USS Thomaston (LSD 28) кемесінің тарихы

USS Thomaston (LSD 28) was the lead ship of her class of dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for Thomaston, Maine, the home of General Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War to serve under the United States Constitution. Thomaston (LSD 28) was laid down on 3 March 1953 at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 9 February 1954, sponsored by Mrs. Mathias B. Gardner; and commissioned on 17 September 1954.

Following shakedown in the Caribbean, Thomaston transited the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet Amphibious Force. From July through October 1955, Thomaston participated in the Arctic Resupply Project, provisioning stations on the Distant Early Warning Line before taking part in cold weather landing exercises in the Aleutians in November 1955 and again in January and February 1956. The landing ship's duties soon took her southward to the warmer climes of the Hawaiian Islands, where she conducted local operations and exercises in March and April. On hand in Santa Barbara, California, from 2 July to 9 July, for the Semana Nautica Celebration, Thomaston returned to the Hawaiian Islands and participated in three landing exercises in the autumn before returning to the west coast to conduct exercises off the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton, California, during the spring of 1957. She subsequently deployed to the Western Pacific (WestPac) in 1959 and participated in exercises off Borneo and Korea in June and August of that year. Alternating between the west coast and WestPac, Thomaston participated in a busy schedule of operations and cruises into the 1960s. During the international tensions brought on by the United States' discovery of Russian missile sites in Cuba, Thomaston sailed via the Panama Canal to the Caribbean and operated with the Atlantic Fleet until tensions abated with the withdrawal of the missiles. She then returned to San Diego on 15 December 1962. She commenced the year 1963 at her home port, NS San Diego, and conducted training exercises into February before serving as primary control ship off "Green" Beach, Del Mar, California, during Operation Steel Gate from 28 February to 8 March 1963. Thomaston departed the west coast on 26 March, bound for the Far East, and arrived via Pearl Harbor at Subic Bay on 20 April. Serving with the Amphibious Force of the 7th Fleet; she participated in special operations in the South China Sea from 22 April to 5 May. A second special operation in the South China Sea — again with the Amphibious Ready Group, 7th Fleet — took place in late August and early September. After operating in Okinawan waters, Thomaston departed Yokosuka, Japan, on 4 November, bound for the west coast of the United States. While en route three days later, the LSD received word of a merchantman in distress. Changing course, Thomaston found SS Barbara Fritchie in heavy seas, dead in the water, having lost a propeller and suffering rudder damage. Thomaston took her in tow and headed for Pearl Harbor, transferring the tow to Cree on 12 November. The LSD's stop at Pearl Harbor was a brief one, though, as she arrived and departed for home on the same day, 15 November, making port at San Diego on 21 November 1963

Thomaston operated locally and trained through the early fall of 1964, when she sailed for the Philippines on 26 October to commence another WestPac deployment. Arriving at Subic Bay on 16 November, the LSD conducted special operations in the South China Sea, including a dredge lift from Saigon to Da Nang, South Vietnam, between 21 November and 16 December. Christmas of that year found Thomaston again at sea, on "special operations" in the South China Sea. She was present at the initial Marine landings at Da Nang and Chu Lai, South Vietnam. She remained deployed to WestPac until June 1965, when she returned to San Diego to conduct routine local operations off the west coast.

Departing San Diego on 10 January 1966 for WestPac, Thomaston arrived in Vietnamese coastal waters on 5 February and immediately commenced operations at Chu Lai and Da Nang, serving as boat haven at the latter port. She returned to the United States in the spring and remained at San Diego from 9 April to 9 July 1966. The ship then headed back to the western Pacific and operated out of Subic Bay from 28 July through the end of the deployment. She participated in Operations Deckhouse III (phases one and two) and Deckhouse IV in August and September. In the former, Thomaston landed marines north of Vũng Tàu and served as primary control ship and boat haven during the subsequent operations. She then landed marines at a point just south of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Vietnam. She thus continued in her familiar role as primary control ship and boat haven during "Deckhouse IV" and staged boat convoys carrying supplies 9 mile (14 km) up the Cua Viet River to Đông Hà. Returning to Subic Bay, Thomaston later participated in Exercise Mudpuppy II which was designed to provide training in river operations for marines. Held on Mindoro in the Philippines, "Mudpuppy II" ended three days before Christmas; and Thomaston sailed for Vietnam.