|
USS ''Whetstone'' (LSD-27) was a ''Casa Grande''-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the named in honor of Whetstone Point, at end of peninsula between the old Basin (today's Inner Harbor) of downtown Baltimore (and old Baltimore Town). The peninsula which also later contained the residential communities of South Baltimore, Federal Hill and Locust Point is bordered by the |Northwest Branch (on the north side) and the Middle and Ferry (now Southern) Branches (to the south) on the Patapsco River, which is also Baltimore Harbor. Location of Revolutionary War fortifications of Fort Whetstone from the 1770s and the previous site of later Fort McHenry reconstructed beginning in 1798 was named for James McHenry, third Secretary of War under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. The star-shaped fort which defended Baltimore, Maryland from British assault with a two-day bombardment in 12–14 September 1814, during the War of 1812. The poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" when set to music inspired the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" written as a poem by Francis Scott Key from an off-shore truce ship downriver. USS ''Whetstone'' was laid down on 7 April 1945 at the Boston Navy Yard; launched on 18 July 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Worthington S. Bitler, the wife of Captain W. S. Bitler on duty at the Boston Navy Yard; and commissioned on 12 February 1946, Commander G. R. Keating in command. ==1945–1948== Following the ship's shakedown, ''Whetstone'' underwent post-shakedown availability at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard before heading for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal between 26 and 30 April 1946, the new dock landing ship reached San Diego on 11 May. For the next few months, ''Whetstone'' — attached to Transport Division 11, Transport Squadron 1 — operated in the waters of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, conducting intra-area lifts of boats and equipment between Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, Adak, Sitka, Seattle and San Francisco. In addition, she also called at Port Angeles, Washington, and San Diego during that time. She subsequently departed San Francisco on 18 February 1947 bound for the Far East. Reaching Shanghai, China, on 9 March, the LSD remained at that Chinese port until the 22d, when she got underway to shift down the coast to Hong Kong. ''Whetstone'' supported the American occupation and assistance efforts in not only Chinese waters but Japanese as well, the ship touching at Shanghai once more, as well as at Sasebo and Kobe, Japan, before she set course for the Palaus on 15 April 1947. ''Whetstone'' returned to the waters off the Asian mainland, however, via Peleliu and Manus, the next time visiting the waters of North China — reaching Tsingtao, China on 15 July. She subsequently departed that port on the 22d, conducting voyages between Guam, Yokosuka, and Iwo Jima before setting course for Pearl Harbor via the Marshalls. After taking aboard a pair of seaplane wrecking derricks, ''YSD-40'' and ''YSD-62'', at Kwajalein, ''Whetstone'' headed for Hawaii. Reaching Pearl Harbor on 12 September, ''Whetstone'' remained there only long enough to drop off the two self-propelled derricks and take aboard a garbage lighter, ''YG-54'', before she was underway again; her destination: San Diego. After delivering her charge, ''Whetstone'' operated off the west coast of the United States into late 1948, frequenting the waters off the coast of California. She participated in exercises and maneuvers off Oceanside, California, the site of the United States Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton. She was soon to be a victim of the post-World War II reduction of military strength. On 20 October 1948, ''Whetstone'' was decommissioned and placed in reserve at San Diego. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Whetstone (LSD-27)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|