Shadwell (LSD 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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EMERGES YARD ER SHIP. After retuming from our 1966 Mediterranean deployment on the first of August, SHADWELL made all preparations for entering the ship yards. . . it was to be our first yard period in nearly three years. As good fortune would have it. our three-and- a-half month yard stay was spent in Newport News. Va., about a thirty minute drive from home. We entered the yard with ideas and plans on how to make our ship more ready for sea and a more comfortable home in which to live. Many long days and nights were spent adapting these plans to the physical shipg many plans had to be redesigned and new ideas emerged which would eventually increase and strengthen our shipboard capabilities. On 5 January 1967, SHADWELL was ready to leave Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock to challenge and test her many adaptations. After several days of intensive tests our months of work were met with success. Our plans were to depart soon for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for operational training and then to AOTU for amphibious training. All the while making prep- arations for our forthcoming Med deployment. We left the yard a new ship with a new crew, eager to leam and to improve. . .And thus, our story begins.

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THE KEEL OF USS SHADWELL CLSD-153 was laid in New- port News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia, during February 1944. Exactly three months later, on May 24, Miss Mary GREENMAN, daughter of Captain W. G. GREENMAN, USN, christened Hull 407 as USS SHADWELL, Landing Ship Dock 15. On June 24, 1944, SHADWELL was com- missioned in the U.S. Navy at ceremonies in the Naval Ship- yard, Portsmouth, Virginia. Her design having been conceived by the British, SHAD- WELL was originally contracted for delivery to the United Kingdom. and was assigned the names HMS TOMAHAWK and HMS WATERWAY prior to being taken over by our Navy. SHADWELL is the first ship to bear the name. She commemo- rates the birthplace and early home in Charlottesville, Virginia, of Thomas Jefferson, our third president. After christening, a three month period was spent in fitting out and shakedown. In August 1944, SHADWELL sailed for the West Coast. SHADWELL departed the United States on October 20, 1944 proceeding to Guadalcanal to join the Amphibious forces in the South Pacific. After a brief period of routine transport duties. she was assigned to Task Force 78. In December 1944, after embarking units of an Army Engineering Battalion, SHADWELL proceeded through the treacherous Philippine Sea to participate in the invasion at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. In spite of heavy air. surface, and submarine opposition, SHADWELL's guns remained silent during the entire voyage to the objective area due to the extreme effectiveness of the screening units. However on D Day, January 9, 1945, shortly after unloading her troops and cargo, and while getting underway to return to Leyte. SHADWELL bagged a Japanese Zero. On a return trip to Luzon later in January 1945, Task Group 78.8 of which SHADWELL was a part, was attacked by three enemy torpedo planes. Two were shot down by protective aircraft, but the third, after escaping in the darkness for 3 short time. returned from the high hills to press home an at- tack. The For-cehopened fire, but the attacker was able to release his deadly missile before he passed overhead and crashed into the sea. Seconds later the torpedo ripped into the Starboard side of SHADWELL just forward of amidships leaving a gaping sixty-foot hole where once the side had been. The Task Force steamed on, leaving two destroyers to pick up survivors, The crew was determined that SHADWELL would live and through almost miraculous effort. had her steaming under ner 3vZ:eP:gV?gtai?gIg25gna5ter1Sunrise the following morning. There barked troops were iron y three members of her crew and em- jured. After a brief sto at Le te for . P Y temporary repairs she was able to return to the States for required permanent repairs. One year after her commissioning, SHADWELL arrived at Bremerton, Washington, for major repair work. She had little time at sea, but much praise from Fleet Admiral NIMITZ to her credit. Bremerton Navy Yard spent two months putting SHADWELL back in topnotch condition. In July 1945, she sailed to join Admiral HALSEY's Third Fleet. In August 1945, SHADWELL was among the first units to enter Tokyo Bay, and she remained in the area performing routine occupation duties until May 1946, On 10 July 1947, SHADWELL was placed out of commission in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Orange, Texas. Just prior to the national emergency declared by President Truman in 1950, SHADWELL was again placed in commission at Orange, Texas on 20 September. During the remaining months of 1950, SHADWELL and her crew underwent intensive shake- down training, After this, the ship that refused to sink was ordered into the Charleston Navy Yard for a three month altera- tion period. Upon completion, SHADWELL joined the Atlantic Fleet as an active unit of the Amphibious Force. The year 1951 saw SHADWELL at Thule, Greenland, par- ticipating in the highly secret Arctic expedition known to the press as Bluejay , in Newfoundland on Operation Convex g throughout the Caribbean area on HLANTFLEX-52 , and finally back to Norfolk, Virginia for leave and liberty. The year of 1952 was a busy one. This included several Atlantic Coast Operations with the Marines and a trip to Balti- more for major alterations. Leaving Baltimore sporting a new mezzanine deck, super deck, flag quarters and helicopter landing deck, the experi- enced t'Arctic Explorer braced herself for two more extended operations north of the Arctic Circle. This was followed by operations in the Caribbean in early 1953 and back to Labrador in May for Operation t'Pinetree . SHADWELL welcomed the change in 1955 when two cruises took her to Havana and Bermuda, with the remainder of the