She was named for Fort Snelling at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, for many years the northernmost military post in the land of the Sioux and Chippewa.

Homeported at Norfolk, Virginia, Fort Snelling carried out an intensive exercise schedule along the east coast and in the Caribbean, almost always with Marines embarked for amphibious training.

In 1966, while returning from a Mediterranean deployment, Fort Snelling was assigned as task group commander of the Navy's Palomares Incident recovery operations.

[2] In October 1969 Fort Snelling proceeded south to the Ascension area and participated as a secondary recovery ship in the first Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) test launch.

Over the course of 7 months, the Fort Snelling participated amphibious landings in Denmark, Germany, and Turkey, with a liberty call at the Port of Naples, Italy.

After a 5-day liberty, the Fort Snelling and other members of her squadron rushed the 24 MAU to Beirut Lebanon to become the backbone of the Multi National Peacekeeping Force.

Prior to H-hour, six frogmen from SEAL Team 4 departed the Fort Snelling in a SeaFox, a 36-foot, fiberglass-hulled craft, on a night reconnaissance mission.

Tanks and jeeps from the Fort Snelling were put ashore after a beachhead at Grand Mal Bay was secured by 13 amphibious landing craft from the Manitowoc.

During March 1984, Ft. Snelling assisted in the evacuation of noncombatants from Beirut, conducting flight operations and subsequently transporting hundreds of evacuees to Cyprus.