USS Tuscaloosa (LST-1187)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Tuscaloosa |
| Namesake: | Tuscaloosa |
| Builder: | National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, California |
| Laid down: | 23 November 1968 |
| Launched: | 6 September 1969 |
| Commissioned: | 24 October 1970 |
| Decommissioned: | 18 February 1994 |
| Motto: | Extra 3 Percent |
| Fate: | sunk as target, 14 July 2014 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Newport-class tank landing ship |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 522 ft (159 m) |
| Beam: | 69 ft 9 in (21.26 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) forward |
| Installed power: | 3 × ALCO 251-C, 8-cylinder generator sets, (750 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Troops: | 18 officers, 21 SNCO, 268 enlisted |
| Complement: | 14 officers, 15 CPO, 226 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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| Aviation facilities: | Helicopter landing deck |
USS Tuscaloosa (LST-1187), the ninth of the Newport-class tank landing ships, and the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The first Tuscaloosa USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) was a heavy cruiser "1934-1946", and was also named after the city namesake of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Tuscaloosa (LST-1187) was laid down on 23 November 1968 at San Diego, California by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. She was launched on 6 September 1969 sponsored by Mrs. Thomas F. Connolly and commissioned on 24 October 1970 with Commander Harry W. Kinsley Jr. in command.
Tuscaloosa spent the remainder of the year alternating in underway and upkeep periods. On 4 January 1971 she began duty off the coast of California as a test ship evaluating sensors on John C. Calhoun (SSBN-630).
She continued a rigorous training schedule out of San Diego, her home port, into the spring when she prepared for a deployment to the Western Pacific. The tank landing ship loaded a cargo of Quonset hut components and a tank-deck load of LVT's (Landing Vehicle Tracked), tanks, and heavy construction vehicles and departed the West Coast on 18 May 1971.
Arriving at Okinawa on 1 June, Tuscaloosa unloaded and proceeded, via Subic Bay, Philippines, to Da Nang, South Vietnam. After taking on a cargo of Marine Corps equipment she returned home to San Diego on 6 July and began an extensive post-shakedown availability which lasted into the fall. On 1 October Tuscaloosa got underway for a seven-month WestPac deployment in company with Amphibious Squadron 5; Tripoli (LPH-10), Duluth (LPD-6), Anchorage (LSD-36), Mobile (LKA-115) and Schenectady (LST-1185).
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