USS Francis Marion LPA-249:
This was my last duty station before being discharged. I
got onboard her somewhere around late 1973 or early 1974. The Francis
Marion was homeported in Norfolk, Virginia. The ship's job was to provide
transportation of U.S. Marines and their equipment to any location in the
world that they were needed. The ship was called a "Gator
Freighter" a nickname for an Attack Amphibious Transport. Another
duty we performed was to train US Navy Reservists who were on their yearly
active duty. The Francis Marion had a lot of unused berthing spaces due to
the fact that we did not keep a Marine contingent onboard so most of the
space, berthing and cargo just wasn't in use most of the time. (Thanks to
Chris Cavas of The Navy Times for locating this Official U.S. Navy
Photograph) Just click on the photo to see a larger view.
