Casa Grande (LSD 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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HISTORY OF THE U. S. S. CASA GRANDE QLSD-132 The USS CASA GRANDE was builT by The NewporT News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in No- vember l943, launched on I l April XI944 and commissioned in June of The same year. The ship is named for a naTional shrine aT Coolidge, Arizona. The shrine, The only building of iTs Type which sTilI sTands, is an unreinforced four-sTory adobe waTch Tower and eleven-room aparTmenT building, 'builT by The Salado ln- dians abouT l350. The designed purpose oT This vessel is To carry landing boaTs, amphibious vehicles and Trucks To an ob- iecTive area. The ship TransporTs, quarTers. and subsisTs The Troops and personnel needed To man and operaTe The vehicles and boaTs when They are discharged Trom The flooded well deck. ATTer The iniTial assaulT, The LSD is used as a dry dock To effecT repairs To landing craTT and small vessels or as a boaT haven in The evenT of heavy weafher. The CASA GRANDE was senT To The Pacific Area and parTicipaTed in Three major invasions of The Pacific Campaign. lT firsf parTicipaTed in The invasion of LeyTe, Philippine Islands, on 20 OcTober I944. The ship disembarked all Troops and eguipmenT on schedule wiThouT a single casualTy. This ship also par- TicipaTed in The invasions of Lingayen and Okinawa and was repeafedly aTTacked by aircrafT. In spiTe of This The CASA GRANDE susTained only Tour casualTies. AfTer many posT-war hops abouT'The Pacific, The CASA GRANDE refurned To Norfolk and was de- commissioned in early I947 and Transferred To The reserve TleeT. IT remained There unTil i950 when The ship reTurned To acTive dufy. ln The pasf year The CASA GRANDE has operaTed in all climaTes, Trom The arcfic Greenland To The l95lmY Caribbean. In boTh The spring and Tall The ship was employed in ArcTic operaTions, in supporf Of The U.. S. NorTheasT Air Command. Since The TirsT of The year The CASA GRANDE has operaTed wifh The Marines on .TRAEX 2-55 and TRAEX 3-55 on The beaches oT Vieques. PuerTo Rico. in April The ship Uggliilll In The ioinf Army Navy operahon l-lughTide landings on The beaches of Camp PendleTon. ua : Since AugusT 2 l954 when Commander William O Spears relieved CapTain RoberT P. Winkle as Commanding OTTicer of The USS CASA GRANDE TLSD I3 many miles have been Traveled and many porTs have been vusiTed from The glacial wasTes of The Arcfuc To The warm richness of The Caribbean. I ' , -'i

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A good sfarf on a good iob LY'-E E- ESHAEFER Kanawha, Iowa EDGAR R. SCHMIEDLIN Yorkfown, Texas

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.1-H . , is 'if . . , Original Casa Grande-Coolidge, Arizona And in our memories oT These days will long be remembered The names oT such porTs as Thule. ST. Johns. Narsarsuak, SondresTrom, Viegues, and PorT Au Prince, To menTion only a Tew. IT was Monday morning The 2OTh oT SepTember, l954, ThaT we seT sail Trom civilizaTion To The TurbulenT and sTormy nor'Thland. AnTicipaTion oT sighTing The TirsT iceberg was high buT Tapered oTT quickly as The monsTers oT The norTh became more commonplace. By The 29Th oT SepTember The ship had crossed The ArcTic Circle inTo The land oT The Polar Bear and each oT The crew was iniTiaTed, by The cold and sTorm, a Bluenose. ATTer several more crisp days oT Arc- Tic sailing we arrived in Thule. our TirsT porT on The rooT oT The world. Through unToreseen circumsTances our cruise To The NorTh was exTended and exTenCled. The Tabulous CASA GRANDE TooTball pool was one linlc,To our old civilizaTion, buT ThaT diversion alone could noT ade- quaTely Till The many long nighTs. Soon The whole ship echoed The slogan, LeT's go baclc To NorToll4. The CASA GRANDE Tinally made porT aT NorTollc Army Pier 2 iusT beTore Thanksgiving, giving ThaT holi- Olay special meaning To each member oT The crew. ATTer a holiday season in porT The CASA GRANDE weighed anchor and headed souTh Tor operaTions in The island oT Vieques, PuerTo Rico. These exercises consisTed oT TransporTing Marine uniTs To The Carrib- bean Area, Through assaulT landings on The island oT Vieoues, PuerTo Rico, and various Training exercises. AnTi-Submarine. AnTi-AircraTT and ATomic DeTense prOCSdUFGS- ThroughouT The Tinal landing phase oT The exercise everyThing possible was done To reproduce realisTic BaTTle CondiTions. All ships had To TulTill Their missions in compleTe darlcness To lessen The chance OT ex- posing The ships +0 agqressor guns and aircraTT. An added TuncTion OT These assaulT landings-was The use OT T'lelicopTers To land assaulT Troops. The CASA GRANDE carried The TirsT assaulT wave oT Marines To The obiecTive area Tor The Tinal land- ing. l'ler iob was To move close To The beach and discharge The wave under The cover oT darkness, and guide The wave Toward The beach, using her radar and comrnunicaTions equipment SpliT second Timing WGS UGCGSSGFY TO ensure ThaT The wave hiT The beach exacTly aT H-hour wiThou+ The beneTiT oT daylight BoTh The operaTions in The ArcTic and AssaulT Landings in The Caribbean have helped in molding This ship's crew inTo a compacT well inTegraTed TighTing uniT. x ---- -R ,. ,. ,. ,.