San Marcos (LSD 25) - Naval Cruise Book

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'THE LCU'S 'fwhat is an LCU, you ask? wen don't think v0u're exclusive my friend- That is 2 question that We of the Donald Duckf' Navy have had fo answer in every port in the Med, , say nothing of the United States. Here, in the Med especially, when we have answered the above question, we immediately get another. Where is yotu' ship? Now that is a good ll but have you ever tried telling someone who knows question. Of course the men of the San Marcos know only too we , very little about the Navy that your ship, along with two more exactly the same, is is a sixty-four dollar question, then the value of the answer should go into the three In order to alleviate some of the unknown, let me elucidate on the functions of an LCU and just what part it plays in the game called Beaching. For statistics sake, the LCU is one hundred and nineteen feet long, and thirty-two inside another ship? If you think that numbers bracket. . I feet wide. It has a draft of afoot and' a half forward, and three and a half feet aft. It's weight is one-htmdred sixty-five tons, and it's carrying capacity is the same as it's weight. - ' The LCU has a crew of ten men which consists of a Chief Boatswain, who is the skipper, a Chief Engineman, a Boat-' swain, a Quartermaster, a Radioman, an Electrician, and Engineman, a Cook, a Fireman, and a Seaman. 'This is pretty ' ' ' h' ' Off' 's h tandard throu hout LCU's As for living spaces it has a Ch1ef's quarters, which doubles for S ip s ice, a crew muc s g v . , I quarters, a galley, a head, which doubles forthe laundry, and the Pilot House. As far as comfort is concerned, it is hard to beat. . The functions of an LCU are many and varied. They have been used as beach control vessels, as Mine Sweepers off Kor- ea, as temporary hospital ships, and for their original purpose, which is to carry men and material from the ships to the shore. Take for instance the LCU's now embarked in the San Marcos. One LCU carries heavy equipment for beach work, another carries the amphibious DUKW, while the third carries tanks. Upon reaching an operation area, the LSD in which the LCU rides, commences filling her ballast tanks. At the approp- riate time she lowers her stem gate in much the same manner as a landing craft lowersrher bow ramp. When the well deck has enough water to make the LCU's waterborne, they commence backing out. From then until the end of the operation they act independently from the LSD. 1 , Once on their own the LCU's head for the beach. At the given time they hit the beach, drop their bow' ramps, offload their gear, and retract. From then on their job varies from going alongside a supply ship for provisions, ammunition, or more heavy equipment, to going alongside transports for personnel. This continues until everything has reached the beach. During peace-time operations such as we are on now, the LCU must, at the completion of the operation commence taking personnel and or material to their respective ships. The last load always being the load the LCU's are to have a- board when they embarked inside the LSD. With this last load, the LCU heads back home. The awaiting LSD in the meantime has made all preparations to receive the LCU's in her welldeck. She has filled her well deck back up with water, if for some reason she had to remove it beforehand, and she lowers her stern gate. With a bit of tricky maneuvering the LCU steers her way into the stern and between the wing walls of the LSD. Once the LSD has closed her stern gate and pumped the well deck dry, the men of the LCU's chain their craft to the deck of the LSD, With this completed, the LCU can consider the operation completed. While we are riding around inside the, LSD there is plenty to be done, also, the radiomen, quartermasters, and cooks assist the corresponding divisions of the LSD in the matter of watch standing. The remainder of the crew on the LCU take care of maintenance, which is the same as on a larger ship, only on a 5ma11e1- Scale

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The Seabees The Seabee Beach Salvage Team left Norfolk on the USS FREMONT and the USS Marquette and transferred to the USS SAN MARCOS at Asininara Bay, Sardinia. The job of the salvage team was keeping the beach cleared and ready to receive traffic during the Amphibious landings. They carried out this task by using their bulldozer, surfcrane and DUKW for building roads and ramps to the landing craft, pushing off boats that became stuck, picking up and repairing broached boats, unloading stores and fuel, and pulling wheeled vehicles to firm ground. In addition to these things, the seabees set up tents and built tables, hat racks, cabinets, and benches about the ship for the convenience of the crew. ' The Seabees have made many friends on this Mediterranean cruise. They have worked hard and played hard. They done their job well. :IH Back Row: Lane, Memelo, Keener, I-lock. Ross, ENS. Gaffney. Front Row: Seafeldt, Keeter, Witzake, Randall, Danielson, Golden. 31 v r i 1 5 5 E s F L Z E 1 5 Ei 4 Q 1 Q, Wil ll 3 J 5 1 2 i I

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1 Whit il In LCU, where is it, and what does it do? I hope that this short article will help to clarify the above questions to some extent. We are merely a small landing craft with a homogeneous crew of ten men. We like our crafts and we like the duties we have to perform. No thanks, we don't want to swap. ' LCU 1330 Crew . Back Row: Tasker, Wetzel, Surrachi, Figureo. Front Row: Sheffield, Phelm, I-Iamblin, Banks. '33 .