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USS Shadwell (LSD-15)
Encyclopedia
USS Shadwell (LSD-15) was a in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. She was named after Shadwell plantation
Shadwell (Virginia)
Shadwell, a location by the Rivanna river in Albemarle County, Virginia near Charlottesville, was the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson. It was so named by Peter Jefferson after Shadwell parish in London where his wife Jane Randolph had been christened...
, Albemarle County, Virginia
Albemarle County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 79,236 people, 31,876 households, and 21,070 families residing in the county. The population density was 110 people per square mile . There were 33,720 housing units at an average density of 47 per square mile...
, the birthplace and early home of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, author of the Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
and third President of the United States.
Initially authorized under the Lend-Lease Act and named Tomahawk, then renamed Waterway upon assignment to the United Kingdom, LSD-15 was reassigned back to the United States and named Shadwell. She was laid down on 17 January 1944 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., at Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
; launched on 24 May 1944; sponsored by Miss Mary Greenman; and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
on 24 July 1944, Lieutenant Commander William K. Brooks in command.
World War II
After shakedown, Shadwell sailed from Hampton RoadsHampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
on 26 August 1944. She transited the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
on 1 September and headed for San Diego, where she laid over for a docking period. After almost a month at San Diego, she departed on 2 October to join the Pacific Fleet. Upon arrival, Shadwell was employed in the transportation of heavy amphibious equipment between the islands of the southern Pacific. During this time, she visited Tulagi
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...
and Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
in the Solomons
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....
on the New Hebrides
New Hebrides
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
, Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
in the Admiralty Islands
Admiralty Islands
The Admiralty Islands are a group of eighteen islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the south Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-covered islands form part of Manus Province, the smallest and...
, and Hollandia
Jayapura
Jayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....
and Aitape
Aitape
Aitape is a small town of about 8,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals...
on New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
.
On 28 December 1944, Shadwell embarked elements of the 1060th Engineer Battalion, United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, and sailed from New Guinea with Task Force 78 (TF 78). Though her convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
came under continual submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
, surface, and air attack, so efficient were the screening units that Shadwell
Lingayen Gulf
The Lingayen Gulf is an extension of the South China Sea on Luzon in the Philippines stretching . It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central...
, Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
, P.I.
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
However, on 9 January 1945 (D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
for the Luzon invasion
Battle of Luzon
The Battle of Luzon was a land battle fought as part of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II by the Allied forces of the U.S., its colony The Philippines, and Mexico against forces of the Empire of Japan. The battle resulted in a U.S. and Filipino victory...
), Shadwells gunners proved their worth by splashing an A6M Zero
A6M Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...
. Shadwell returned immediately to the staging area at Hollandia, New Guinea, embarked additional troops of the 1060th Army Engineers, then departed for Leyte, P.I. At Leyte, she joined Task Group 78.8 (TG 78.8), which soon made for Lingayen.
On the evening of 24 January 1945, the task group was sailing south of Siquijor Island
Siquijor
Siquijor is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. Its capital is the municipality also named Siquijor. To the northwest of Siquijor are Cebu and Negros, to the northeast is Bohol and to the south, across the Bohol Sea, is Mindanao.Siquijor is the third...
, in the Philippines, when it was attacked by three torpedo bomber
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
s. Two were splashed by the convoy's combat air patrol
Combat air patrol
Combat air patrol is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft.A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, for the purpose of intercepting and destroying hostile...
, but the third escaped into the darkness. It soon returned, swooping down from the hills on the island, and pressed home its attack. The convoy's antiaircraft guns brought the enemy down, but not before he was able to release his torpedo. The air-dropped "fish" struck Shadwell just forward of amidships on the starboard side, tearing a hole in her bottom 60 feet wide (20 m). The landing ship was taking water badly and soon began to sink. The convoy steamed on while two destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s stood by to evacuate her crew if necessary. Shadwells crew worked frantically to save their sinking ship and, by morning, their efforts were rewarded. Shadwell was steaming under her own power, steering for Leyte by trick wheel. Of the more than 500 men aboard Shadwell at the time, there were no fatalities and only three casualties, all only slightly injured.
Temporary repairs were made at Leyte and, when she was deemed seaworthy, Shadwell steamed on to Manus in the Admiralty Islands. There she went into drydock and underwent further temporary repairs before crossing the Pacific for permanent repairs. On 4 May, she reached Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...
, and entered the Puget Sound Navy Yard. Just over two months later, she departed the yard to rejoin the fleet, sailing on 11 July. She stopped over at San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
on the 14th and 15th, fueled and took on ballast, then set course for Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. On 23 July, she anchored in Maalaea Bay, off Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
and, the next day, shifted to Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
. On the 28th, Shadwell set sail for the western Pacific, specifically Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
. She arrived there on 6 August and departed on the following day, bound for Samar in the Philippines. En route to Samar, she was diverted twice, first to Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, then to Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, where she arrived on 13 August. Shadwell departed that same day to join the 3d Fleet and, on the 17th, two days after the cessation of hostilities, she joined TG 30.8. Ten days later, the landing ship arrived in Sagami Wan, off Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
, and, two days thereafter, moored in the bay itself. Shadwell remained moored at Tokyo through May 1946, operating the boat pool there.
Returning to the United States in mid-1946, Shadwell underwent preinactivation overhaul and, on 10 July 1947, was placed out of commission, in reserve. She was berthed at Orange, Texas
Orange, Texas
Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
, as a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
1950 – 1970
On 20 September 1950, Shadwell was recommissioned at Orange, Texas. She operated for the next five years in the western Atlantic and Caribbean. Ranging as far north as LabradorLabrador
Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
, Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, and Newfoundland
Dominion of Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
, Shadwell participated in several Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
expeditions and exercises including "Bluejay" and "Convex" in 1951 and "Pinetree" in 1953. The remainder of her time was spent along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean.
In 1956, after one Caribbean operation, Shadwell departed Norfolk for a tour of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Thus she began a schedule of deployments, alternating Atlantic-Caribbean duty with cruises in the Mediterranean, which lasted until she was decommissioned
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....
in 1971.
Ten times, during the intervening 15 years, Shadwell cruised the "middle sea" and visited its ports of call. In 1959, Shadwell became the first helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
-carrying dock landing ship. In 1961, she underwent a Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization
Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization
The Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization program of the United States Navy extended the lives of World War II-era destroyers by shifting their mission from a surface attack role to that of a submarine hunter...
(FRAM) overhaul. She was in the Atlantic supporting the Cuban quarantine
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
in October 1962. In February 1964, she participated in the amphibious exercise "Quick Kick V" on the coast of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. Seven months later, during the passage to her sixth Mediterranean deployment, Shadwell took part in Operation "Steel Pike"
Operation Steel Pike
Operation Steel Pike was the largest peacetime amphibious landing exercise in history, conducted by the United States Navy and Marine Corps and taking place on the coast of Spain in October to November 1964....
executed off the coast of Spain. In 1967, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award
Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award
The Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award is presented annually by the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Operations to one ship in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and one in the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
for the Atlantic Fleet. In January 1968, she was in the Caribbean engaged in Operation "Spring Board." On 8 July 1969, she was involved in a night-time collision with the off Malta.
During August 1969, Shadwell departed the Mediterranean after a five-month deployment. She entered Little Creek, Virginia
Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek
The Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek is the major operating base for the Amphibious Forces in the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet. The base comprises four locations in three states, including almost 12,000 acres of real estate. Its Little Creek location in Virginia Beach, Virginia totals...
, on the 19th to begin inactivation overhaul. Eight months later, on 9 March 1970, she was placed out of commission, in reserve. On 9 September, Shadwell was transferred to the James River, Virginia, group of the National Defense Reserve Fleet
National Defense Reserve Fleet
The National Defense Reserve Fleet consists of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States of America during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.The NDRF is...
. Shadwell was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 1 November 1976.
Mobile Bay
On 10 November 1988, the Shadwell, decommissioned and now known as the ex-USS Shadwell, was transferred to the Fire Research Detachment, Little Sands Island, Mobile BayMobile Bay
Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the...
, Alabama. She is serving as a test and training platform in the development of fire models and other damage and control systems. Shadwell is on the stricken list and will eventually be disposed of upon the end of her use as a test and training platform.
Shadwell was grounded on Little Sand Island in Mobile Bay, Alabama, as a result of hurricanes Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and Rita
Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast in September 2005...
. The ship was removed from the position of grounding in 2006. A U.S. Navy Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) assisted with the project.
Awards
Shadwell earned one battle star for World War II service. In 1967, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund AwardMarjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award
The Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award is presented annually by the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Operations to one ship in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and one in the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
for the Atlantic Fleet.