USS Colonial ( LSD - 18 ) USS " Colonial " ( LSD - 18 ) was a " Casa Grande " - class dock landing ship of the United States Navy , named in honor of the Colonial National Historical Park , which comprises Jamestown , Williamsburg , and Yorktown in southeastern Virginia . " Colonial " was launched on 28 February 1945 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co . , Newport News , Va . , sponsored by Mrs . L . L . Dean ; and commissioned on 15 May 1945 , Lieutenant Commander J . A . Paterson , USNR , in command . 1945 – 1952 . " Colonial " cleared Norfolk on 26 July 1945 for the Panama Canal , San Francisco and Pearl Harbor , arriving 5 September . Between 11 September and 26 December , she had duty ferrying landing craft among the Pacific Islands and to Okinawa . She sailed from Pearl Harbor 29 December for the Panama Canal and Norfolk , arriving 23 January 1946 . " Colonial " participated in amphibious training out of Norfolk , conducting local , east coast , and Caribbean operations , and voyaging from Cuba and Puerto Rico as far north as Newfoundland until 15 August 1950 , when she cleared Norfolk for Far Eastern duty . Calling at San Diego en route to Kobe , " Colonial " landed men and tank s of the 1st Marine Division at Inchon in September , and troops and equipment at Wonsan and Iwon in December . " Colonial " was one of the last ships to leave Hungnam in the evacuation of that area . She acted as " mother ship " for minesweepers on the Korean east coast for a month during this tour , returning to San Diego , her new home port , 27 August 1951 . Here she was overhauled and had underway training before returning to Japan and Korea for duty from 17 January to 4 November 1952 . During this tour she supported minesweepers working in Wonsan Harbor , and took part in amphibious training . 1953 – 1970 . From the close of the Korean War into 1960 , " Colonial " continued to alternate local operations and training out of San Diego with periodic deployments to the Far East . She transported Marines to Korea from 5 August to 9 September 1953 , returning to the western Pacific in October for a tour which ended in July 1954 . After aiding in the development of the vertical envelopment concept of amphibious assault employing helicopter s , she returned to the Orient early in 1955 for a tour of duty which included participation in the evacuation of the Tachen Islands . In the summer of 1956 , " Colonial " served as a floating laboratory in experiments with balloon - launched rocket s ( rockoon s ) . The Naval Research Laboratory ' s Operation San Diego High had the objective of studying x - rays and Lyman - alpha UV radiation produced in the upper atmosphere by solar flare s . For ten days in July , from a location 350 miles southeast of San Diego , each morning a balloon carrying an instrumented Deacon rocket was launched from the helicopter deck of " Colonial " . The destroyer " Perkins " ( DD - 877 ) would pursue the balloon as it drifted downwind . Observatories watching the sun from New Mexico , Tokyo , San Francisco , and Mexico City would notify the scientists aboard " Colonial " as soon as a flare was observed . They in turn would signal " Perkins " to launch the rocket — through the balloon — up to the ionosphere . The operation had extensive coverage in the April 1957 issue of the " National Geographic Magazine " , with a journalist and a photographer on the ship . " Colonial " returned to the Far East in 1957 . On 30 May she went to the rescue of a grounded Chinese freighter . On her 1958 – 59 deployment , she provided repair parts and skilled hands for the American merchant tanker " Wang Bucaneer " , disabled at sea in January . " Colonial " served in several campaigns in the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1968 . " Colonial " was decommissioned in 1970 at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility , Vallejo , California , and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet , Mare Island . She was struck from the Naval Register on 15 October 1976 , and transferred to the Maritime Administration ( MARAD ) , 29 July 1992 . The ship was sold for scrapping on 8 September 1993 , for $ 353 , 725 , to California Imports and Exports and towed to Shanghai , China for scrapping . Awards . " Colonial " received seven battle star s for Korean War service and six campaign stars for Vietnam War service .