The class is named after a town of Thomaston, Maine, which was the home of General Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War to serve under the United States Constitution.[1]
The Thomaston class was the third class of U.S. Navy dock landing ships. The class was designed under project SCB 75 and approved in the early 1950s. Compared to the and dock landing ships of World War II, the ships of this class were about a third larger and five knots faster.[2] The class was designed to be able to transport:
The dock was covered by removable segments that were able to carry the weight of two medium helicopters. Both cranes could lift weights of up to 50 tons. The machinery spaces were located underneath the dock, in contrast to the earlier Ashland class, where the machinery spaces were located to port and starboard of the dock.
Originally, all ships were armed with eight 3"/50 caliber gun Mark 33 twin mounts. The number was later reduced.
was a trial ship for the Jeff(A) and Jeff(B) landing craft in the mid-1980s. Jeff(B) was then developed into the Landing Craft Air Cushion. All ships were decommissioned by the U.S. Navy between 1983 and 1990, and were sold to Brazil in 1989–1990.[3]
| Ship Name | Hull number | Commissioned | Decommissioned | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSD-28 | 17 September 1954 | 28 September 1984 | Sold for scrap, 28 July 2011 | ||
| LSD-29 | 29 November 1954 | 30 September 1983 | Sold for scrap, 25 August 1995 | ||
| LSD-30 | 24 January 1955 | 28 September 1984 | Sold for scrap, 25 August 1995 | ||
| LSD-31 | 31 March 1955 | 30 September 1983 | Sold for scrap, 28 July 2011 | ||
| LSD-32 | 8 June 1956 | 2 October 1989 | Sunk as an artificial reef, 2002 | ||
| LSD-33 | 24 August 1956 | 28 September 1990 | Transferred to Brazil, 12 November 1990; scrapped in Alang India 2015. | ||
| LSD-34 | 14 December 1956 | 2 October 1989 | Transferred to Brazil, 2 October 1989; sunk as target 2021. | ||
| LSD-35 | 29 March 1957 | 1 October 1985 | Sunk as a target, 14 July 2010 |