Grant County (LST-1174)
1957- 1973
Counties in Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
(LST-1174: displacement 3,560 (light); length 445'; beam 62'; draft 16'8"; speed 17 knots; complement 172; armament 4 3-inch; class Suffolk County)
Grant County (LST-1174) was laid down on 15 March 1956 at Avondale, La., by Avondale Marine Ways, Inc.; launched on 12 October 1956; sponsored by Mrs. John Martin Higgins; and commissioned on 17 December 1957, Lt. Cmdr. R. B. Nichols in command.
After shakedown, Grant County performed amphibious exercises along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean throughout 1958. From 1958 to 1962 the LST carried out training and experimental amphibious operations in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and, on two occasions, in the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet (1958,1961). Following operations with marines at Camp Pendleton in October 1962, Grant County was dispatched to Florida for assignment during the Cuban Missile Crisis, after which time the tank landing ship resumed her training.
In May 1965, with rising tensions in the Dominican Republic, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered marines to the Caribbean island to protect American interests and help stabilize the government. When the situation showed signs of diminishing, Grant County departed Little Creek, Va., 1 June for the Caribbean. She embarked marines and Seabees stationed in the Dominican Republic and returned them to the United States. On 3 October, she sailed for another Mediterranean deployment and participated in amphibious exercises before returning home 31 March 1966.
During the next four months Grant County participated in intermittent amphibious exercises along the Atlantic Coast and in the Caribbean. During August she made two runs to the Dominican Republic to return troops and equipment to the United States. She continued shuttle runs along the East Coast until 1 December when she began a three-month overhaul. In March 1967 she resumed training and readiness operations with amphibious forces, and at present she ranges the seas from the Virginia capes to the Caribbean while maintaining the efficiency and readiness of her crew and equipment. assigned to the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet, Grant County spent the rest of her active service with the Amphibious Force of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, operating off the east coast of the United States interspersed with deployments to the Caribbean and to the Mediterranean.
Decommissioned on 15 January 1973, Grant County was transferred to the Brazilian Navy that same date where she served as Duque de Caxias (G-26). Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 December 1977, the ship was transferred to Brazil by cash sale on 1 February 1980.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
8 August 2016
