USS Carter Hall (LSD 50)

USS CARTER HALL is the second HARPERS FERRY - class dock landing ship. The HARPERS FERRY class is the cargo variant of the WHIDBEY ISLAND - class. The CARTER HALL is the second amphibious ship in the Navy to bear the name.

General Characteristics:	Keel laid: 1991
	Launched: October 2, 1993
	Commissioned: September 30, 1995
	Builder: Avondale Industries, New Orleans, Louisiana
	Propulsion system: four 16 cylinder Colt-Pielstick Diesel Engines
	Propellers: two
	Length: 610 feet (186 meters)
	Beam: 84 feet (25.6 meters)
	Draft: 20 feet (6 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 16,500 tons full load
	Speed: 22 knots
	Well deck capacity: two LCAC or one LCU or four LCM-8 or nine LCM-6 or 15 amphibious assault vehicles (AAV)
	Aircraft: none, but two landing spots allow for operation of aircraft as large as the CH-53E
	Crew: Ship: 24 officers, 328 enlisted Marine Detachment: 504 Marines
	Armament: two 20mm Phalanx CIWS, two Mk-38 Machine Guns, six .50 Machine Guns, Rolling Airframe Missile System
	Cost: about $128 million
	Homeport: Little Creek, VA

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS CARTER HALL. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Click here to see which USS CARTER HALL memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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About the Ship’s Name, about the Carter Hall Estate:

The Landing Ship Dock CARTER HALL honors the name of a Virginian estate steeped in American history. Colonial Nathan Burwell built his country mansion on 8,000 acres in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The estate is located near the present town of Winchester in Northern Virginia.

The house took two years to build, 1790-1792. and Burwell named it after his great-grandfather, Robert "King" Carter. He chose a commanding site in a grove near a good spring. The clearing for the buildings left a fine body of oak and timber surrounding the estate, which still remains today. The panoramic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River stills thrills visitors.

The mansion was used alternately as headquarters for the Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War. The family silver and other valuables were hidden in a secret place between the roof and ceiling to escape theft.

Burwell donated two acres of his land for a chapel where several notables are buried. Among those laid to rest there are Edmond Randolph, the first Attorney General of the United States and previously a governor of Virginia; novelist John Esten Cook and poet Phillip Pendleton Cooke.

In 1929, Gerald Lambert bought the mansion and grounds from J. Townsend Burwell and completely modernized Carter Hall. The People-to-People Foundation, Inc., parent organization for Project Hope, acqured the property in 1977. Carter Hall is now headquarters of Project Hope's worldwide health sciences education and training program.

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USS CARTER HALL Image Gallery:

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