Casa Grande-class dock landing ship


The Casa Grande class was a class of dock landing ships used by the Royal Navy and the United States Navy during the Second World War. Nineteen ships were planned, but two, and were cancelled before being completed.

Design

The 'Landing Ship Dock' or LSD developed from a British staff requirement for a type of self-propelled drydock to transport beaching craft over long distances, that would in turn deliver trucks and supplies onto the beach. A flooding deck aft capable of holding either two of the larger British Landing craft tanks or three of the new US LCTs was included in the designs. With the option of fitting extra decks, large numbers of vehicles could be transported, and loaded into landing craft via ramps. Despite an initial specification for a speed of, the LSDs were capable of only.

Service

The British initially ordered seven of the class from US dockyards, numbered LSD-9 to 15. Only four were delivered, numbers 9 to 12, while 13 to 15 were retained by the US Navy, which ordered another twelve to the design, but only built ten. In total thirteen of the ships served with the US Navy, while four ships served with the Royal Navy.

Ships

United States Navy

Royal Navy

Ship nameHull numberBuilderLaid downLaunchedCommissionedDecommissionedFate
EastwayF130Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia23 November 194221 May 194314 November 194323 April 1946Transferred to Greece, 1953; scrapped, 1972
HighwayF141Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia23 November 194219 July 194319 October 194323 April 1946Sold for scrap, 17 December 1948
NorthwayF142Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia24 May 194318 November 194315 February 19441946Sold to a commercial interest, 19 March 1948; scrapped, 1975
OceanwayF143Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia23 July 194329 December 194329 March 19441947Transferred to Greece, March 1947; transferred to France, 1952; sunk as target, 10 February 1970