USS San Marcos ( LSD - 25 ) USS " San Marcos " ( LSD - 25 ) was a " Casa Grande " - class dock landing ship of the United States Navy , named for the Castillo de San Marcos , the oldest masonry fort still standing in the United States . In 1911 , the second - class battleship " Texas " had also briefly borne the name " San Marcos " , perhaps for the town of San Marcos , Texas . U . S . Navy career . " San Marcos " keel was laid down on 1 September 1944 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . She was launched on 10 January 1945 , and commissioned on 15 April 1945 with Commander L . E . Ellis in command . " San Marcos " completed shakedown in early May , took on a cargo of landing boats ; and , on 19 May , sailed for the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor . Arriving on 24 June , she transferred her cargo of 40 boats , loaded a similar cargo , and departed on 29 May . After taking on dredging equipment at Guam , she anchored in Buckner Bay , Okinawa , on 12 August – three days before the cessation of hostilities . On 15 August , she shifted to Naha , repaired tank landing craft ( LCT s ) through 20 August , then , proceeded to Saipan . There , she loaded mechanized landing craft ( LCM - 6 s ) , vehicle and personnel landing craft , ( LCVP s , " Higgins boats " ) , and large personnel landing craft ( LCPL s ) , for use by occupation forces in the Tokyo Bay area ; and , on 4 September , she arrived in Japan to offload her cargo and to commence operation and maintenance of a boat pool . In early December , she was reassigned to cargo operations ; and , through the end of the year , she ferried boats from Aomori to Yokohama . In January 1946 , " San Marcos " was assigned to Joint Task Force 1 ( JTF 1 ) for Operation Crossroads , the series of atomic tests scheduled for Bikini Atoll during the summer . She first shifted south to Okinawa ; then , in February , moved east to Kwajalein , whence she helped to prepare the test site . She remained in JTF 1 through the July tests , and , on 29 August , she was detached . In early September , the ship moved from the Marshall Islands to Hawaii ; and , in October , she arrived at San Francisco . Granted provisional radiological clearance , she resumed cargo operations along the west coast in early November ; and , by the end of the month , was carrying supplies , boats , and vehicles to the Aleutian Islands . In December , she put into the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton ; received final clearance in January 1947 ; and , in the spring , resumed cargo runs between the west coast and the Aleutians . She terminated those operations in September and proceeded to southern California where her capabilities as a temporarily converted seaplane drydock were tested . In December , she commenced inactivation , and , on 19 December , was decommissioned and berthed with the San Diego Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet . 1950s . After the outbreak of war in Korea , " San Marcos " was ordered activated . Recommissioned on 26 January 1951 , she completed shakedown in March , was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet ' s Amphibious Force , and , in May , sailed for the Panama Canal and Little Creek , Virginia . She arrived at the latter in late May and , soon thereafter , commenced arctic summer resupply operations , under the Military Sea Transportation Service ( MSTS ) , to bases in Canada and Greenland . With the fall , she moved to the Caribbean Sea for fleet exercises , then returned home . In November , she shifted to Baltimore , Maryland , for a shipyard overhaul , and with the new year , 1952 , resumed active duty . Caribbean exercises took her into March . In April she departed Norfolk , Virginia , embarked Marines and their equipment at Morehead City , and headed east for her first Mediterranean deployment . She transited the Straits of Gibraltar in early May and operated with the Sixth Fleet , ranging from the south of France to Benghazi and Phaleron Bay , into October . She then recrossed the Atlantic , and , after disembarking the Marines in North Carolina , proceeded to Little Creek . She resumed east coast operations with a joint Army – Navy exercise in November . During 1953 , " San Marcos " conducted exercises and carried cargo along the east coast and in the Caribbean and underwent overhaul at Boston , Massachusetts . Winter , spring , and fall of 1954 saw a continuation of those operations including a reserve training cruise , while the summer brought a return to arctic waters for resupply missions . In January 1955 , she proceeded again to the Mediterranean Sea . Completing that deployment in May , she resumed a schedule of east coast , Caribbean , and – during the summers of 1956 and 1957 – polar logistic support operations . In September 1958 , she was again deployed to the Mediterranean for a six - month tour with the Sixth Fleet . She rejoined the Second Fleet in March 1959 ; and , in May , tested recovery methods for Project Mercury . During the summer , she participated in Operation Inland Seas , conducted in the Great Lakes and made possible by the opening of the St . Lawrence Seaway . Amphibious force exercises and local operations occupied the remainder of the year . 1960s . Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s , " San Marcos " rotated regularly between the Second and Sixth Fleets . While with the Second , she participated in exercises and carried cargo and personnel from New England to the Caribbean . Severing of diplomatic relations and increased tension between the United States and Cuba and political unrest in the Dominican Republic brought extended operations in the Greater Antilles in early 1961 . In April , " San Marcos " supported the Bay of Pigs Invasion , carrying LCUs and LCVP s loaded with vehicles and equipment to a rendezvous a few miles off the coast with the ships carrying Brigade 2506 . Those operations were followed by duty in support of Project Mercury ; and , in September , she received modifications which added helicopter operations to her capabilities . Then a five - month Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization ( FRAM II ) overhaul in 1962 and 1963 modernized her equipment and living spaces and improved her operational abilities in transporting , launching , and controlling assault craft ; besides providing drydocking and repair services to landing ships and craft . Her annual ( excluding 1964 ) Mediterranean deployments brought participation in fleet , binational , and multinational ( NATO ) exercises . In 1964 , she deployed only briefly , in September , to participate in Operation Steel Pike , a large - scale amphibious operation held off the coast of Spain . On 13 August 1970 " San Marcos " returned to Little Creek to complete her last Mediterranean tour . Local and Caribbean exercises took her into 1971 , when she was designated for transfer to the government of Spain . The first detachment of her future Spanish crew arrived in mid - April ; the remainder joined her on 30 May . June was spent in familiarization activities and , on 1 July 1971 , " San Marcos " was decommissioned and turned over . Spanish Navy career . The former " San Marcos " was commissioned in the Spanish Navy as " Galicia " ( TA31 ) on 1 July 1971 . She was sold outright to Spain on 1 August 1974 . " Galicia " s pennant number was changed to L31 c . 1980 . " Galicia " was stricken from the Spanish Navy list in early 1988 , and scrapped in 1989 .