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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USNS Taurus (T-LSV-8)
ex
USNS Taurus (T-AK-273) (1959 - 1963)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
National Defense Service Medal - Vietnam Service Medal (1) - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

Casa Grande Class Landing Ship Dock:

Laid down, 8 November 1944, as Fort Snelling (LSD-23) at Gulf Shipbuilding Corp., Chickasaw, AL.

Contract canceled, date unknown

Uncompleted hull purchased in October 1945 by Gulf Atlantic Transportation Co.

Sold, 22 December 1956 to TMT Trailer Ferry Inc. for conversion to a Roll-on Roll-off ferry for service between Florida and Cuba

Completed in 1956 as SS Carib Queen

Repossessed by the US Government, 4 March 1958 at Jacksonville, FL.

Laid up, 17 March 1958, in the Maritime Administration's National Defense Reserve Fleet, at Wilmington, N.C.

Acquired by the US Navy, 15 January 1959, and assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS)

Classified as a Cargo Ship and placed in service as USNS Taurus (T-AK-273)

Reclassified as a Landing Ship Vehicle (T-LSV-8), 1 January 1963

Placed out of service in September 1968 at Yokosuka Japan

Custody transferred to MARAD, 25 June 1969 for disposal

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 4 June 1969, to Union Minerals and Alloys Corp., New York NY., (PD-X-830 dated 1 May 1969) for $456,000.00. Withdrawn and delivered to Union Minerals & Alloys Corp., 25 June 1969

Struck from the Naval Register, 22 June 1971

AK Specifications:
Displacement 9,950 t.(fl)
Length 476'
Beam 72'
Draft 19'
Speed 16 kts.
Complement 69
Propulsion

two Westinghouse steam turbines

two Babcock and Wilcox oil fired D-type boilers, two drum, single furnace, single uptake, 250psi

double Fairbanks Morse Main Reduction Gears

two turbo-drive 300Kw 120V/240V D.C. Ship' Service Generators

twin propellers, 7,000shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
Fort Snelling (LSD-23)
	813k	Fort Snelling (LSD-23) under construction at Gulf Ship Building Corp., Chickasaw, AL. yard, 21 August 1945. View of stern looking forward. Note typical naval stern gate and raised anti-aircraft gun and fire control tubs on both wing walls. Well deck, wing wall bulkheads, stern gate hydraulics and interior planking are incomplete. Photo Courtesy of State Archives of Florida	Don Wagner
Merchant Service
	227k	Gulf Atlantic Transportation Company's passenger-auto ferry SS Carib Queen ready for a starboard launch at Gulf Shipbuilding Corp. shipyard at Chickasaw, AL., 25 July 1946. Photo Courtesy of State Archives of Florida.	Don Wagner
	326k	Stern view of SS Carib Queen ready to launch. 25 July 1946. Note typical LSD stern has been converted to a completely enclosed stern with doors. The shape of the prow has also been modified from original LSD design. The athwartship funnels still identify the vessel as a former Landing Ship, Dock. Photo Courtesy of State Archives of Florida	Don Wagner
	112k	SS Carib Queen trading card issued late fifties by John Wood & Son Tobacco. (This edition: 6th, ca. 1959/60). Drawing by G.J. Frans Naerebout.	Tommy Trampp
USNS Taurus (T-LSV-8)
	144k	*Namesake* Taurus (Latin for "the Bull") is one of the constellations of the zodiac, which means it is crossed by the plane of the ecliptic. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere's winter sky. It is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to at least the Early Bronze Age when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced various bull figures in the mythologies of Ancient Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Taurus as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.	Tommy Trampp
	39k	*USNS Taurus* (T-LSV-8)** under way, date and location unknown.	James Melton
	185k	*USNS Taurus* (T-LSV-8)** at anchor, circa the late 1950s or early 1960s. US Navy Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 90564	Robert Hurst