The second USS La Salle (LPD-3/AGF-3) was built as a and later served as a command ship

Command ship

Command ships serve as the flagships of the Commander of a fleet. They provide communications, office space, and accommodations for a fleet commander and his staff, and serve to coordinate fleet activities....

 in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

.

La Salle was named for the town

La Salle, Illinois

LaSalle is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States, located at the intersection of Interstates 39 and 80. It is part of the Ottawa–Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area. Originally platted in 1837 over one square mile, the city has grown to...

 and county in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 that was in turn named after René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico...

.

Her keel was laid down by New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York, on 2 April 1962. She was launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 3 August 1963 sponsored by Mrs. Victor M. Longstreet

Victor M. Longstreet

Victor M. Longstreet was an economist and at one time the president of the Boston Consulting Group. From 1962 to 1965, he was United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy .-Biography:...

, and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 22 February 1964 with Captain Edward H. Winslow, USN in command.

Amphibious transport, 1964–1972

After shakedown and training in the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

 and off Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, the amphibious transport dock departed Norfolk on 9 October to participate in "Operation Steel Pike

Operation Steel Pike

Operation Steel Pike was the largest peacetime amphibious landing exercise in history, conducted by the United States Navy and Marine Corps and taking place on the coast of Spain in October to November 1964....

 I", a complex training exercise involving over 80 ships and United States and Spanish troops. She closed the coast of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 off Huelva

Huelva

Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. It is located along the Gulf of Cadiz coast, at the confluence of the Odiel and Tinto rivers. According to the 2010 census, the city has a population of 149,410 inhabitants. The...

 on 26 October, and embarked Under Secretary of the Navy

Under Secretary of the Navy

The Under Secretary of the Navy is the second-highest ranking civilian official in the United States Department of the Navy. The Under Secretary, called the "Under" in Pentagon slang, reports to the Secretary of the Navy ....

 Paul B. Fay

Paul B. Fay

Paul Burgess Fay, Jr. was the Acting United States Secretary of the Navy in November 1963, and a close confidant of President John F. Kennedy.-Background:...

, Vice Chief of Naval Operations

Chief of Naval Operations

The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...

 Admiral Horacio Rivero, Commandant of the Marine Corps

Commandant of the Marine Corps

The Commandant of the Marine Corps is normally the highest ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...

 General Wallace M. Greene

Wallace M. Greene

General Wallace Martin Greene, Jr. was a four-star United States Marine Corps general who served as the 23rd Commandant of the Marine Corps from January 1, 1964 to December 31, 1967...

, and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Congressman Mendel Rivers to watch the landing operations.

The exercise completed on 4 November, La Salle joined the 6th Fleet at Naples, Italy, for amphibious operations and joint NATO training. She returned to Norfolk on 13 March 1965.

With then-Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Jr.

John S. McCain, Jr.

John Sidney "Jack" McCain Jr. was a United States Navy admiral, who served in conflicts from the 1940s through the 1970s, including as the Commander, United States Pacific Command....

, Commander Amphibious Forces, Atlantic Fleet embarked, La Salle sailed on 1 May for exercises in the Caribbean, returning to Norfolk on 1 June. Three weeks later she joined the Caribbean Amphibious Ready Squadron, returning to home port on 21 September to begin training operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean.

Through the first half of 1966, La Salle continued operating off the east coast. July and September were spent in Norfolk for upkeep and modifications, with further exercises following. On 3 November, she recovered a Gemini 2-MOL

Manned Orbiting Laboratory

The Manned Orbiting Laboratory , originally referred to as the Manned Orbital Laboratory, was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar military reconnaissance space plane project...

 test space capsule near Ascension Island

Ascension Island

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...

. This was the Gemini 2 space capsules second flight. This was returned to Cape Kennedy, Florida, and the rest of the year spent on local operations in the Atlantic. La Salle entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard

Norfolk Naval Shipyard

The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling, and repairing the Navy's ships. It's the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy as well as the most...

 on 9 January 1967 for repairs and remained there until 20 March. The remainder of 1967 and the first three quarters of 1968 were spent conducting various exercises and port visits which ranged along the entire Atlantic and Gulf coasts and into the Caribbean as well. On 2 November she put into Norfolk to prepare for an extended deployment with the Sixth Fleet. Departing 13 November, she steamed first to Morehead City, North Carolina

Morehead City, North Carolina

Morehead City is a port city in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007...

, and then began her voyage to the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

.

Command ship, 1972–2005

La Salle was converted to a "miscellaneous command ship" and given the hull classification symbol

Hull classification symbol

The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...

 AGF-3 after an overhaul in 1972. The ship was dubbed "The Great White Ghost of the Arabian Coast" after being painted white for a Middle East deployment in 1972. Those who sailed on her in the Persian Gulf also called her the "Great White Target" for her relative lack of defensive weapons at a time when tensions in the Persian Gulf region were high.

In 1979, La Salle assisted in the evacuation of 260 American and foreign national civilians from the Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian seaport of Bandar Abbas

Bandar Abbas

Bandar-Abbas or Bandar-e ‘Abbās , also Romanized as Bandar ‘Abbās, Bandar ‘Abbāsī, and Bandar-e ‘Abbās; formerly known as Cambarão and Port Comorão to Portuguese traders, as Gombroon to English traders and as Gamrun or Gumrun to Dutch merchants) is a port city and capital of Hormozgān Province on...

, and subsequently became the focal point of U.S. activity in the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

 at the outset of the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The ship returned stateside in late 1980 for the first time in almost nine years.

After undergoing an extensive overhaul in Philadelphia, La Salle returned to the Persian Gulf and resumed her role as the flagship for Commander, Middle East Forces (COMMIDEASTFOR) in June 1983, relieving the . In 1984, the ship conducted mine sweeping operations in the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 in response to attempts to disrupt shipping lanes, and in 1986, conducted contingency operations in the Gulf of Aden

Gulf of Aden

The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....

 during Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

's civil war.

After the Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i missile attack on in May 1987, La Salle provided the primary fire fighting rescue assistance to the ship. During "Operation Desert Shield", the ship assumed the responsibility of commanding and coordinating the multinational Maritime Intercept Force. Soon afterward, La Salle returned to Norfolk to begin an overhaul to prepare it for duties as the U.S. 6th Fleet flagship.

Returning to a conventional gray paint scheme, La Salle assumed responsibilities as the flagship for Commander, Sixth Fleet on 8 November 1994. Homeported in Gaeta

Gaeta

Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, La Salle was fully engaged in operations throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

s in its role of supporting Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet and Strike Force and Logistics South.

Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, La Salle commenced her role in the war on terrorism, serving in support of "Operation Enduring Freedom" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom".

One of the ship's last major assignments was supporting NATO-led efforts to control the international waters off Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 during the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

. On 25 February 2005, she was relieved by as the U.S. Sixth Fleet command ship.

Decommissioning and disposal

She was decommissioned

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

 in Norfolk, Virginia on 27 May 2005, with Captain Herman Shelanski as her last commanding officer and former La Salle commanding officer, Rear Admiral Mark Milliken, as the decommissioning ceremony guest speaker.

The La Salle was sunk as a target

Target ship

A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing.-Rationale:Sinking redundant warships is an effective way of testing new weapons and warships in as realistic a manner as possible. Whilst practice torpedoes are fired...

by the United States Navy on 11 April 2007 during a scheduled fleet exercise off the Atlantic coast.

External links

• globalsecurity.org history