USS Rushmore (LSD-14)

USS Rushmore (LSD-14) underway in 1965
History
United States
Name	USS Rushmore
Namesake	Mount Rushmore
Awarded	1 September 1941[1]
Builder	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.
Laid down	31 December 1943
Launched	10 May 1944
Commissioned	3 July 1944
Decommissioned	30 September 1970
Stricken	1 November 1976[1]
Fate	Sunk as a target, 16 April 1993
General characteristics
Displacement	7,930 tons (loaded), 4,032 tons (light draft)
Length	457 ft 9 in (139.5 m) overall
Beam	72 ft 2 in (22.0 m)
Draft	8 ft 2½ in (2.5 m) fwd,   10 ft ½ in (3.1 m) aft (light);   15 ft 5½ in (4.7 m) fwd,   16 ft 2 in (4.9 m) aft (loaded)
Propulsion	2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 Skinner Turbine Steam Engines, 2 propeller shafts – each shaft 3,700 hp, at 240 rpm total shaft horse power 7,400, 2 11 ft 9 in diameter, 9 ft 9 in pitch propellers
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h)
Range	8,000 nmi. at 15 knots (15,000 km at 28 km/h)
Boats & landing craft carried	3 × LCT (Mk V or VI)   each w/ 5 medium tanks or 2 × LCT (Mk III or IV)   each w/ 12 medium tanks or 14 × LCM (Mk III)   each w/ 1 medium tank   or 1,500 long tons cargo or 47 × DUKW or 41 × LVT or Any combination of landing vehicles and landing craft up to capacity
Capacity	22 officers, 218 men
Complement	17 officers, 237 men (ship); 6 officers, 30 men (landing craft)
Armament	1 × 5 in / 38 cal. DP gun; 2 × 40 mm quad AA guns; 2 × 40 mm twin AA guns; 16 × 20 mm AA guns
Aircraft carried	modified to accommodate helicopters on an added portable deck

USS Rushmore (LSD-14) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named in honor of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The ship was originally authorized under the Lend-Lease Act as BAPM-6, the sixth of seven British Mechanized Artillery Transports. Reclassified a Landing Ship Dock, LSD-14, on 1 July 1942, the contract for LSD-14 was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, on 10 September 1942. She was laid down on 31 December 1943, originally to be named HMS Sword, and later HMS Swashway (F145). While under construction, LSD-14, as well as -13 and -15, were reassigned back to the United States.

The ship was launched as Rushmore on 10 May 1944, sponsored by Miss Eleanor Vreelan Blewitt; and commissioned on 3 July 1944.