USS Whetstone (LSD-27)
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 7 April 1945 |
| Launched: | 18 July 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 12 February 1946 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 April 1970 |
| Struck: | 1 September 1971 |
| Nickname: | "The Rolling Stone" |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 17 February 1983 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 7,930 tons (loaded), 4,032 tons (light draft) |
| Length: | 457 ft 9 in (139.5 m) overall |
| Beam: | 72 ft 2 in (22.0 m) |
| Draft: | 8 ft 2½ in (2.5 m) fwd, 10 ft ½ in (3.1 m) aft (light); 15 ft 5½ in (4.7 m) fwd, 16 ft 2 in (4.9 m) aft (loaded) |
| Propulsion: | 2 Babcock and Wilcox boilers, 2 Skinner Uniflow Reciprocating Steam Engines, 2 propeller shafts - each shaft 3,700 hp, at 240 rpm total shaft horse power 7,400, 2 11 ft 9 in diameter, 9 ft 9 in pitch propellers |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Range: | 8,000 nmi. at 15 knots (15,000 km at 28 km/h) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
3 × LCT (Mk V or VI) each w/ 5 medium tanks or 2 × LCT (Mk III or IV) each w/ 12 medium tanks or 14 × LCM (Mk III) each w/ 1 medium tank or 1,500 long tons cargo or 47 × DUKW or 41 × LVT or Any combination of landing vehicles and landing craft up to capacity |
| Capacity: | 22 officers, 218 men |
| Complement: | 17 officers, 237 men (ship); 6 officers, 30 men (landing craft) |
| Armament: | • 1 × 5 in / 38 cal. DP gun; • 2 × 40 mm quad AA guns; • 2 × 40 mm twin AA guns; • 16 × 20 mm AA guns |
| Aircraft carried: | modified to accommodate helicopters on an added portable deck |
USS Whetstone (LSD-27) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the named in honor of Whetstone Point, at end of peninsula between the old Basin (today's Inner Harbor) of downtown Baltimore (and old Baltimore Town). The peninsula which also later contained the residential communities of South Baltimore, Federal Hill and Locust Point is bordered by the |Northwest Branch (on the north side) and the Middle and Ferry (now Southern) Branches (to the south) on the Patapsco River, which is also Baltimore Harbor. Location of Revolutionary War fortifications of Fort Whetstone from the 1770s and the previous site of later Fort McHenry reconstructed beginning in 1798 was named for James McHenry, third Secretary of War under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. The star-shaped fort which defended Baltimore, Maryland from British assault with a two-day bombardment in September 12-14, 1814, during the War of 1812. The poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" when set to music inspired the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" written as a poem by Francis Scott Key from an off-shore truce ship downriver.
USS Whetstone was laid down on 7 April 1945 at the Boston Navy Yard; launched on 18 July 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Worthington S. Bitler, the wife of Captain W. S. Bitler on duty at the Boston Navy Yard; and commissioned on 12 February 1946, Commander G. R. Keating in command.
Read more about USS Whetstone (LSD-27): 1945–1948, Korean War, 1950–1953, 1953–1965, 1966, 1967–1970, Awards, References
Famous quotes containing the word whetstone:
“The dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)