The Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), named after the home and estate in Fremont, Ohio of Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th President of the United States, was was laid down on September 7, 1954 by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp. of Pascagoula, Miss. She was launched just over a year later on November 10, 1955. As a Thomaston Class Dock Landing Ship, the Spiegel Grove supported amphibious invasions by deploying landing craft and hovercraft. With a length of 510 feet, a beam of 84 feet, she could cruise at a speed of 21 knots. The vessel was armed with four twin three-inch/50mm and six twin 20mm anti-aircraft guns, and she could launch 300 troops in 21 landing craft, as well as from numerous helicopters that could land on the deck above the boat well on the stern.

After several decades of service, she was decommissioned on October 2, 1989. Transferred to MARAD, she remained with the National Defense Reserve Fleet in the James River at Fort Eustis, Virginia. She was eventually transferred for use as an artificial reef off Key Largo, whereupon she was sunk in June of 2002.