USS Paul Revere (APA/LPA-248) was the lead ship of the Paul Revere class of attack transport in the United States Navy. She was named for the early patriot and Founding Father, Paul Revere (1735–1818). She later served in the Spanish Navy as Castilla (L-21). The ship was designed under project SCB 14 and laid down as Maritime Administration Hull 27 on 15 May 1952 by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey, and was launched on 11 April 1953 as SS Diamond Mariner, sponsored by Mrs. Franklin Ewers. The ship was delivered to MARAD on 22 December 1953, and was operated by the Prudential Steamship Corporation for MARAD until placed in the Maritime Reserve Fleet on 24 July 1954. She was acquired by the US Navy on 14 September 1956, classified APA-248 and named Paul Revere on 4 June 1957, converted by Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, California, and commissioned at Long Beach, California on 3 September 1958. Service history 1958–1964 After shakedown, Paul Revere spent the next full year participating in a series of amphibious training operations: "Rocky Shoals" at San Diego in November 1958, "Twin Peaks" at Camp Pendleton in February 1959, "PACNAMIDLEX" at Del Mar, California in August, "Clear Ridge" off California in September, and "Totem Pole" at Kodiak, Alaska during November. During 1960–1961, she was assigned "Ready APA" duty, in which she maintained on board, at all times, a fully equipped and reinforced battalion of landing troops to be put ashore on short notice at any trouble spot in the Pacific. On 21 March 1961 trouble flared in Laos, and Paul Revere commenced patrolling the waters off the coast of Southeast Asia. She remained in the area in a ready status for a total of fifty-four days until tensions eased, then resumed her normal South China Sea patrol. In January 1962, after returning to the U.S., Paul Revere accomplished a most dramatic rescue, when one of several helicopters engaged in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercises plunged into the ocean. Operating several hundred yards from the scene, she launched a manned boat which returned the three crewmen of the helicopter to the ship for medical treatment, all in the space of six minutes. Following overhaul, she spent the last five or six months of 1962 in the Western Pacific. This deployment included the ports of Subic Bay, Hong Kong, and several ports in Japan. The