U.S. Navy service
United States East Coast, Caribbean, and Atlantic operations, 1952–1957 Following
sea trial and
shakedown,
LST-1156 underwent post-shakedown alterations at the
Norfolk Naval Shipyard at
Portsmouth, Virginia, before commencing operations out of
Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek at
Virginia Beach, Virginia, with Amphibious Forces,
United States Atlantic Fleet, on 14 September 1953. The ship then conducted training exercises out of Little Creek before entering the
Norfolk Navy Yard for conversion to an
LST flotilla flagship, involving the installation of much new communications equipment.
LST-1156 remained on operations out of Little Creek through June 1955. On 1 July 1955 she was named USS
Terrebonne Parish. Following operations in the
Caribbean and off
North Carolina and
overhaul at the
Charleston Naval Shipyard at
Charleston, South Carolina,
Terrebonne Parish conducted a cruise to
Lisbon, Portugal, and
Port Lyautey,
French Morocco, before resuming local operations out of Little Creek. She continued participating in exercises and assault landings in the Caribbean and returned to
Norfolk, Virginia, on 14 May 1957 to resume local operations and LST training.
First Mediterranean deployment, 1957–1958 On 29 August 1957,
Terrebonne Parish cleared
Naval Station Norfolk for
Morehead City, North Carolina, and, on 30 August 1957, embarked
United States Marines, vehicles, and cargo for transport to the
Mediterranean. She joined units of the
United States Sixth Fleet at
Taranto, Italy, on 16 September 1957. Around September 1957, LST 1157 transported MCB 7, Detachment K (and all of their equipment) from Port Layouty, Morocco too Davisville, RI. During her subsequent Mediterranean tour of duty, she took part in
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) landing exercises at
Saros Gulf, Turkey, and visited ports in Turkey, mainland
Greece, mainland Italy,
Crete, and
Sicily before returning to the United States on 12 February 1958 and resuming local operations out of Little Creek.
Second Mediterranean deployment and Caribbean and United States East Coast operations, 1958–1959 Following overhaul and refresher training,
Terrebonne Parish again deployed to the Mediterranean for duty with the Sixth Fleet in September 1958, serving as part of Service Force, Mediterranean, before returning westward once again to the United States and operations off the
East Coast of the United States and in Caribbean waters.
Inland seas cruise, United States East Coast operations, and Mediterranean deployments, 1959–1961 On 16 June 1959
Terrebonne Parish commenced an "inland seas" cruise, transiting the
St. Lawrence Seaway and calling at
Iroquois,
Cape Vincent, and
Port Weller, Ontario, Canada;
Ashtabula, Ohio;
Kenosha, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois;
Milwaukee, Wisconsin;
Cleveland, Ohio;
Erie, Pennsylvania;
Port Colburne, Ontario; and
Rochester, New York, before returning to her home base at Little Creek on 6 August.
Terrebonne Parish also participated in
Exercise TRALEX in 1959, one of the largest
amphibious warfare exercises conducted in that year.
Terrebonne Parish conducted yearly deployments to the Mediterranean, with periodic overhauls and exercises, through 1961.
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 In late October 1962, after the United States detected the presence of
Soviet ballistic missiles in
Cuba, the United States instituted a naval
blockade – termed a "quarantine" by the
United States Government – of Cuba, throwing a naval cordon around the island. During these emergency preparations,
Terrebonne Parish operated with the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force through December 1962, when the
Cuban Missile Crisis finally subsided.
United States East Coast operations and Mediterranean deployment, 1963–1964 Attached to Amphibious Forces, Atlantic Fleet, Amphibious Squadron 6,
Terrebonne Parish conducted operations off the
Virginia Capes in January and February 1963 and then was overhauled in
Jacksonville, Florida, before she again departed for the Mediterranean. During her 1963 deployment with the 6th Fleet,
Terrebonne Parish participated in
MEDLANDEX, a joint American-Spanish exercise in which 3,000 American and
Spanish Marines were landed with support from
aircraft carrier-based aircraft.
Terrebonne Parish remained in the Mediterranean until February 1964 before returning to the United States for amphibious exercises in the spring of 1964 at
Onslow Beach, North Carolina, and off
Cape Pendleton, Virginia. She proceeded to New York City in July 1964 to participate as an exhibit in the
New York World's Fair before taking part in an amphibious exercise with Marines and
United States Naval Academy midshipmen off Camp Pendleton.
Mediterranean deployment, 1964–1965 Early in the autumn of 1964,
Terrebonne Parish embarked the men and vehicles of "C"
Company,
1st Battalion,
2nd Marine Regiment, and proceeded for
Huelva, Spain, to take part in "
Exercise Steel Pike," in which she became the first LST to "marry" to an eighteen-section
causeway for landing her embarked vehicles. For the remainder of her Mediterranean deployment,
Terrebonne Parish took part in landing exercises off
Sardinia and
Corsica and made visits to ports in Italy, France, Greece, and Spain, spending the Christmas holidays in
Barcelona, Spain, in late December 1964 and New Year's Eve (31 December 1964) at
Valencia, Spain.
Caribbean operations, 1965–1966 Returning home to the United States towards the end of March 1965,
Terrebonne Parish transported a
United States Marine Corps missile detachment to the Caribbean, and then underwent extensive overhaul for four months by the
Bethlehem Steel shipyard at
Baltimore, Maryland. After refresher training,
Terrebonne Parish got underway for the Caribbean on 3 March 1966 to begin a four-month deployment to participate in exercises and operations involving beachings and landings. She next made two lifts to the
Dominican Republic in late August and early September 1965. During this Caribbean tour, a locking device was developed for the sand flaps on the ship's
bow doors to keep them secure while underway, and it was installed on
Terrebonne Parish in January 1966 at
San Juan,
Puerto Rico. Tests proved that the new devices were very efficient. As a result, this modification was approved for all LSTs.
Seventh Mediterranean deployment, 1967 Terrebonne Parish commenced her seventh Mediterranean deployment on 30 March 1967. when she embarked Marines of the 1st Battalion,
6th Marine Regiment, at Morehead City and crossed the Atlantic Ocean in company with four
minesweepers of Mine Division 83. Upon arriving at
Aranci Bay, Sardinia, on 19 April 1967, she joined Amphibious Squadron 6, Task Force 61, and soon participated in "
Exercise Fairgame Five," a joint French-American amphibious exercise which brought together elements of the
French Army,
French Navy, French
Commandos, and
French Foreign Legion, and a joint United States Navy-United States Marine Corps team.
Terrebonne Parish then headed for the western half of the Mediterranean and proceeded to Italy and Crete for further exercises. While she was at
Taormina, Sicily, in late July 1967, volunteers from her
ship's company and embarked Marines went ashore to battle a raging
brush fire threatening the town of Giardini. Leaving Taormina on 7 August 1967 and arriving at
Porto Scudo, Sardinia, on 12 August 1967,
Terrebonne Parish took part in further amphibious exercises before she re-embarked her Marines after field exercises and proceeded to
Málaga, Spain, for further amphibious training operations. She subsequently departed
Rota, Spain, on 2 September 1967 for her return voyage to the United States.
Eighth Mediterranean deployment, 1968 and Caribbean deployment, 1970 Terrebonne Parish deployed to the Mediterranean in 1968 then deployed to the Caribbean early in 1970 as part of the Caribbean Ready Group in Exercise "Carib 1–70," which also included
amphibious assault ship USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7),
dock landing ship USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32),
attack cargo ship USS Vermilion (AKA-107), and
tank landing ship USS Suffolk County (LST-1173). During this deployment, she visited
Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, periodically to practice amphibious operations. Other ports visited during this cruise were
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, where the ship's company built
playground equipment at a local school; San Juan, Puerto Rico;
St. Croix,
United States Virgin Islands;
Martinique,
French West Indies;
Colon, Panama;
Aruba,
Netherlands West Indies;
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and
Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.
Terrebonne Parish also participated in an emergency deployment of the Caribbean Ready Group from San Juan, steaming out of sight of land between the islands of
Trinidad and
Tobago following an attempted
coup against the government of
Trinidad and Tobago. En route from Aruba, she participated in joint naval exercises with the
Venezuelan Navy.
United States East Coast operations, 1970 Following return from Carib 1–70,
Terrebonne Parish participated in
riverine operations in
St. Helena Sound, South Carolina. As one of the ships in Amphibious Forces, Atlantic, she earned more
Battle E awards than most of the other ships in that command. In September 1970,
Terrebonne Parish steamed in company with the flagship of Commander, Amphibious Forces, Atlantic –
amphibious force command ship USS Pocono (AGC-16) – and USS
Spiegel Grove – to
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and encountered a confluence of two storms in which she took "
green water" on occasion, over her bows, heavily damaging many
weather deck fixtures and equipment. During one 24-hour period, the formation of ships was only able to make one nautical mile (1.85 kilometers) of headway.
Ninth Mediterranean deployment, 1970–1971, and Caribbean deployment, 1971 Terrebone Parish returned to the Mediterranean in late 1970 for her ninth deployment. In 1971, still homeported at Little Creek, Virginia and operating under command of Amphibious Forces, Atlantic,
Terrebonne Parish deployed to the Caribbean for exercises and training activities. These included an operation from 5 to 10 August 1971 in which
United States Army and
Panamanian National Guard units participated. ==Transfer to Spain, 1971, and Spanish Navy career, 1971–1994==