USS La Salle (AGF-3)
_underway_in_the_Persian_Gulf_1990.JPEG) The La Salle in the Persian Gulf, November 1990 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Order | August 8, 1960 |
| Keel laying | April 2, 1962 |
| Launch | 3rd August 1963 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | February 22, 1964 |
| Decommissioning | May 27, 2005 |
| Whereabouts | Sunk in 2007 as a target ship |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
9559 tons |
| length |
159 meters |
| width |
33 meters |
| Draft |
6.7 meters |
| crew |
72 officers, 593 sailors |
| drive |
2 propellers, driven by 2 steam turbines; 24,000 hp |
| speed |
23 knots |
| Armament | |
The USS La Salle (LPD-3 / AGF-3) was to Raleigh-class belonging amphibious transport dock of the United States Navy , which was made in February 1964 in service, and in 1972 received a conversion to the command ship. It remained in active service until May 2005, making it the last operational Raleigh-class ship . On April 11, 2007, the La Salle was sunk as a target ship.
history
The La Salle was commissioned on August 8, 1960 as the third and last unit of the Raleigh class and laid down on April 2, 1962 in the shipyard of the New York Naval Shipyard . The launch took place on August 3, 1963. On February 22, 1964, the ship was put into service under the command of Captain Edward H. Winslow.
After test drives in the Caribbean and in front of the home port of Norfolk , the La Salle took part in Operation Steel Pike off the coast of Spain from October to November 1964 , which was the largest landing exercise in peacetime. At the exercise 84 ships took part, the command led Vice Admiral John Sidney McCain junior . The ship accommodated high-ranking military and politicians, including Paul B. Fay , Admiral Horacio Rivero, Jr. , General Wallace M. Greene junior and Lucius Mendel Rivers .
In November 1964, La Salle was assigned to the United States Sixth Fleet and took part in NATO exercises off the coast of Naples . She returned to base in Norfolk on March 13, 1965. From May 1, the ship served as a floating command post for Vice Admiral John Sidney McCain junior off the coast of the Dominican Republic . After completing this mission on June 1, 1965, La Salle participated in exercises in the Caribbean.
On November 3, 1966, the ship recovered a test capsule from the Manned Orbiting Laboratory off Ascension Island . It spent the following years doing exercises in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In 1972 the La Salle was converted into a command ship and stationed in Bahrain to serve as a floating embassy. To underline this task, it was painted white, which should be more reminiscent of a civilian ship. This earned her the nickname "Great White Whale". After the outbreak of the First Gulf War , La Salle was used, among other things, as a floating prison for Iraqi soldiers. The ship did not take part in active missions due to its weak armament.
In 1979, La Salle evacuated American citizens from the port of Bandar Abbas . She then served as a command ship during the hostage-taking of Tehran . After the hostage situation ended, the ship returned to US waters for the first time in 9 years.
After modernization work, the La Salle returned to the Persian Gulf in June 1983, where it replaced the USS Coronado (AGF-11) as the command ship of the Commander in Chief of the armed forces there. In 1984 the ship spent searching and clearing mines in the Red Sea . In 1986 it was anchored in the Gulf of Aden during the civil war in Yemen . When the frigate USS Stark (FFG-31) was hit by Iraqi missiles in May 1987 , La Salle was on the scene to fight the fire.
After an overhaul of the machinery in Japan , the ship returned a third time to the Persian Gulf in June 1988. After Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down in July, La Salle was relocated to Bahrain. During the Second Gulf War , the ship took part in Operation Desert Shield . From November, the La Salle , now again in gray paint, was stationed in Gaeta as the command ship of the United States Sixth Fleet and carried out exercises in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea from there.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , La Salle took part in its role as a floating command center in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom . The ship was last used during the 2004 Summer Olympics to monitor the Mediterranean as part of a NATO operation. On February 25, the La Salle was replaced by the USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) as the command ship of the United States Sixth Fleet and decommissioned on May 27, 2005 in Norfolk.
After almost two years in the reserve fleet , the La Salle was sunk on April 11, 2007 as part of a practice shooting by the United States Navy as a target ship off the Atlantic coast.
Web links
- Entry on La Salle on navsource.org (English)
- Entry to La Salle on navysite.de (English)