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NAB Little Creek, Virginia - April 1991
1991
January 1991
Morehead City - January 1991
Morehead City - January 1991
Morehead City - January 1991
Morehead City - December 1990
CH-53E Super Stallions (HMH-464) on the
flight deck - 1990
April 1988
April 1988
April 1988
April 1988
April 1988
1988
1988
1988
1988
1988
mast and Mk-33 twin-gun (right) - 1988
mast and antenna details - 1988
1988
bow HF-antenna - 1988
mine sweeping boats in the well deck -
August 1987
mine sweeping boats in the well deck -
August 1987
mine sweeping boats in the well deck -
August 1987
Norfolk, Virginia - October 1984
USS Raleigh (LPD-1, top) with USS Platte
(AO-186) and USS Nassau (LHA-4) - November 1983
USS Raleigh (LPD-1, left) with USS Platte
(AO-186) and USS Nassau (LHA-4) - November 1983
USS Raleigh (LPD-1, bottom) with USS
Platte (AO-186) and USS Nassau (LHA-4) - November 1983
off Beirut, Lebanon - first half 1983
undated
Rota, Spain - February 1982
September 1981
ca. 1976
ca. 1968
Hawker Siddeley Kestrel aircraft tests -
circa 1966
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USS
Raleigh (LPD 1):
USS Raleigh (LPD-1), the lead ship of her
class of amphibious transport docks, was the fourth ship of the United States
Navy named for the capital of North Carolina, which in turn honors the
English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, the first to attempt the establishment
of an English settlement in North America.
Her keel was laid down by the New York Naval Shipyard of Brooklyn, New York,
on 23 June 1960. She was launched on 17 March 1962 sponsored by Mrs. Terry
Sanford, wife of the Governor of North Carolina, and commissioned on 8
September 1962 with Captain A.W. Whitney in command.
She was decommissioned in 1991 after deploying for the Gulf War.
1962 - 1969
After fitting out through mid-December, Raleigh steamed to Norfolk, Virginia,
for the holiday season. In January 1963 she steamed for shakedown to Guantánamo
Bay, Cuba, but returned to the building yard in late February for correction
of design deficiencies in her aviation gasoline system. Returning to
Guantánamo in April, she completed shakedown, then assisted Commander,
Amphibious Force, Atlantic in hosting the Navy League national convention in
San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Returning to Norfolk on 1 June, Raleigh completed a week's amphibious
training at Little Creek, Virginia, and then deployed to the Caribbean Sea in
July with Amphibious Squadron 8. Raleigh proved herself during this
deployment by simultaneously landing troops and equipment by means of boats
and amphibious vehicles from her well and by helicopters from her flight
deck. During this cruise she made one trip to Haiti as tension there rose.
Raleigh returned to Norfolk on 1 October and then underwent post-shakedown
availability at New York City from 7 January 1964 through 13 March. During
the spring she conducted amphibious training operations off Onslow Beach,
North Carolina. Steaming for Europe on 12 October, Raleigh arrived off the
coast of Spain and took part in "Operation Steel Pike". She then
called at Porto, Portugal, and Vigo, Spain, before returning to Norfolk on 27
November. After a yard period at the U.S. Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth,
Virginia, she deployed to the Caribbean on 1 April 1965 with the Amphibious
Ready Squadron. From 25 April through 6 June, she operated off the Dominican
Republic, evacuating 558 refugees who were later transferred to Yancey
(LKA-93) for transit to San Juan. For her part in the endeavor Raleigh and
her crew received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. She returned to
Norfolk on 29 June.
After upkeep and coastal training operations, Raleigh steamed for northern
Europe on 27 August to participate in "Bar Frost 65," a NATO
amphibious exercise featuring a landing in Norway's fjords north of the
Arctic Circle. Returning to Norfolk on 23 October, she underwent a yard
period through 4 April 1966, and then steamed for refresher training at
Guantánamo Bay.
In April 1966, the Marines operated a Hawker Siddeley Kestrel off the
commando assault ship and were impressed with the aircraft. This then led to
the Marines obtaining the Harrier AV-8A jump jet for use from their assault
ships.
Raleigh's deployments to the Caribbean from Norfolk as a unit of the
Amphibious Ready Squadron averaged two per year up until 1970.
1970 - 1979
In July 1970 she began the first of a series of Mediterranean cruises
averaging one a year.
During the summer of 1971, the Raleigh embarked Midshipman from the U.S.
Naval Academy for a NATO/Training deployment to the North Atlantic. Ports of
call were Lisbon, Portugal, Portsmouth, England and Copenhagen, Denmark.
Returning to Norfolk, the Raleigh upgraded and refitted for her next
deployment to the Mediterranean in February, 1972. During that deployment,
the Raleigh and her Marines participated in a number of amphibious landing
operations with British, Greek and Italian naval units.
Returning to CONUS (Continental United States) in August 1972, the Raleigh
participated in several "transportation" deployments to various
Naval Bases on the East Coast before her entry to the Berkley Shipyards in
Norfolk, Virginia, for overhaul.
Raleigh departed Berkeley and went through refresher training at Guantanamo
Bay in the spring of 1973. However a boiler casualty in #2 Engine Room forced
her return to Norfolk. During transit from Cuba to Norfolk, the Raleigh was
harassed by Cuban and Soviet aircraft for several days.
During the late fall of 1973, Captain Eugene Geronime relieved Captain Robert
Crispin. In November of that year Raleigh deployed again to the
Mediterranean, this time to link up with the Marine Amphibious Group sortied
at Souda Bay, Crete. The combined Groups saw the largest Marine Force ever
assembled in the Mediterranean up to that time. This was in response to the
1973 Arab-Israeli War in October. Following the cease fire, the Raleigh
maintained station in the Eastern Mediterranean to prevent Soviet expansion
in that area. Raleigh returned to Little Creek, Virginia, in June 1974. for
one of the biggest homecomings the ship ever received.
During the summer of 1974, Raleigh prepared for an extensive overhaul in
Baltimore, Maryland, and following its first phase, she ran aground in
Chesapeake Bay and returned to her homeport in Norfolk. During her second
phase in the General Dynamics Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, a fire
further disrupted her return to the Fleet. Captain Geronime was relieved on
18 April 1975 by Captain John McIntyre who took her through an extended
shakedown and two overseas deployments, including the evacuation of Americans
from Beirut in May 1976, for which the ship and crew received the
Humanitarian Service Medal. During the standup for the evacuation, Raleigh
spent 105 consecutive days at sea in the Eastern Mediterranean in early 1976.
Later that year, she participated in a Northern Europe amphibious
demonstration deployment to Norway, after which Captain McIntyre and crew
were feted upon their return to their Norfolk home port following almost two
years of extensive operations.
1980 - 1989
In 1987 and again in 1988-89, Raleigh cruised the Persian Gulf as part of a
mine countermeasures group.
First Gulf War, 1990 - 1991
The USS Raleigh cruise book (USN ships often produce one) for Operations
Desert Shield/Desert Storm has it that the ship completed the operation on 17
April 1991. She left Morehead City, North Carolina in August 1990. The ship's
CO was Capt Richard J McCarthy, the XO was Lt Cmdr Robert Baker, and the CMC
was Ronald G Crittenden.
The assigned LCU was LCU-1663. Embarked Marine units included the command
staff of 1st Bn, 10th Marines, the command staff of 3rd Bn, 2nd Marines, and
significant combat elements that included combat engineers, LAADs, AAVs, TOWs,
tanks of 2nd Tk Bn, and I Btry 10th Marines, among others.
Raleigh transited the Suez Canal in late August or early September. The
initial watch was to stay in the North Arabian Sea. A number of exercises
were held in Oman under the name Sea Soldier, that involved her.
Subsequently, she supported mine countermeasures missions operations off
Kuwait City, and used six AH-1W Sea Cobra attack helicopters in CAP missions.
Decommissioning and fate
Raleigh was decommissioned on 13 December 1991, and was struck from the Naval
Vessel Register on 25 January 1992, and disposed of as a target on 4 December
1994.
source: wikipedia, June 2012
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