NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Tulare 1980

Ships

No	Name	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comm	Fate
AKA112, 1.1969- LKA112	Tulare (ex-Evergreen Mariner)		Bethlehem, San Francisco	16.2.1953	22.12.1953	12.1.1956	NDRF 8.1992, scrapped 2011

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	12000
Displacement full, t	16800
Length, m	172.0
Breadth, m	23.2
Draught, m	7.90
No of shafts	1
Machinery	1 set De Laval geared steam turbines, 2 Combustion Engineering boilers
Power, h. p.	22000
Max speed, kts	22
Fuel, t	oil
Endurance, nm(kts)	10000(20)
Armament	4 x 2 - 76/50 Mk 33, helicopter deck
Military load	319 troops, 4476 t of cargo, 9 LCM(6), 11 LCVP
Electronic equipment	SPS-10, 2x Mk 34 radars
Complement	393

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

Paul Revere, Francis Marion and Tulare, the only new AKA and APA construction of the 1950s, were conversions of 'Mariner' cargo hulls (C4-S-1A). Of thirty-five 'Mariners' built, the Navy acquired five in all, the other two being the Polaris missile firing ship Observation Island and the navigational test ship Compass Island, both associated with the Polaris programme. The two attack (personnel) transports were fitted as amphibious squadron flagships or as troop commander or transport division flagships; they could handle landing craft and heavy vehicles with 10t, 30t and 60t cargo booms. In an early example of adaptation to helicopter operation, their helicopter decks were served by cargo elevators. In fact they were the last conventional attack personnel transports, as the transport function was next taken over by a combination of LPH (helicopter carriers) and LPD (landing ship docks with additional troop spaces). They could accommodate 1500 troops each.

Tulare was designed primarily for cargo, although she could carry 575 troops (and 500 vehicles), handling up to twenty-seven landing craft with heavy-lift (60t) booms rigged from her quadruped masts. Like the APAs, she had a helicopter platform.

Modernizations

1977-1978: - 1 x 2 - 76/50, 2x Mk 34 radars; + LN-66 radar

Naval service

No significant events.