USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30) was a of the United States Navy. She was named for Fort Snelling at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, for many years the northernmost military post in the land of the Sioux and Chippewa. She was the second ship assigned that name, but the construction of was canceled on 17 August 1945. Fort Snelling (LSD-30) was laid down on 17 August 1953 by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss.; launched on 16 July 1954, sponsored by Mrs. Robert P. Briscoe, wife of Vice Admiral Briscoe; and commissioned on 24 January 1955. Service history Homeported at Norfolk, Virginia, Fort Snelling carried out an intensive exercise schedule along the east coast and in the Caribbean, almost always with Marines embarked for amphibious training. She made her first deployment to the Mediterranean in 1956, returning the next year again to serve with the 6th Fleet. During her 1958 deployment, she was at sea bound for the island of Rhodes when on 14 July she was notified to land her Marines at Beirut, Lebanon, the next day. Thus, Fort Snelling took part in the immediate response of the U.S. Navy to the Middle Eastern crisis of summer 1958. Several times more before leaving the Mediterranean she returned to the coast of Lebanon to support the Marines ashore. Through 1959 and 1963, Fort Snelling continued her training operations with marines in the Caribbean and on the Carolina coast. In April 1965, Fort Snelling was ordered to the Dominican Republic as part of a task force which included the USS Boxer (LPH-4), USS Rankin (AKA-103), USS Wood County (LST-1178), USS Ruchamakin (APD-89), USS Yancey (AKA-93) and USS Raleigh (LPD-1). Its main mission along with the task force was to deploy marines to evacuate U.S., Canadian and British citizens. Some 14,000 marines participated. In 1966, while returning from a Mediterranean deployment, Fort Snelling was assigned as task group commander of the Navy's Palomares Incident recovery operations. Because of her large well deck, Fort Snelling carried the deep diving submarine Aluminaut. In addition, Fort Snelling also deployed the small submarine Alvin from its flight deck via its cranes. In 1966, she participated in the extraction of U.S. Marines from the Dominican Republican crisis. in October 1969 Fort Snelling proceeded south to the Ascension area and participated as a secondary recovery ship in the first Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) test launch. As she