the flow of combat power to the beach. This secondary role of landing craft base is what makes the LSDs so valuable to an ARG commander.
A total of eight LSD-41s were built. These include three Lockheed-built units; Whidbey Island (LSD-41), Germantown (LSD-42), and Fort McHenry (LSD-43), plus five Avondale-produced ships: Gunston Hall (LSD- 44), Comstock (LSD-45), Tortuga (LSD-46), Rushmore (LSD-47), and Ashland (LSD-48). Four additional units are being built to a modified configuration that has an interesting origin. You see, the new amphibious ships, when combined with over-the-horizon delivery systems like the CH-53E Sea Stallion and LCAC, can actually put troops, vehicles, and cargo onto a beach faster than Navy beachmasters can handle it. There is a physical limit to how fast you can move stuff over a beach, and the beach control parties that serve as the ARGs 'traffic cops' have hit that limit. The LCACs turned out to be faster at doing their jobs than expected. This gave NAVSEA an opportunity to modify the last four ships of the LSD-41 class. Since the new LHDs could carry up to three LCACs, and the older LPD-4 class assault ships could carry two, this meant that an ARG only required two more to reach the desired level of seven such craft. So, the last four units of the Whidbey Island class, redesignated the Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) class, were redesigned with a shortened well deck (only 184 ft/56 m long). The remaining space would be used to enlarge the vehicle and cargo footprints of the new ships, as the table below shows:
LSD-41/49 vs. LSD-36 Payload Footprints 
As you can see, the cargo/vehicle space in LSD-49 has been expanded by 15 % over LSD-41, and the cargo space by a whopping 994 %. This makes the LSD-49s very valuable amphibious ships. Any CO of a forward- deployed unit will tell you that they never have enough stowage space for 'stuff,' and the trade-off on these ships makes them an outstanding value for the money. All four—Harpers Ferry (LSD-49), Carter Hall (LSD-50), Oak Hill (LSD-51), and Pearl Harbor (LSD-52-named for the facility, not the battle!) — are built by Avondale in New Orleans. The first two are already in service, and the other two are scheduled for completion by early 1997. One LSD-41/49 will be assigned to each of the Navy's 12 ARGs. Right now, 12 ARGs only provide about 2.5 MEBs of lift, as opposed to the 3 that the Marine Corps considers necessary to meet mission requirements. Additional LSDs are unlikely though, since the Navy is committed to construct new LPD-17-class assault ships to replace aging Austin- class LPDs.
The USS Shreveport (LPD-12) leaves Morehead City, N.C., on August 29th, 1995, on her way to the Mediterranean. She is fully loaded for 'split ARG' operations, and is headed to Bulgaria for an exercise. JOHN D. GRESHAM The Landing Assault Ship USS Shreveport (LPD-12) is a living legacy of the 1960s-era shipbuilding program that has been the backbone of the amphibious force for three decades. While old by warship standards (she was commissioned in 1970), cramped, and antiquated compared to contemporary designs, she still has many years of service ahead. Part of the eleven-ship Austin class (LPD-4 to -15), Shreveport may serve for another ten to fifteen years. The LPD is the 'swing' ship — a virtual 'utility infielder' among the three ships that usually comprise an ARG. While the LHDs/LHAs and LSDs work together as the 'big' decks of the ARG, the LPD is a general-purpose workhorse, taking on missions that used to be assigned to the LSTs and LKAs. When an ARG splits to undertake more than one mission at a time, the LPD is frequently on her own. LPDs tend to pick up the stray 'cats and dogs' of the embarked MEU (SOC), such as amphibious tractors, Force Recon teams, and the SEAL team. They act as a floating Forward Fuel and Arming Point (FFARP) for helicopters, and a base for the AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters and the embarked Pioneer UAV unit. That's a lot to ask of an old ship like Shreveport (LPD-12), but she does her best in a world where she is little loved, but heavily used.
A side view of the multipurpose amphibious ship USS Shreveport (LPD-12). JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD, BY LAURA ALPHAER The original LPDs of the Raleigh class (LPD-1) were designed in the late 1950s to transport a large load of amphibious troops and supplies, at the expense of off-load capability. LPDs have relatively small well decks compared to the LHAs, LHDs, and LSDs, as well as smaller aviation facilities, with only a single helicopter landing pad. They are nevertheless one of the three types of amphibious ships that will survive (along with the big deck LHDs/LHAs and the LSD) into the 21st century. There even are plans to build a new class of twelve (the LPD-17s), though the LPD-4s will stay around for almost a decade before these new ships enter service. Following the three Raleigh-class ships, a further class of LPDs was constructed in the late 1960s. These became the Austin class (LPD-4), in service around the world today.
The Shreveport and her sister ships look a lot like the older LSD-36-class dockships, except that they have a larger superstructure, as well as a shorter main deck/helicopter platform and well deck. She is some 570 ft/173.7 m long, with a beam of 84 ft/25.6 m, and a nominal draft (with the ballast tanks dry) of 23 ft/7 m. Full displacement is 16,905 tons. The twelve ships of the class were constructed in three separate shipyards. USS Austin (LPD-4), USS Ogden (LPD-5), and USS Duluth (LPD-6) were built at the government-owned New York Naval Shipyard, some of the last U.S. warships built there. Ingalls built USS Cleveland (LPD-7) and USS Dubuque (LPD-8) at Ingalls in Pascagoula, Mississippi. USS Denver (LPD-9), USS Juneau (LPD-10), USS Coronado (LPD-11), USS Shreveport (LPD-12), USS Nashville (LPD- 13), USS Trenton (LPD-14), and USS Ponce (LPD-15), were all built by Lockheed Shipbuilding in Seattle. Coronado (LPD-11) was converted into a command ship.
Shreveport (LPD-12) was laid down in Seattle, Washington, on December 27th, 1965, launched on October 25th, 1966, and commissioned on December 12th, 1970. She is powered by two 2.600- PSI Babcock and Wilcox boilers feeding a pair of De Laval steam turbines for a total of 24,000 hp to the twin shafts. Maximum speed is 21 kt/38.4 kph, though the efficiency of the powerplant allows it to cruise at 20 kt/ 36.6 kph. The steam plant is old and cranky by comparison to newer Navy steam, diesel, and gas turbine ships. Nevertheless, her dedicated 'snipes' keep her going. Shreveport is one of nine ships in the class with extra bridge and berthing space, so it can act as a squadron flagship in 'split ARG' operations.
When you walk around Shreveport, you find it generally similar to other Navy warships: gray paint, the overhead crowded with piping, conduits, and wiring runs, and hatches that need to be opened and closed by hand. But Shreveport is different from the ships we have visited so far. While some systems have been updated, there is a 1960s 'feel' to the structure you see. Austin-class (LPD-4) ships were designed for a crew of drafted conscripts instead of volunteer professionals. The ship's systems had minimal automation (which required costly analog electronics) and maximum utilization of manpower, which was comparatively cheap (and more reliable!) in those days. Warship designers knew that a larger crew increases the ability of a ship to take damage and survive. Damage control is labor-intensive; and until recently, packing lots of men into a small hull was a good thing. You see this in Shreveport and her sister ships.
Let's go to particulars. Down in the crew and passenger (one of the Navy terms for 'Marine')
