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The story of the ghost of Mobile Bay, and her robot crew

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The ex-USS Shadwell (LSD-15) is a 7,300-ton, 457-foot gator– the last member of the 19-ship Casa-Grande-class dock landing ships. Commissioned in 1944, she was hit by a torpedo and downed a kamikaze in WWII. She was part of the Third Fleet in Tokyo Bay, Japan, on that fateful day in September 1945 when the war concluded.

In better days, USS SHADWELL (LSD-15) Mediterranean Sea, June 1968 NHC Catalog K-51142

After more than 25-years faithful service around the world, she was on 9 March 1970, placed out of commission, and mothballed. In 1976 her name was stricken from the Navy List and she was a warship no more.

However, the Navy Research Lab’s Navy Technology Center for Safety and Survivability’s Shipboard Fire Scaling Section operates and maintains Shadwell as the Navy’s full-scale “Real Scale” Damage Control Facility dedicated to integrated Research, Development, Test and Evaluation studies on active and passive fire protection, flooding and chemical (simulants) defense for the past 30 years. As such, she has been renovated and instrumented to a degree that her builders never imagined.

The Naval Research Laboratory’s ex-USS Shadwell is a decommissioned U.S. Navy Landing Ship Dock that serves as the Navy’s full-scale damage control research, development, test and evaluation platform. Moored in Mobile Bay, Ala., the ship is regularly set ablaze in controlled demonstrations to test firefighting technologies, tactics and procedures and damage control practices to improve the safety of operational Navy and civilian shipboard firefighting measures. (U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/Released)

Among the high-tech systems, the ship has been a testbed for is Virginia Tech’s SAFFiR robotic firefighter built for ONR.

The Office of Naval Research-sponsored Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR) undergoes testing aboard the Naval Research Laboratory’s ex-USS Shadwell located in Mobile, Ala. SAFFiR is a bipedal humanoid robot being developed to assist Sailors with damage control and inspection operations aboard naval vessels. (U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/Released)

Based in Mobile Bay since 1988, she is currently on the disposal list.

Shadwell is to be dismantled in place and all fire testing will be shifted to land-based facilities located at NRLs 168-acre Chesapeake Beach Detachment.

Below is an All Hands video of her from 2015, highlighting some of what made her so special.

Of Old ships and New robots

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A World War Two amphibious assault ship is now testing the next generation of robot firefighters

Meet Charlie, a super advanced droid developed by Virginia Tech to fight fires.

VA Techs Firefighter of the future

These clockwork devices are devoid of doubt, fear, or second-thinking and better yet, dont have to breath oxygen which makes them great to send into burning compartments on navy warships to fight fires. Better yet, they can be stationed on standby quietly in dead spaces quietly waiting for fires or damage control efforts to call them into action remotely. With fewer and fewer sailors on warships, they will be needed. For instance the LCS, arguably what would have been a cruiser-sized warship back in the World War Two era, only has a crew of 50 instead of 500. A few robots may help with that.

Charlie will be tested on the ex-USS Shadwell (LSD-15). The 7,300-ton 457-foot gator is the last member of the 19-ship  Casa-Grande Class dock landing ships. Commissioned in 1944, she was hit by a torpedo and downs a kamikaze in WWII. After more than 25-years faithful service around the world she was on 9 March 1970,  placed out of commission, and mothballed. In 1976 her name was stricken from the Navy List and she was a warship no more.

The Shadwell in better days

On 10 November 1988, the old girl, now known as the ex-USS Shadwell, was transferred to the Fire Research Detachment, Little Sands Island, Mobile Bay, Alabama. There she serves as a test and training platform in the development of fire models and other damage and control systems. Her and Charlie will meet in 2013.