensign USNR at U.S. Navy Midshipman School. New York. New York in January 1942 and served as a Radar Plot (CIC) officer on hoard the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE iCV-6) through July 1944 seeing action in the battles of Guadalcanal, (iilherts. Marshalls. Truck. Palau. Holiandia, and the Marianas. He attended U.S. Navy Post Graduate School 1946 - 1948 and was commis- sioned in tlie rejiular Na vv in 1946. He has served on board the USS OAKLAND, USS WRIGHT and the USS LOS ANGELES. He was also assigned to duty with the Armed Forces Special W ' eajHins Project in 1952 and again in 1958. Commander Johnston assumed command of the U.S.S. BELLE GROVE (LSD-2) in July 1959.

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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

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LCDR ROTHWELL LCDR James G. Rothwell, USN is the Kxecutive Officer. Iff joined the l?Kf.I.E GROVE in November 1959 after workinf for two years with NAV SEC, MAAG, Japan. Tfie Commander fias served as Naval Gunfire Eiaison Officer for flie First Marine Division, operations officer on tlie USS GUADALUPE, Executive Officer and Navigator on I ST-1 123, and as a division officer alx.anl the USS DULUTH, USS PASADENA, and the USS HORNET. ECDR Rotliwell has also had the benefit of eleven months at the General Line School, U. S. Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, California. He is married, has two children and has his home in Coronado. California. PART OF THE WORK LOAD