Eldorado (AGC 11) - Naval Cruise Book

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Bldorado Ship ' s Mistory The USS ELDORADO, an Amphibious Force Flag- ship, began her Naval career Aug. 25, 1944. The ELDORADO was originally designed as the SS MONSOON and built by the North Carolina Ship Building Co. , Wilmington, N.C. The conversion to an Amphibious Force Flagship was accomplished by the Bethlehem Steel Corp. at Brooklyn, N.Y. The ELDORADO, named for a mountain range in Nevada, is 459 feet long and displaces about 14,000 tons. She has a maximum speed in excess of 15 knots. Extensive electronic equipment has been placed aboard to enable the ship to accomplish her mission as an Amphibious Force Flagship. In amphibious operations the ELDORADO is responsible for the coordination of all land, surface and air forces in the conduct of an amphibious assault. Commander Amfiiibious Croup Four was the first staff to be embarked and was aboard for a period of only two months. On Jan. 10, 1945 the ELDORADO became the flagship for Commander Amphibious Forces Pacific Fleet, and remained so throughout the remainder of World War II. As flagship she participated in the amphibious invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The end of World War II found the ELDORADO in Manila Bay. Returning to the U.S. via Pearl Harbor, where Commander Amphibious Forces Pacific Fleet and Staff were disembarked, the ELDORADO arrived in San Francisco Oct. 12, 1945. From the end of hostilities on Sept. 2, 1945 until the commencement of the Korean campaign, the ELDORADO made several trips to the Western Pacific acting as flagship for Commander Naval Forces Western Pacific. Intermingled among the tours in the Western Pacific were the never ending training exercises in which all ships participate to maintain their high degree of readiness. One of the exercises was Portex, an amphibious assault exercise conducted on the East Coast. The ELDORADO made a special trip to the East Coast to participate in this exercise. Aug. 28, 1950 the ELDORADO, with Commander Amphibious Group THREE and his staff embarked, departed San Diego for Inchon, Korea. She arrived 18 days later to participate in the latter stages of the invasion and act as a standby flagship. Altogether the ELDORADO remained in Inchon Harbor 148 days and acted as coordinating ship for the unloading phase of the invasion. Of the 385 days spent away from her home port, the ELDORADO spent 246 days in Korean waters. Pusan; Wonsan, Wolmi Do and Hungnam became part of the crew ' s vocabulary. It was during this period that the first pictures of the Kaesong Truce talks were transmitted to the outside world from ELDORADO. In October, 1952 the ELDORADO became flagship for Admiral Moore, Commander Amphibious Group ONE, and as such participated in Operation Big Switch. . . the transporting of the Chinese and North Korean POWs from tike camps at Cheju Do and Koje Do to the port of Inchon for repatriation. Completion of the Korean War put the ELDORADO back again on rotation between stateside and WESTPAC acting as flagship for various force and fleet commanders. From April 15 to Aug. 17, 1955 the ship acted as flagship for Commander Seventh Fleet. In 1956 and 1957 the rotation to the Western Pacific was interrupted for replenishment runs to the Arctic to provide logistical support for our Air Defense Early Warning Stations. On completion of the Arctic replenishment runs the ELDORADO reverted back to her normal operational commitments, participating in several amphibious assault exercises and rotation to WESTPAC. ELDORADO completed an eight-week deployment to the Caribbean during the Cuban Crisis from October through December 1962. She then returned to the West Coast for amphibious operations and a yard overhaul in preparation for WESTPAC. On Jan. 25, 1964 ELDORADO began her deploy- ment. She spent 48 days at sea on patrol ofi the coast of Vietnam following the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Vice Admiral John B. Colwell, Commander Amphibious Forces, U. S. Pacific Fleet, came aboard on ELDORADO ' s return to the states in October, 1964. Operation Silver Lance was conducted in February and March of 1965 with the ship entering the yards at Long Beach for a FRAM II overhaul soon after. With extensive renovations including new radar and electronic capabilities and a huge air condi- tioning system, ELDORADO left on this WESTPAC deployment Oct. 18, 1965. During this period through April, 1966, she participated in several amphibious operations against the Viet Cong along the coast of South Vietnam.