STATUS:
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Awarded: August 8, 1960
Laid down: April 2, 1962
Launched: August 3, 1963
Commissioned: February 22,
1964
Converted & reclassified: Miscellaneous Command Ship (AGF-3 USS LaSalle) - July 1, 1972
Decommissioned: May 27, 2005 at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
Fate: sunk
as a target during a Missile Exercise
by USS Winston S. Churchill
(DDG-81), April 12, 2007, off Pensacola, Florida
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AGF-3
USS LaSalle
AGF-3 USS LaSalle - Atlantic Ocean - July
2004
Malta - July 2003
Mediterranean Sea - June 2003
January 2003
Operation Southern Watch - March 1993
Operation Southern Watch - March 1993
Operation Southern Watch - March 1993
Operation Southern Watch - March 1993
Operation Southern Watch - March 1993
Operation Southern Watch - March 1993
Operation Desert Shield - May 1992
1992
Operation Desert Shield - December 1991
mast details - March 1991
March 1991
March 1991
March 1991
Operation Desert Shield - January 1991
Persian Gulf - November 1990
Persian Gulf - November 1990
1990
1990
departing Bahrain - February 1988
departing Bahrain - February 1988
Persian Gulf - November 1987
Operation INTENSE LOOK - August 1984
Manama, Bahrain - June 1983
1983
1978
1978
1978
October 1975
- - -
LPD-3
USS LaSalle
LPD-3 USS LaSalle
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USS
LaSalle (LPD 3 / AGF-3):
USS La Salle was named for a town and county
in Illinois named after Rene Robert Chevalier de La Salle, one of the most
celebrated explorers and builders of New France in the 17th century.
Her keel was laid down by New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York, on 2
April 1962. She was launched on 3 August 1963 sponsored by Mrs. Victor M.
Longstreet, and commissioned on 22 February 1964 with Captain Edward H.
Winslow, USN in command.
LPD - Amphibious Transport Dock, 1964 - 1972
After shakedown and training in the Caribbean Sea and off Norfolk, Virginia,
the amphibious transport dock departed Norfolk on 9 October to participate in
"Operation Steel Pike I", a complex training exercise involving
over 80 ships and United States and Spanish troops. It closed the coast of
Spain off Huelva on 26 October, and embarked Under Secretary of the Navy Paul
B. Fay, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Horacio Rivero, Commandant of
the Marine Corps General Wallace M. Greene, and Chairman of the House Armed
Services Committee Congressman Mendel Rivers to watch the landing operations.
The exercise completed on 4 November, La Salle joined the 6th Fleet at
Naples, Italy, for amphibious operations and joint NATO training. It returned
to Norfolk on 13 March 1965.
With then-Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., Commander Amphibious Forces,
Atlantic Fleet embarked, La Salle sailed on 1 May for the Dominican Republic
during the revolution where she served as Command and Control for the
operation, returning to Norfolk on 1 June. Three weeks later it joined the
Caribbean Amphibious Ready Squadron, returning to home port on 21 September
to begin training operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean.
Through the first half of 1966, La Salle continued operating off the east
coast. July and September were spent in Norfolk for upkeep and modifications,
with further exercises following. On 3 November, she recovered a Gemini 2-MOL
test space capsule near Ascension Island. This was the Gemini 2 space
capsules second flight. This was returned to Cape Kennedy, Florida, and the
rest of the year spent on local operations in the Atlantic. La Salle entered
the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 9 January 1967 for repairs and remained there
until 20 March. The remainder of 1967 and the first three quarters of 1968
were spent conducting various exercises and port visits which ranged along
the entire Atlantic and Gulf coasts and into the Caribbean as well. On 2
November she put into Norfolk to prepare for an extended deployment with the
Sixth Fleet. Departing 13 November, she steamed first to Morehead City, North
Carolina, and then began its voyage to the Mediterranean Sea.
AGF - Miscellaneous Command Ship, 1972 - 2005
La Salle was converted to a "miscellaneous command ship" and given
the hull classification symbol AGF-3 after an overhaul in 1972. The ship was
dubbed "The Great White Ghost of the Arabian Coast" after being
painted white for a Middle East deployment in 1972. Those who sailed on it in
the Persian Gulf also called her the "Great White Target" for its
relative lack of defensive weapons at a time when tensions in the Persian
Gulf region were high.
In 1979, La Salle assisted in the evacuation of 260 American and foreign
national civilians from the Iranian seaport of Bandar Abbas, and subsequently
became the focal point of U.S. activity in the Persian Gulf at the outset of
the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The ship returned stateside in late 1980 for the
first time in almost nine years.
After undergoing an extensive overhaul in Philadelphia, La Salle returned to
the Persian Gulf and resumed her role as the flagship for Commander, Middle
East Forces (COMMIDEASTFOR) in June 1983, relieving the Coronado (AGF-11). In
1984, the ship conducted mine sweeping operations in the Red Sea in response
to attempts to disrupt shipping lanes, and in 1986, conducted contingency
operations in the Gulf of Aden during Yemen's civil war.
After the Iraqi missile attack on Stark (FFG-31) in May 1987, La Salle
provided the primary fire fighting rescue assistance to the ship. During
"Operation Desert Shield", the ship assumed the responsibility of
commanding and coordinating the multinational Maritime Intercept Force. Soon
afterward, La Salle returned to Norfolk to begin an overhaul to prepare it
for duties as the U.S. 6th Fleet flagship.
Returning to a conventional gray paint scheme, La Salle assumed
responsibilities as the flagship for Commander, Sixth Fleet on 8 November
1994. Homeported in Gaeta, Italy, La Salle was fully engaged in operations
throughout the Mediterranean and Black Seas in its role of supporting
Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet and Strike Force and Logistics South.
Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, La Salle commenced her
role in the war on terrorism, serving in support of "Operation Enduring
Freedom" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom".
One of the ship's last major assignments was supporting NATO-led efforts to
control the international waters off Greece during the 2004 Summer Olympics
in Athens. On 25 February 2005, she was relieved by Mount Whitney (LCC-20) as
the U.S. Sixth Fleet command ship.
Decommissioning and disposal
USS La Salle was decommissioned in Norfolk, Virginia on 27 May 2005, with
Captain Herman Shelanski as her last commanding officer and former La Salle
commanding officer, Rear Admiral Mark Milliken, as the decommissioning
ceremony guest speaker.
The ship was sunk as a target by
USS
Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) on
11 April 2007 during a scheduled fleet exercise off the Atlantic coast.
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