USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30)

• Namesake: USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30) was named after the historic Fort Snelling, a 19th-century military outpost at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers in Minnesota. • Class and Type: She was a Thomaston-class dock landing ship, designed to support amphibious operations by carrying and launching landing craft and vehicles. • Commissioning: The ship was commissioned on January 24, 1955, at the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York. • Cold War Service: USS Fort Snelling participated in numerous Cold War-era exercises, demonstrating the U.S. Navy's amphibious capabilities in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. • Space Program Support: In 1966, the ship served as the primary recovery vessel for the Gemini 8 space mission, retrieving astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott after splashdown. • Cuban Missile Crisis: During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Fort Snelling was deployed as part of the U.S. naval quarantine force. • Lebanon Landings: In 1958, USS Fort Snelling supported the landing of U.S. Marines in Lebanon during the Lebanon Crisis, showcasing rapid amphibious deployment. • Vietnam War: Although primarily assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, the ship was deployed to the Vietnam theater in 1969 to support the war effort. • Unique Cargo: In 1967, the ship embarked and transported the bathyscaphe Trieste II, a deep-diving research submersible, highlighting its versatility. • Decommissioning and Fate: USS Fort Snelling was decommissioned on September 28, 1984, and was eventually sold for scrapping in 1995, closing a nearly 30-year chapter of naval service.