USS Rushmore ( LSD - 14 ) USS " Rushmore " ( LSD - 14 ) was a " Casa Grande " - class dock landing ship of the United States Navy . She was the named in honor of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota . The ship was originally authorized under the Lend - Lease Act as BAPM - 6 , the sixth of seven British Mechanized Artillery Transports . Reclassified a Landing Ship Dock , LSD - 14 , on 1 July 1942 , the contract for LSD - 14 was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co . , Newport News , Virginia , on 10 September 1942 . She was laid down on 31 December 1943 , originally to be named HMS " Sword " , and later HMS " Swashway " ( F145 ) . While under construction , LSD - 14 , as well as - 13 and - 15 , were reassigned back to the United States . The ship was launched as Rushmore on 10 May 1944 , sponsored by Miss Eleanor Vreelan Blewitt ; and commissioned on 3 July 1944 , Lieutenant Commander E . A . Jansen , USNR , in command . 1944 – 1946 . Following shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay , landing ship dock " Rushmore " departed Norfolk on 5 August 1944 for the Pacific where she participated in four amphibious landings : the Battle of Leyte in October 1944 ; of Palawan in February 1945 ; of Mindanao in March 1945 ; and of Tarakan , Borneo , in May 1945 . " Rushmore " entered Leyte Gulf early in the morning of 20 October , and after discharging her LCMs from her boat well in one of the first waves to hit Yellow Beach near Dulag , Leyte , acted as repair ship for damaged landing craft . At Palawan on 28 February 1945 , she landed Army - manned LCMs and other craft loaded with personnel and equipment of the 167th Field Artillery of the U . S . 8th Army . At Mindanao she carried a record 867 men for a 10 March landing on a beach north of Zamboanga City . For the invasion of Tarakan on 1 May , " Rushmore " carried U . S . Army - manned LCMs loaded with Australian troops and light tank s . The Australian troops were a battalion of the famed " Rats of Tobruk " which had helped to chase German General Erwin Rommel out of Africa . During this landing , " Rushmore " was hit by a Japan ese torpedo fired from the beach , which fortunately glanced off her hull without exploding or causing damage . Returning to the Philippines , " Rushmore " loaded a 137 - foot Japanese army submarine " Yu 3 " which she carried to San Francisco to serve as a display to help sell war bond s . In the United States from 2 June to 27 June , " Rushmore " next carried landing craft from base to base in the South Pacific and was in Pearl Harbor when the war ended . After the war , " Rushmore " operated in the Far East , particularly in occupied Japanese waters . She decommissioned 16 August 1946 and was mothballed in Pascagoula , Mississippi . 1950 – 1970 . " Rushmore " recommissioned at Charleston , S . C . , on 21 September 1950 , to begin a period of Atlantic Fleet service . Her next ten years included Caribbean exercises , Reserve cruises , a Mediterranean cruise , and regular Arctic trips to resupply the DEW Line bases . " Rushmore " was present for ceremonies at Istanbul , Turkey , in May 1954 on the occasion of the return of various small lend - lease vessels from the USSR . " Rushmore " returned these ex - Soviet Navy vessels to the United States . On 16 May 1960 , " Rushmore " departed Norfolk for a 6 - month tour with the 6th Fleet . Returning to the Atlantic coast , she again deployed to the Mediterranean in late 1961 . Returning to Little Creek , Va . on 22 February 1962 , she operated in the Atlantic and Caribbean before a Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization ( FRAM ) overhaul . On 9 November " Rushmore " hurriedly left the Bethlehem Steel Yards , Hoboken , N . J . , because of the Cuban Missile Crisis and sailed to North Carolina to embark Marine units . However , with the easing of the situation in December , she returned to Little Creek . On 4 February 1963 , " Rushmore " began a 5 - month deployment to the Mediterranean . From December until February 1964 , she operated in the Caribbean , remaining near the Panama Canal Zone area during and after the riots there , ready to land troops to protect American citizens and Government property . Operating in the Atlantic and Caribbean until 6 October , she then departed the United States for Europe and the largest amphibious assault yet staged in peacetime , Operation Steel Pike . She returned to Little Creek on 26 November . " Rushmore " was again deployed to the Mediterranean from 8 February to 24 July 1965 , participating in joint Norwegian - American and French - American exercises . In the summer of 1966 " Rushmore " made two midshipmen cruises . For the next four years she alternated deployments to the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean with operations off the U . S . Atlantic coast . She deployed to the Mediterranean November 1966 – May 1967 , January – May 1968 , and November 1969 – April 1970 . Ordered inactivated soon after her return , " Rushmore " decommissioned 30 September 1970 and was transferred to the Maritime Administration ' s National Defense Reserve Fleet , at Fort Eustis on the James River , in February 1971 . The old dock landing ship was finally sunk as a target on 16 April 1993 . Awards . " Rushmore " earned three battle stars for World War II service .