The Navy commissioned the 13th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, the USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29), during a ceremony at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida on Saturday. The ship’s name is inspired by the heroic actions of Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Richard McCool Jr., during World War II.
“Capt. McCool’s leadership in the face of grave danger and his acts of heroism to save the crew and the ship our nation entrusted to him are indeed an example for all throughout,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said during the ceremony.
McCool, who passed away on March 5, 2008, in Bremerton, Washington, was the commanding officer of the USS LCS (L)(3) 122 during the Battle of Okinawa in the area of the Ryukyu Chain on June 10 and 11, 1945. But he never wanted to be recognized as a hero.
“He could do anything that he put his mind to. One thing you have to understand about my grandpa, and I think it’s very important, is that he was never comfortable with the word ‘hero,’” Shana McCool, Richard’s granddaughter, told Task & Purpose. “He always shied away from that word. He didn’t like the limelight. He didn’t want to be recognized necessarily as someone special. It was just, ‘That was my training, that’s what I need to do. I need to save these men,’ and he didn’t want to be recognized as anyone who did anything extreme.”
Shana McCool grew up visiting her grandparents regularly, and she said her grandfather never said much about his service during WW II. But, she said, he carried his ship’s spirit throughout his life.
“The ship’s motto, ‘fight as a unit, not as an individual,’ is a direct quote from my grandfather, so that sums it up right? You get in the service and it’s not about you, it’s about everyone around you, and jumping to action and doing what needs to be done,” she said”
According to his Medal of Honor citation, McCool was in the thick of two separate deadly rescues in the span of two days — one of another ship, one of his own. On June 10, 1945, McCool played a key role in rescuing sailors from a sinking destroyer. The next day, as his ship came under attack from Japanese Kamikaze aircraft, one struck McCool’s station in the conning tower and “engulfed the immediate area in a mass of flames.”
McCool, despite severe wounds from shrapnel and burns, rescued several sailors trapped in a burning room, further subjecting himself to intense flames that incurred more burns.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor on Dec. 18, 1945, by President Harry S. Truman.
A namesake in the fleet
The USS Richard M. McCool Jr. is the 13th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship commissioned in the Navy and is the first Navy ship to bear this namesake. The San Antonio class ship can embark, transport, and land Marine elements for sea-to-land assaults.
“She can hold a lot of sailors and marines. It’s really cool to know that she’s brand new, top of the line,” Shana McCool said. “These advanced systems that they’ve got — it blows my mind.”
The McCool can launch Marines via landing craft or from helicopters and MV-22 Ospreys off its flight deck.
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“They say that a ship is a living thing. We don’t refer to McCool as ‘it’ or ‘that.’ We say ‘she’ or ‘her,’ a living spirit — the spirit of protection,” said Gen. C.J. Mahoney, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps.“Richard McCool was a protector, and his spirit will live on this ship. His spirit will protect this crew and all the Marines who sail on her. When the Marine Corps becomes a bullet to be fired by the Navy, LPD 29 and its crew will pull the trigger. God bless this ship, and God help anybody who challenges it.”
For Shana McCool, sponsoring the ship was a moment she believed would make her grandfather proud.
“I think that we did Grandpa proud,” she said. “I think that the sailors and Marines that are going to sail within her, I think they’re going to make Grandpa proud every single day.”