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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • Boats-Ships--Amphibious Warfare Ships
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  • World War II 1939-1945
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Montgomery County (LST-1041)

1950-1960

Counties in 18 of the United States.

(LST‑1041: disp.lacement 1,625; length 328'0"; beam 50'0"; draft 14'1"; speed 12 knots; complement 226; armament 8 40 millimeter, 12 20 millimeter; class LST‑511)

LST‑1041 was laid down on 12 November 1944 at Neville Island, Pa., by Dravo Corp.; launched on 20 January 1945; sponsored by Mrs. N. L. Gibson; ferried down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, La.; and was commissioned at the U.S. Naval Repair Base, Algiers, La., on 19 February 1945. Lt. Edward F. Becker, D-V(S), USNR, in command.

Following shakedown along the gulf coast, LST‑1041 loaded cargo and sailed for duty in the Pacific in early April 1945. Steaming via the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor, T.H., she reached Eniwetok, Marshalls, 5 June and began cargo shuttle missions to U.S. bases in the mid and western Pacific. Operating with LST Group 97, she sailed later in the month via Guam and Saipan to Okinawa where she unloaded military supplies in mid‑July. Later that month she returned to the Marshalls and lay anchored at Eniwetok when the Japanese agreed to cease hostilities.

LST‑1041 thence returned to the western Pacific and from 2 to 24 September 1945 she supported occupation operations in Japan. After occupation duty, she sailed for the United States and arrived at Norfolk, Va., 6 December. During the next decade this LST maintained a busy pattern of logistics, support, and amphibious training operations. She took part in numerous Atlantic Fleet and type‑training exercises. Training and readiness operations sent her from the east coast to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition, LST‑1041 took part in providing valuable support of operations off Greenland and in Baffin Bay. She carried out three logistics runs; and, during her third mission from September to November 1953, she assisted in salvaging Atlantic Waters after that merchant ship grounded in the approaches to Goose Bay, Labrador. In September 1955 she deployed to the Mediterranean for duty with the Sixth Fleet. During the next months she ranged the Mediterranean from Greece to southern France. Thence, she resumed training duty out of Norfolk in February 1956.

Named Montgomery County on 1 July 1955, the LST continued duty with the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force until 31 January 1956 when she decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla. Assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, she remained in her Florida berthing area until mid‑1960. Her name was stricken from the Navy List on 1 June 1960.

In August 1961 she was sold under terms of the Military Assistance Program to the West German Federal Republic. Scheduled for conversion to a battle damage repair ship, the conversion was never undertaken and she was scrapped in 1968 without having seen any commissioned service in the Federal German Navy.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

12 October 2023

Published: Thu Oct 12 09:53:37 EDT 2023