USS Lindenwald

She steamed from New Orleans for Bremerhaven on 24 June 1946, touching Liberia, Casablanca, and Le Havre to debark men and supplies. Leaving northern Germany on 18 August, Lindenwald arrived Norfolk the 30th, stayed nine days and sailed for San Francisco, arriving 30 September. The ship decommissioned 5 April 1947 and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Francisco.

Lindenwald recommissioned 18 February 1949 and operated off the West Coast until 26 November, then steamed to Norfolk for amphibious duty, arriving 13 December. For the next three years, she made yearly voyages to the Caribbean and north to Newfoundland, Labrador, and Thule Air Base, Greenland. On 8 September 1953, Lindenwald departed Norfolk with Amphibious Group 4 (PhibGroup 4) en route the Mediterranean. She arrived at Algiers on 23 September, departed a week later for Crete, and spent October conducting amphibious exercises with the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Aegean Sea. Returning to the western Mediterranean, she visited ports in France, Italy, and Spain during late 1953, departing Oran for Norfolk 24 January 1954.

During the following three years, Lindenwald made another European voyage and spent each summer operating in the icy waters off Greenland with the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS). May 1955, she spent time re supplying the DEW Line in the area of Eskimo Point up to Nov 1955. Lilly noticed the ship did not have a motto or plaque, so he created one with the motto Illigitimas non Carborundum ("don't let the bastards get you down") which BUSHIPS approved, perhaps without knowing the translation. HU-2 Fleet Angels was attached to the Lindenwald for search & rescue duties. Decommissioned 12 December 1956, she was transferred to MSTS the same date and was placed in service as USNS Lindenwald (T-LSD-6), and assigned to MSTS, Atlantic.

As a unit of MSTS, she made supply runs to bases in northern Greenland and the Arctic until mid-October 1958. Lindenwald then departed the East Coast of Greenland on one of her supply runs. En route, she ran into an Arctic storm. During the storm she lost her steering controls and lay helpless for several hours. A distress signal was sent out and picked up by USNS Chattahoochee (T-AOG-82) which shortly arrived on the scene and towed Lindenwald to a safe anchorage. With her steering controls repaired, but with a noticeable list she sailed for New York City for further repairs, upon completion of which she was placed in MSTS Ready Reserve.

Reacquired by the Navy early the next year, she recommissioned on 1 July 1960 and was assigned to the Amphibious Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Besides extensive training duties with the Amphibious Forces, the ship also played a vital peacekeeping role during the volatile 1960s. She helped stabilize the Caribbean area during the Dominican Republic revolt of November 1961. From 14 February to 16 June 1962, the ship again patrolled the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet. When President John F. Kennedy ordered the quarantine of Cuba in the fall of 1962, Lindenwald policed the area around Puerto Rico.

After spending most of 1963 in Arctic waters, the ship displayed her combat readiness in Operation "Quick Kick" during April 1964 and again that summer with the transatlantic amphibious exercise operation "Steel Pike I."

As civil disorder rocked the Dominican Republic in May 1965, Lindenwald steamed to Santo Domingo with peacekeeping forces for Operation Power Pack to help stabilize the island and make possible the establishment of a viable government. The ship departed Little Creek, Virginia for the Mediterranean in March 1966, returning on 16 November. During this deployment Lindenwald served as transport for the return of the deep submergence vehicles Alvin and Aluminaut to the United States after the they successfully searched for a nuclear bomb lost in a B-52 bomber crash off of Palomares, Spain.

Until late 1968, Lindenwald alternated between upkeep, overhaul, and conducting amphibious exercises and training along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean. Lindenwald decommissioned at Little Creek on 30 November 1967 and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1967. On 25 September 1968, she was sold to Union Minerals & Alloys Corp., for scrapping. Despite this, as late as 1977 she could be seen moored at Base Naval Rio Santiago (ARA/ Armada Argentina) near La Plata (República Argentina), probably waiting scrapping nearby.

Lindenwald received five battle stars for World War II service.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

• "Lindenwald". DANFS. U.S. Naval Historical Center. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
• Priolo, Gary P. (28 January 2005). "APM-6 / LSD-6 / LSD-6(A) Lindenwald". Amphibious Photo Archive. NavSource Online. Retrieved 2008-03-25.