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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Alpha - Romeo
NAAR

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (3) - Navy Expeditionary Medal (Cuba)
Bottom Row - National Defense Service Medal (2) - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Lebanon, Cuba, Dominican Republic) - Humanitarian Service Medal (Beirut Lebanon evacuation)

Thomaston Class Dock Landing Ship:

Laid down, 7 September 1954, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.

Launched, 10 November 1955

Commissioned USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), 8 June 1956, CAPT. S. Filippone in command

Decommissioned, 2 October 1989

Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet

Struck from the Naval Register, 13 December 1989

Custody transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.

Title transferred from MARAD the State of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Largo, FL., 13 June 2001

Final Disposition, sunk as an artificial reef, 17 May 2002 six miles off the Florida Keys, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Specifications:
Displacement 8,899 t.(lt), 11,525 t(fl)
Length 510'
Beam 84'
Draft 19'
Speed 20 kts.

Complement

Officers 18

Enlisted 330

Troop Accommodations 325

Armament (as built)

four twin 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts

four twin 40mm gun mounts

six twin 20mm AA gun mounts

Boat Capacity (Well Deck)

three LCUs or nine LCM-8's or fifty AAV's/LVTP-7's amphibious tractors

Aircraft Capacity helicopter landing area

Propulsion

two D-type boilers, 600psi.

two steam turbines

two propellers, 24,000shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
10123225	388k	*Namesake* Spiegel Grove, Fremont, OH. - estate of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States, 2015.	Photo by Dale Hargrave
10123226	30k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) ready for launching, 10 November 1955, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS. Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. photo.	Dale Hargrave
10123227	67k	Mrs. Webb C. Hayes, wife of President Hayes's grandson, christens Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), 10 November 1955, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS. Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. photo.	Dale Hargrave
10123228	64k	Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) slides down the builder's ways as she is launched, 10 November 1955, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS. Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. photo.	Dale Hargrave
	245k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** moored at Genoa, Italy, 21 April 1957	Photo by Carlo Martinelli
	32k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** under way, date and location unknown.	© Richard Leonhardt
	29k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** under way, date and location unknown.
	505k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** under way, date and location unknown. US Navy photo	Charles Lamm
10123230	227k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** underway off Norfolk, VA., date unknown. ©Nobe Smith	NIcholas Tiberio
	72k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** drops anchor in the port of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, during her goodwill tour as part of Task Force 88 (Solant Amity II), circa April 1961 to January 1962. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, August 1963.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	147k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32) leads USS Raleigh (LPD-1)** while sailing in formation during training exercises in the Caribbean Sea in 1967-68.	Photo by Masao Aochi
	67k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** under way in 1968, location unknown. US Navy photo.	Robert Hurst
	65k		Robert Hurst
	96k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** with stern gate down during amphibious operations in 1968, location unknown. US Navy photo.	Robert Hurst
	180k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32) at anchor in the Kithira Strait in the eastern Mediterranean Sea with the rest of her Amphibious Ready Group, 25 June 1976. Photo taken from the Soviet DDG Krasny Krim (191)**.	Eugene Ivkin
	49k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** loading a prototype Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), either *JEFF A* or *JEFF B* in her well, circa late 1978, Gulf of Mexico. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1979.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	101k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** operating in the Gulf of Mexico, while conducting trials with an experimental Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), *JEFF B* hovercraft, circa 1978-79. US Navy photo.	Robert Hurst
	108k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32) with stern gate down during amphibious operations loading a LCAC**, date and place unknown.	Robert Hurst
	71k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)**, at Barcelona, Spain, 15 March 1980. Note gun armament has been reduced to three twin 3"/50 mounts, and fire control systems removed.	Photo by Fabio Peña
	80k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)**, at Barcelona, Spain, 15 March 1980.	Photo by Fabio Peña
	69k	*USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)**, at Barcelona, Spain, 15 March 1980.	Photo by Fabio Peña
	50k	An experimental Bell Aerospace JEFF(B) prototype amphibious assault landing craft underway off the coast of Florida early in 1984, with a cargo including an M60 MBT and two 155 mm howitzers. She is on her way to rendezvous with *USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)** for docking trials US Navy photo from "Modern Military Hovercraft" published by Purnells	Robert Hurst
	311k	A Bell Aerospace JEFF(B) prototype amphibious assault landing craft approaches the docking well of the stationery *USS Spiegel Grove* (LSD-32)**, while operating off the Florida coast in early in 1984. US Navy photo from "Modern Military Hovercraft" published by Purnells	Robert Hurst

For more photos and information about USS Spiegel Grove, see:
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
MARAD Vessel History Database
Photos of ex-USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) being sunk as an artificial reef off Key Largo, FL., 2003
Spiegel Grove Association

Commanding Officers
01	CAPT. Filippone, Saverio, USN, (USNA 1937)	8 June 1956 - 8 March 1957
02	CAPT. McDowell, Ellis Hole, USN (USNA 1937)	8 March 1957 - 20 March 1958
03	CAPT. Clark, Alto Benjamin, USN (USNA 1938)	20 March 1958 - 2 July 1959
04	CAPT. Lindon, Elbert Crawford (Spud), USN (USNA 1939)	2 July 1959 - 16 July 1960
05	CAPT. Moore, Raymond Atkinson, USN (USNA 1938) :RADM	16 July 1960 - 8 August 1961
06	CAPT. Boyer, William Grant, USN	8 August 1961 - 3 August 1962
07	CAPT. Hawthorne, Robert Earle, USN (USNA 1943)	3 August 1962 - 29 May 1963
08	CAPT. Foley, Peter Joseph, USN	29 May 1963 - 12 April 1964
09	CAPT. Dupzyk, Robert Richard (Pat), USN (USNA 1940)	12 April 1964 - 8 May 1965
10	CAPT. Cummins, Lawrence Delworth, USN (USNA 1944)	8 May 1965 - 7 December 1966
11	CAPT. York, Daniel August, USN	7 December 1966 - 20 April 1968
12	CAPT. Nordberg, Delbert Ward, USN (USNA-1947)	20 April 1968 - 24 June 1969
13	CAPT. Witham Jr., Burton Brooks, USN	24 June 1969 - 21 September 1970
14	CAPT. Kinnear II, George Espy Ridgeway (Gus), USN :ADM	21 September 1970 - 2 April 1971
15	CAPT. Anderson, Forrest Prentice, USN (USNA 1953)	2 April 1971 - 14 August 1972
16	CDR. Miller, Richard Archibald, USN (USNA 1950) :VADM	14 August 1972 - 21 February 1974
17	CDR. Avila Jr., John, USN	21 February 1974 - 26 March 1976
18	CAPT. Bush, Vernon Royce, USN (USNA 1956)	26 March 1976 - 14 April 1978
19	CDR. Van Slyke Jr., James Corbett, USN	14 April 1978 - 19 May 1980
20	CDR. McKay Jr., John Norman, USN	19 May 1980 - 8 October 1982
21	CDR. Summerlin, Thomas Wiley, USN	8 October 1982 - 19 January 1985
22	CDR. McCarthy, Richard John, USN	19 January 1985 - 20 April 1988
23	CDR. Martin, Robert Stanley, USN	20 April 1988 - 31 May 1989
24	CDR. Potopsingh, Flavius Constant, USN	31 May 1989 - 2 October 1989


Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

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Last Updated 13 May 2022