From Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,
Vol. II, pp. 435
A fort at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, for many
years the northernmost military post in the land of the Sioux and Chippewa.
The name Fort Snelling was assigned to LSD-23 on 19 June 1944 but
construction was canceled on 17 August 1946.
(LSD-30: dp. 6,880; l. 510'; b. 84'; dr. 19'; s. 21 k.; cpl 756; a. 16'3";
cl. Thomaston)
Fort Snelling (LSD-30) was launched 16 July 1954 by Ingalls Shipbuilding
Corp., Pascagoula, Miss.; sponsored by Mrs. Robert F. Briscoe, wife of Vice
Admiral Briscoe; and commissioned 24 January 1955, Commander H. Marvin-Smith
in command.
Homeported at Norfolk, Va., Fort Snelling carried out an intensive
exercise schedule along the east coast and in the Caribbean, almost always
with Marines embarked for amphibious training. She made her first deployment
to the Mediterranean in 1956, returning the next year again to serve with
the 6th Fleet. During her 1958 deployment, she was at sea bound for the
island of Rhodes when on 14 July she was notified to land her Marines at
Beirut, Lebanon, the next day. Thus, Fort Snelling took part in the
immediate response of the U.S. Navy to the Middle Eastern crisis of summer
1958. Several times more before leaving the Mediterranean she returned to
the coast of Lebanon to support the Marines ashore. Through 1959 and 1963,
Fort Snelling continued her training operations with marines in the
Caribbean and on the Carolina coast.
[NOTE: Fort Snelling was decommissioned 28 September 1984 and transferred to the Maritime Administration 7 September 1989. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 24 February 1992 and she was sold 25 August 1995.]