LPD-1 Raleigh

The LPD-1 Raleigh Amphibious Transport Dock [LPD] ships transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies by embarked landing craft or amphibious vehicles augmented by helicopters in amphibious assault. These versatile ships replace amphibious transports (APA), amphibious cargo ships (AKA) and the older LSDs, although their capabilities are less than those of the new LPD-4 and LSD-41 classes. Both ships of this class were retired in the early 1990s.

In 1993 the Navy re-directed live fire test and evaluation (LFT&E) efforts for the LPD-17 into a full-scale ship trial of the ex-Raleigh, LPD 1. EX-U.S.S. Raleigh was disposed as a target in surrogate Ship Shock Test/Trials to provide insight into platform vulnerabilities with respect to underwater proximity bursts on 04 December 1994. That highly successful test proved the efficacy of conducting full-scale trials for LFT&E at affordable costs.