Fresno (LST 1182) - Naval Cruise Book

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HIS TURY The keel for FRESNO was laid on 16 December 1967 at National Steel and Shipbuild- ing Company of San Diego as the first of the NEWPORT class of LST's to be con- structed on the West Coast. The ship was launched in September, 1968 and commissioned on 22 November 1969. Two former FRESNO's have served the Navy and the Nation. The first, serving honorably in the First World War, was the Cargo Ship, USS FRESNO. Built in 1918, she made four Atlantic crossings that same year to ferry troops and supplies to the battle lines in France. After cessation of hostilities, the ship was decommissioned. The second USS FRESNO TCL-1212, a light cruiser, was launched in 1946. This ship had an overall length of 541 feet, a top speed of 33 knots, and was armed with twelve 5-inch 38 caliber guns. She was decommissioned in 1949 and placed in the reserve fleet until being sold for scrap in 1966. The third USS FRESNO ILST-11821 is a member of the Amphibious Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and assigned to Amphibious Squadron THREE, homeported in San Diego. In June of 1974, FRESNO left the confines of San Diego Harbor for six months in the Western Pacific. For many, the deployment meant separation from home and family, although the separation had actually begun over nine months earlier when the ship entered Todd Shipyard in Seattle, Washington for a regular overhaul fthe first for an 1179 class LST1. Overhaul was followed by seven weeks of intensive underway training, leaving only a short time for final pre-deployment preparations. Early in the cruise, the ship crossed the point where the International Date Line and the Equator meet. The crossing was marked by the initiation of many new Golden Shellbacks. Later in the cruise, Panay Fsland Philippines was the setting for operation Pegasa lll, providing an opportunity to apply the lessons of refresher training. Also in the Philip- pines, FRESNO was the Navy's representative in a commemorative re-enactment of General Douglas MacArthur's landing on Leyte Island in 1944. Over the six month period ofthe cruise, FRESNO hosted the Secretary of the Navy, eleven admirals and generals, and close to 10,000 visitors. Perhaps the most remem- bered moment of the cruise, however, was the day that the ship recorded 52 degree rolls south of Haku Shima,- Japan. On December 8, 1974 FRESNO returned to the familiar berth at the Naval Station for a well earned rest. g 'L , , I

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FRESNIPS 5th Birthday Party