| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSTerrebonne Parish (LST-1156) |
| Namesake | Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana |
| Builder | Bath Iron Works,Bath, Maine |
| Laid down | 2 January 1952 |
| Launched | 9 August 1952 |
| Sponsored by | Miss Anne L. McCrea |
| Commissioned | 21 November 1952 |
| Decommissioned | 29 October 1971 |
| Renamed | From USSLST-1156 to USSTerrebonne Parish 1 July 1955 |
| Stricken | 1 November 1976 |
| Nickname(s) | "T-Bone" |
| Honors and awards |
|
| Fate |
|
 Spain | |
| Name | Velasco (L-11) |
| Namesake | Luis Vicente de Velasco (1711–1762), Spanish naval commander |
| Acquired |
|
| Fate | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Terrebonne Parish-classtank landing ship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 384 ft 0 in (117.04 m) |
| Beam | 55 ft 0 in (16.76 m) |
| Draft | 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) |
| Installed power | 6,000shaft horsepower (4.48megawatts) |
| Propulsion | FourGeneral Motors 16-278Adiesel engines, two controllable-pitchpropellers |
| Speed | 14knots |
| Boats & landing craft carried | ThreeLCVPs, oneLCPL |
| Troops | 395 (15 officers and 380 enlisted men) |
| Complement | 205 (16officers and 189enlisted men) |
| Armament |
|
USSTerrebonne Parish (LST-1156), originallyUSSLST-1156, affectionately nicknamed the "T-Bone" by her early crew, was aTerrebonne Parish-classtank landing ship built for theUnited States Navy in 1952. The lead ship in her class, she was named forTerrebonne Parish, Louisiana, the only U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name. The ship was transferred to Spain in 1971 and renamedVelasco (L-11). She was scrapped in 1994.
Terrebonne Parish was designed under ProjectSCB 9A and laid down as USSLST-1156 on 2 January 1952 atBath, Maine, byBath Iron Works. She was launched on 9 August 1952,sponsored by Miss Anne L. McCrea, andcommissioned on 21 November 1952.
Followingsea trial andshakedown,LST-1156 underwent post-shakedown alterations at theNorfolk Naval Shipyard atPortsmouth, Virginia, before commencing operations out ofNaval Amphibious Base Little Creek atVirginia Beach, Virginia, with Amphibious Forces,United States Atlantic Fleet, on 14 September 1953. The ship then conducted training exercises out of Little Creek before entering theNorfolk Navy Yard for conversion to anLSTflotillaflagship, involving the installation of much new communications equipment.
LST-1156 remained on operations out of Little Creek through June 1955. On 1 July 1955 she was named USSTerrebonne Parish.
Following operations in theCaribbean and offNorth Carolina andoverhaul at theCharleston Naval Shipyard atCharleston, South Carolina,Terrebonne Parish conducted a cruise toLisbon, Portugal, andPort Lyautey,French Morocco, before resuming local operations out of Little Creek. She continued participating in exercises and assault landings in the Caribbean and returned toNorfolk, Virginia, on 14 May 1957 to resume local operations and LST training.
On 29 August 1957,Terrebonne Parish clearedNaval Station Norfolk forMorehead City, North Carolina, and, on 30 August 1957, embarkedUnited States Marines, vehicles, and cargo for transport to theMediterranean. She joined units of theUnited States Sixth Fleet atTaranto, Italy, on 16 September 1957.
Around September 1957, LST 1157 transported MCB 7, Detachment K (and all of their equipment) from Port Layouty, Morocco too Davisville, RI.
During her subsequent Mediterranean tour of duty, she took part inNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) landing exercises atSaros Gulf, Turkey, and visited ports in Turkey, mainlandGreece, mainland Italy,Crete, andSicily before returning to the United States on 12 February 1958 and resuming local operations out of Little Creek.
Following overhaul and refresher training,Terrebonne Parish again deployed to the Mediterranean for duty with the Sixth Fleet in September 1958, serving as part of Service Force, Mediterranean, before returning westward once again to the United States and operations off theEast Coast of the United States and in Caribbean waters.
On 16 June 1959Terrebonne Parish commenced an "inland seas" cruise, transiting theSt. Lawrence Seaway and calling atIroquois,Cape Vincent, andPort Weller, Ontario, Canada;Ashtabula, Ohio;Kenosha, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois;Milwaukee, Wisconsin;Cleveland, Ohio;Erie, Pennsylvania;Port Colburne, Ontario; andRochester, New York, before returning to her home base at Little Creek on 6 August.
Terrebonne Parish also participated inExercise TRALEX in 1959, one of the largestamphibious warfare exercises conducted in that year.
Terrebonne Parish conducted yearly deployments to the Mediterranean, with periodic overhauls and exercises, through 1961.
In late October 1962, after the United States detected the presence ofSovietballistic missiles inCuba, the United States instituted a navalblockade – termed a "quarantine" by theUnited States Government – of Cuba, throwing a naval cordon around the island. During these emergency preparations,Terrebonne Parish operated with the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force through December 1962, when theCuban Missile Crisis finally subsided.
Attached to Amphibious Forces, Atlantic Fleet, Amphibious Squadron 6,Terrebonne Parish conducted operations off theVirginia Capes in January and February 1963 and then was overhauled inJacksonville, Florida, before she again departed for the Mediterranean. During her 1963 deployment with the 6th Fleet,Terrebonne Parish participated inMEDLANDEX, a joint American-Spanish exercise in which 3,000 American andSpanish Marines were landed with support fromaircraft carrier-based aircraft.
Terrebonne Parish remained in the Mediterranean until February 1964 before returning to the United States for amphibious exercises in the spring of 1964 atOnslow Beach, North Carolina, and offCape Pendleton, Virginia. She proceeded to New York City in July 1964 to participate as an exhibit in theNew York World's Fair before taking part in an amphibious exercise with Marines andUnited States Naval Academymidshipmen off Camp Pendleton.
Early in the autumn of 1964,Terrebonne Parish embarked the men and vehicles of "C"Company,1st Battalion,2nd Marine Regiment, and proceeded forHuelva, Spain, to take part in "Exercise Steel Pike," in which she became the first LST to "marry" to an eighteen-sectioncauseway for landing her embarked vehicles.
For the remainder of her Mediterranean deployment,Terrebonne Parish took part in landing exercises offSardinia andCorsica and made visits to ports in Italy, France, Greece, and Spain, spending the Christmas holidays inBarcelona, Spain, in late December 1964 and New Year's Eve (31 December 1964) atValencia, Spain.
Returning home to the United States towards the end of March 1965,Terrebonne Parish transported aUnited States Marine Corpsmissile detachment to the Caribbean, and then underwent extensive overhaul for four months by theBethlehem Steelshipyard atBaltimore, Maryland. After refresher training,Terrebonne Parish got underway for the Caribbean on 3 March 1966 to begin a four-month deployment to participate in exercises and operations involving beachings and landings. She next made two lifts to theDominican Republic in late August and early September 1965.
During this Caribbean tour, a locking device was developed for the sand flaps on the ship'sbow doors to keep them secure while underway, and it was installed onTerrebonne Parish in January 1966 atSan Juan,Puerto Rico. Tests proved that the new devices were very efficient. As a result, this modification was approved for all LSTs.
Terrebonne Parish commenced her seventh Mediterranean deployment on 30 March 1967. when she embarked Marines of the 1st Battalion,6th Marine Regiment, at Morehead City and crossed the Atlantic Ocean in company with fourminesweepers of Mine Division 83. Upon arriving atAranci Bay, Sardinia, on 19 April 1967, she joined Amphibious Squadron 6, Task Force 61, and soon participated in "Exercise Fairgame Five," a joint French-American amphibious exercise which brought together elements of theFrench Army,French Navy, FrenchCommandos, andFrench Foreign Legion, and a joint United States Navy-United States Marine Corps team.
Terrebonne Parish then headed for the western half of the Mediterranean and proceeded to Italy and Crete for further exercises. While she was atTaormina, Sicily, in late July 1967, volunteers from hership's company and embarked Marines went ashore to battle a ragingbrush fire threatening the town of Giardini.
Leaving Taormina on 7 August 1967 and arriving atPorto Scudo, Sardinia, on 12 August 1967,Terrebonne Parish took part in further amphibious exercises before she re-embarked her Marines after field exercises and proceeded toMálaga, Spain, for further amphibious training operations. She subsequently departedRota, Spain, on 2 September 1967 for her return voyage to the United States.
Terrebonne Parish deployed to the Mediterranean in 1968 then deployed to the Caribbean early in 1970 as part of the Caribbean Ready Group in Exercise "Carib 1–70," which also includedamphibious assault shipUSSGuadalcanal (LPH-7),dock landing shipUSSSpiegel Grove (LSD-32),attack cargo shipUSSVermilion (AKA-107), andtank landing shipUSSSuffolk County (LST-1173). During this deployment, she visitedVieques Island, Puerto Rico, periodically to practice amphibious operations. Other ports visited during this cruise wereMayaguez, Puerto Rico, where the ship's company builtplayground equipment at a local school; San Juan, Puerto Rico;St. Croix,United States Virgin Islands;Martinique,French West Indies;Colon, Panama;Aruba,Netherlands West Indies;Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; andRoosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.Terrebonne Parish also participated in an emergency deployment of the Caribbean Ready Group from San Juan, steaming out of sight of land between the islands ofTrinidad andTobago following an attemptedcoup against the government ofTrinidad and Tobago. En route from Aruba, she participated in joint naval exercises with theVenezuelan Navy.
Following return from Carib 1–70,Terrebonne Parish participated inriverine operations inSt. Helena Sound, South Carolina. As one of the ships in Amphibious Forces, Atlantic, she earned moreBattle E awards than most of the other ships in that command.
In September 1970,Terrebonne Parish steamed in company with the flagship of Commander, Amphibious Forces, Atlantic –amphibious force command shipUSSPocono (AGC-16) – and USSSpiegel Grove – toHalifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and encountered a confluence of two storms in which she took "green water" on occasion, 25 feet (7.6 meters) over her bows, heavily damaging manyweather deck fixtures and equipment. During one 24-hour period, the formation of ships was only able to make one nautical mile (1.85 kilometers) of headway.
Terrebone Parish returned to the Mediterranean in late 1970 for her ninth deployment.
In 1971, still homeported at Little Creek, Virginia and operating under command of Amphibious Forces, Atlantic,Terrebonne Parish deployed to the Caribbean for exercises and training activities. These included an operation from 5 to 10 August 1971 in whichUnited States Army andPanamanian National Guard units participated.
Soon after returning from Panama,Terrbonne Parish began preparations for her upcoming transfer to the Spanish government. On 29 October 1971, the ship wasdecommissioned and loaned to theSpanish Navy at Little Creek the same day.Terrebonne Parish was struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 1 November 1976 and sold outright to Spain on 17 May 1978.
RenamedVelasco (L-11), the ship served Spain until decommissioned by the Spanish Navy and used as a training hulk forUOE ("Unidad de Operaciones Especiales", a Naval Special Operations Unit) atArsenal de La Carraca inSan Fernando, Spain. She was scrapped in 1994.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be foundhere andhere.
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