USS Catamount (LSD-17)

History
USS Catamount (LSD-17) at Subic Bay, Philippines, in 1967.

Launched:	27 January 1945
Commissioned:	9 April 1945
Decommissioned:	31 March 1970
Struck:	15 October 1976
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 4 December 1975
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 & Wilcox boilers, 2 Newport News Shipbuilding Steam Turbines, 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 Catamount (LSD-17) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named in honor of the Catamount Tavern in Old Bennington, which served as headquarters for Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys while making their plans against the New Yorkers and the British. The Catamount was also the meeting place of Vermont's only form of government then: the Vermont Council of Safety.

Catamount was launched on 27 January 1945 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., sponsored by Mrs. Dave E. Satterfield, Jr.; commissioned on 9 April 1945, Commander C. A. Swafford in command; and reported to the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Catamount sailed out of Pearl Harbor on 16 June 1945 laden with landing craft for Guam and Eniwetok. Through the remainder of the war, she ferried landing craft, dredges, and other equipment from Espiritu Santo to Kwajalein, Guam, and the Philippines. On 19 August she cleared Guam with special equipment to be used in the occupation of Japan, and on 26 August she stood up Tokyo Bay. Here she operated a boat pool and tended landing craft until 6 October, when she cleared on the first of two voyages to Manila to ferry troops and boats for the Japanese occupation. After a final voyage from Guam to Samar, Catamount cleared for San Francisco and Norfolk, where she arrived 11 February 1946. Joining the Atlantic Fleet, Catamount took part in amphibious training and midshipman cruises until the outbreak of the Korean War.

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