USS Hunterdon County
USS LST-838 beached, date and place unknown
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS LST-838 |
Builder | American Bridge Company, Ambridge, Pennsylvania |
Laid down | 20 September 1944 |
Launched | 8 November 1944 |
Commissioned | 4 December 1944 |
Decommissioned | 7 August 1946 |
Renamed | USS Hunterdon County (LST-838), 1 July 1955 |
Recommissioned | 10 September 1966 |
Decommissioned | 1 August 1974 |
Reclassified | AGP-838 (Patrol Craft Tender), 1967 |
Stricken | 1 August 1974 |
Honours and awards |
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Fate | Transferred to Malaysia, 1 August 1974 |
Malaysia | |
Name | KD Sri Langkawi (A1500) |
Acquired | 1 August 1974 |
Fate | Scrapped |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | tank landing ship |
Displacement |
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Length | 328 ft (100 m) |
Beam | 50 ft (15 m) |
Draft |
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Propulsion | 2 × General Motors 12-567 diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders |
Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Boats & landing craft carried | 2 × LCVPs |
Troops | 16 officers, 147 enlisted men |
Complement | 7 officers, 104 enlisted men |
Armament |
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USS Hunterdon County (LST-838) was an
USS LST-838 was laid down on 20 September 1944 at Ambridge, Pennsylvania by the American Bridge Company; launched on 8 November 1944; sponsored by Miss Margaret Foster; and commissioned on 4 December 1944.
Service history
World War II, 1944–1946
After shakedown off Florida, LST-838 loaded heavy construction equipment at
LST-838 arrived off the southern Okinawa beaches on 1 April. Despite determined efforts by the enemy, Allied forces succeeded in securing a beachhead. On D-Day, after LST-884 was struck by a suicide plane, LST-838 recovered 79 survivors from the heavily damaged ship. The landing ship stood off the coast of Okinawa until 13 April when she approached Green Beach to discharge Seabees and construction equipment. The following day during one of the many raids she shot down a Japanese aircraft. Departing Okinawa on the 16th, LST-838 arrived at Ulithi six days later. For the rest of the war she transported men and equipment throughout the South and Western Pacific Islands.
Following the end of the war, LST-838 moved men and equipment to Japan for occupation duties. She remained in the Far East until 7 November, when she departed Yokohama for Guam; then embarked 544 Army veterans and steamed to the United States, arriving at San Francisco on 23 December.
She was decommissioned on 7 August 1946 and assigned to the
Vietnam War, 1966–1971
Recommissioned on 10 September 1966 at the
On 12 May 1970, it was the first U.S. Navy commissioned vessel to enter Cambodia,[2][3] rearming and refueling helicopters that belonged to the U.S. Army and Navy, as well as the
The Hunterdon County was the first U.S. ship to cross the Cambodian border, 12 May [1970], after President Nixon's decision to enter that country. It remained there and continued to provide support to the Vietnamese armed forces and their U.S. Army and Navy advisors longer than any other ship of its type, according to Navy officials.[4]
The ship's credits in Vietnam include capturing one of the largest VC in the Delta on 29 March 1969, and establishing the record for the furthest transit of the Bassac River by a U.S. commissioned vessel in August of that same year.[4] The ship was subsequently reclassified as Patrol Craft Tender USS Hunterdon County (AGP-838).
Transfer to Malaysia, 1971
Transferred to Malaysia on 1 August 1971 under the Security Assistance Program, she was renamed KD Sri Langkawi (A1500) for service in the Royal Malaysian Navy, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. She was scrapped by Malaysian Authorities.
Awards
LST-838 earned one
Photo gallery
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Anchored in the middle of the Mekong River about seven miles inside Cambodia, replenishing Vietnamese and American forces operating there during May 1970
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"Seawolf" helicopter gunship makes a quick refueling and rearming stop atop Hunterdon County during May 1970 U.S. Navy incursion into Cambodia
References
- ^ CWO3 John Trolinger, Instructor/Boat Captain/Patrol Leader
- ^ The Amphibian, Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet, Vol 22, No. 12, 19 June 1970
- ^ Bruhn, David (2019). Gators Offshore and Upriver: The U.S. Navy's Amphibious Ships and Underwater Demolition Teams, and Royal Australian Navy Clearance Divers in Vietnam. Heritage Books.
- ^ a b Gaylien, JO# Donald, "USS Hunterdon County: A PX for Combat Essentials," "The Jackstaff News (News for U.S. Naval Forces II, III, IV Corps Vietnam), 15 July 1970, p. 3.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.
- "LST / AGP-838 Hunterdon County". Amphibious Photo Archive. Retrieved 18 June 2007.