USS Cabildo Ships Log

		USS Cabildo (LSD-16)

		Ships log - Summary of activities from 1944 through 1970
		(New log layout test - partial log)

		Danang 1966

	1944
	July
		24th. - Keel laid at Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News, VA.

	December
		22nd. - Ship launched with a small contingent of key officers and crew reporting directly to the ship

	1945
January
		Initial crew members assembeled in Newport Rhode Island for pre commissioning training.

		Remainder of the plank owners were assembled for training in Norfolk, Virginia.

	March
		14th. - Majority of officers and crew were brought from Newport, RI by troop train.
		15th. - The ship was commissioned with Commander E.B. Holdorff, USNR, in command.


		31st. - Shakedown commenced with Navy camera men aboard to film moving pictures of an LSD in action. LCI’s and LCT’s were taken in and our of the well deck, and tanks were transferred to LSM’s and LST’s “married” to the stern.


	April
		26th. - Following shakedown, proceeded to NYC and took on a full cargo of boats and a dredge.


	May
		6th. - Left New York in convoy but defective pumps forced the ship to drop out at Norfolk where she remained for repairs.

		12th. - Underway for Guantanamo, Cuba.

		22nd. - After testing proved the problem corrected, departed Cuba. Proceeded through the Panama Canal en route to Pearl Harbor, remaining in Balboa, Canal Zone for two days.


	June
		8th. - Arrived Pearl Harbor. A boat division of five officers and 104 men were assigned to the ship.

		18th.- Departed for Guam where the dredge was promptly put to work.

	July
		9th. - Departed Guam for Okinawa via Saipan and Ulithi
		15th, - Departed Ulithi in convoy
		21st. - Arrived Okinawa in convoy.
		23rd. - At 0240 received "Flah Red, Control Yellow" warning. 0245 went to General Quarters. LCVPs #1 and #2 took station 200 yards on port and starboard bow and commenced making smoke. At 0335 the air raid welcome to the pacific was over and the ship secured from General Quarters.



	August
		4th. - While underway in a rough sea, an emergency signal was received from the SS Soter Ortynsky, a merchant vessel, that they had a man seriously ill. Following a dangerous transfer, the patient, a member of the ship’s armed guard crew, was successfully operated on for appendicitis complicated by peritonitis.

		10th. - arrived in Eniwetok. The ship rid herself of the LCT’s and engaged in a week of intensive, 24-hour-a-day landing craft repair.


		14th. - Received the glorious news that Japan had agreed to surrender.

		21st. - while entering Peliliu Bay a floating mine was sighted and subsequently destroyed by gun fire. A cargo of small boats was loaded for Leyte.


		24th. - Discharged the cargo of small boats at Leyte.

		30th. - Arrived Buckney Bay, Okinawa and commenced operstion the boat pool and repairing landing craft.


	September
		9th. - In company with the Montpelier, Lunga Point, Sanctuary and Consolation, proceeded to Japan. The ship sailed with lights on, it was a strange feeling.


		11th.- Made the initial occupational landings at Wakanoura Wan, Honshu, Japan. Entry was diffucult through mines laid by US B29's that the Japaneese pilot had little knowledge about.


		see POWS and the Typhoon
		15 th. - loaded with 248 Javanese, Dutch and Australian former prisoners of war, departed in convoy which included the hospital ship USS Sanctuary for Okinawa where for three days were in throes of a typhoon.


		The POW's were disembarked at Haguchi Bay, Okinawa after several miserable days including two days when the ship headed due east trying to aviod the worst of the storm.



		Departed 27 September for Subic Bay, PI and then Manila, PI arriving 2 October.


	October
		17th. - Arrived Sasebo while at anchorage many crew members were able to get as close as authorities would allow, to view the immense destruction of Nagasaki, the second city to be hit with an atomic bomb.


	December
		14th. - Cmdr. Holdoff, eligible for release, received orders for immediate departure. Command was temporarily turned over to senior line officer, Lt. Maurice N. White.


		22nd. - Permanent change of command with Cmdr. Wallace E. Gregg, USN taking command.

	1946
	January
		Continued repair and boat pool functions working out of Wakanoura Wan with short trips to Nagoya, Shimizu and Kure.

	February
		4th. - Set sail for Yokohama arriving the following day.

	April
		20th. - Ddeparted Yokosuka arriving Pearl Harbor 2 May.

	May
		2nd. - Arrived Pear Harbor.
		4th. - Depart Pearl Harbor for San Diego.
		12th. - Arrived San Diego

		Note - The ship logged 38,882 miles in 1945-46 (1 yr 10 mo)

	1947
	January
		15th. - Decommissioned and transfered to Reserve Fleet in San Diego, California.


	1950
	October
		7th. - Re-commissioned for the Korean hostilities.

	1951
	January
		Shakedown cruise. Proceeded to Mare Island Naval Station in Vallejo, California.

	February
		6th - Left Vallejo, California under sealed orders.

		13th. - Arrived Pearl Harbor.

	March
		Arrived at Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands to participate inOperationGreenhouse, an Atomic Energy Commission project. During this operation, Cabildo was one of the first ships to become radio-active and required extensive decontamination prior to return to the United States




	December
		Departed Yokosuka, Japan and proceeded to Inchon, Korea; Otaru, Hokido, Japan transporting the California 40th and 45th National Guard Division.


	1952
	January
		Deployed in the Western Pacific, Cabildo operated in Korean Theater of Operations. Operations were varied and the ship's duty ranged from lifting Army and Marine elements to acting as flagship and tender for the Ships of Mine Squadron Three.



	April	see Wonson Action 1952
		26th.While in Wonson Harbor, North Korea that the Cabildo was hit by enemy fire from shore batteries. After repairs the Cabildo continued various operations from Japan to Korea over the next four months



	September
		2nd. Arrived in San Diego from from Yokosuka.








	1961
	August - unknown
		FRAM Mark II overhaul at Todd Shipyard, Alameda, California. Ship was extensively modernized. INSURV Inspection


	January
		Amphibious Refresher Training.

	February			see Christmas Island
		The last U.S. atomic test series. The ship was used to take the natives off their island for their own protection during the test. We delivered and set up targets for the tests. Ship had one occasion of having to avoid a hot cloud. CIC got a well done.


	March			see Crossing the Line
		First crossed the Equator March 6th at Longitude 00000 and Latitude 157 48 W. The skipper was Captain Gray. We were to cross over two more times.


	August
		Participated in operation Dominic as a unit of Joint Task Force 8, operating in support of nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean area.


	October - November
		Cuban Missile crisis. The Cabildo loaded Marines and equipment at Camp Pendelton and transited through the Panama Canal and was steaming in the Gulf of Mexico available had force been necessiary.





	1966
	Specifics unknown			see Vietnam Images
		Transported AIR Boats to Vietnam. Numerious shuttle trips including swift boats.


	1983		Her Last Contribution
	December			see Target Image
		In the mid-1980’s the EX USS Cabildo was acquired from Naval Civil Engineering Lab (NCEL) at Port Hueneme by Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division. In December 1983 the ship was environmentally cleaned and utilized as a Fleet target.

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USS Cabildo (LSD-16)