USS Shadwell 2nd life as Damage Control Test Ship

The USS Shadwell Tribute Page

USS Shadwell (LSD-15) Demonstrated Damage Control DC during WW2

On 28 December 1944, Shadwell embarked elements of the 1060th Engineer Battalion, United States Army and sailed from New Guinea with Task Force 78. Though her convoy came under continual submarine, surface, and air attack, so efficient were the screening units that Shadwell's guns remained silent throughout the entire voyage to Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, P.I. However, on 9 January 1945 (Lingayen D-day), Shadwell's gunners proved their worth by splashing a Zeke. Shadwell returned immediately to the staging area at Hollandia, New Guinea, embarked additional troops of the 1060th Army Engineers, then departed for Leyte, P.I. At Leyte, she joined Task Group 78.8, which soon made for Lingayen.

On the evening of 24 January 1945, the task group was sailing south of Siquijor Island, in the Philippines, when it was attacked by three torpedo bombers. Two were splashed bv the convoy's combat air patrol but the third escaped into the darkness. It soon returned, swooping down from the hills on the island, and pressed home its attack. The convoy's antiaircraft guns brought the enemy down, but not before he was able to release his torpedo. The air-dropped "fish" struck Shadwell just forward of amidships on the starboard side, tearing a hole in her bottom 60 feet wide. The landing ship was taking water badly and soon began to sink. The convoy steamed on while two destroyers stood by to evacuate her crew if necessary. Shadwell's crew worked frantically to save their sinking ship and, by morning, their efforts were rewarded. Shadwell was steaming under her own power, steering for Leyte by trick wheel. Of the more than 500 men aboard Shadwell at the time, there were no fatalities and only three casualties, all only slightly injured.

Temporary repairs were made at Leyte and, when she was deemed seaworthy, Shadwell steamed on to Manus in the Admiralty Isiands. There she went into drydock and underwent further temporary repairs before crossing the Pacific for permanent repairs. On 4 May, she reached Bremerton, Wash., and entered the Navy Yard. Just over two months later, she departed the yard to rejoin the fleet, sailing on 11 July. She stopped over at San Francisco, Calif., on the 14th and 15th, fueled and took on ballast, then set course for Hawaii. On 23 July, she anchored in Maalaea Bay, off Maui and, the next day, shifted to Pearl Harbor. On the 28th, Shadwell set sail for the western Pacific specifically Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls. She arrived there on 6 August and departed on the following day, bound for Samar in the Philippines. En route to Samar, she was diverted twice, first to Saipan, then to Guam, where she arrived on 13 August. Shadwell departed that same day to join the 3d Fleet and, on the 17th, two days after the cessation of hostilities, she joined TG 30.8. Ten days later, the landing ship arrived in Sagami Wan, off Tokyo Bav, and. two days thereafter, moored in the bay itself. Shadwell remained moored at Tokyo through May 1946, operating the boat pool there.
 
 The History of the USS Shadwell (LSD-15) - shadwellhistory.pdf

Shadwell's Second Life developing new DC technologies

Ex USS Shadwell today

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the Navy’s corporate laboratory, has maintained a strong leadership in interdisciplinary research and development program for new concepts, materials, and doctrine in fire protection and damage control. Many of these tests and research are conducted onboard the Navy's fire test ship, ex-USS Shadwell. The Navy has special concern for fires in semiconfined spaces (below deck in surface ships) and in totally enclosed spaces (submarines) where fires behave differently from most civilian situations. Such Navy spaces contain highly sophisticated equipment that must continue to operate under adverse conditions, are densely inhabited, cannot be evacuated, and must rely on crew cross-training for firefighting. NRL’s advances have continually revolutionized Navy firefighting to provide effective damage control at minimized manpower. While directed toward the Navy’s problems, the NRL advances have also made significant impact in the civilian world.

Navy Technology Center for Safety & Survivability

•     Dedicated to studies on active & passive fire protection, flooding, and chemical defense
•     Realistic, time-critical scientific measurement, modeling, and performance analysis
•     Application of basic and theoretical research and development
•     Evaluation of hardware/software concepts and experiments with users 

USS Shadwell: The Greatest Ship Never Known | Armed with Science

The future of the Navy’s damage control technology takes shape aboard Shadwell. Scientists from universities across America spend days aboard the ship perfecting or reworking robotics, techniques, and software developed over the course of years in their respective labs.
The damage control technologies developed since Shadwell was purchased in 1988 by Naval Research Laboratory have been nothing short of impressive.



Autonomous damage control systems, such as water mist fire suppression systems and high expansion foam generators can extinguish compartment fires in minutes, not hours, effectively improving a sailor’s situational awareness within damage control settings.

NRL/NAVSEA Full-scale R&D aboard ex-USS Shadwel

• Completed validation testing for LPD-17, LHD-8 and DD(X) AFSS fire protection designs
• Awarded contracts to ‘productionize’ shipboard detail designs with NGSS and BIW
• Transitioned technology and doctrine for its use to PMS 500, PMS 400, PMS 317, PMS 378, PMS 450, SEA 05P4

Navy Payoff

•     Damage tolerant fire protection designs
•     Improved “fight through” capability
•     Improved vulnerability analysis
•     Supports optimal manning goals  

Octavia the robot working with a human team
member to extinguish a fire in a compartment.

Damage Control for the 21st Century | Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research